Hop on a dragon and take a ride to the mythical Isle of Berk, where Vikings and dragons come together for whimsical adventures.
In 2010, DreamWorks launched one of its biggest franchises yet with the release of How to Train Your Dragon. It’s not hard to see the appeal: a medieval setting, Vikings, dragons, father-son drama, an epic coming-of-age adventure about a young man defying cultural norms. In this case, that cultural norm is “kill a supposedly bloodthirsty dragon to officially become a man.” What our burgeoning hero, Hiccup, finds instead is essentially an overgrown, winged puppy dog. He soon befriends the creature, altering his village’s traditions forever.
The hit film spawned two sequels, multiple TV shows, and even a replica of the Isle of Berk at the Universal Epic Universe theme park. As the franchise wrapped its trilogy in 2019, lead voice actor Jay Baruchel told Entertainment Weekly about his hopes for what fans would take away from Hiccup’s story.
“It’s really two things for me: that what the world tells you are your failings can actually be your virtues, and that just because something is a certain way, and has been a certain way, doesn’t mean that’s the way it’s supposed to be,” he said.
Now that a new live-action How to Train Your Dragon remake has hit theaters, let’s break down how to watch every How to Train Your Dragon movie and TV show in order.
How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
DreamWorks SKG/Courtesy Everett Collection
It’s the movie that started it all.
How to Train Your Dragon begins with Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III telling us all about the Isle of Berk, where dragons and Vikings have been fighting for thousands of years. The scrawny teen is supposed to prove his manhood by slaying a dragon, but he simply can’t do it. Instead, he succumbs to his gentle nature, befriending the Night Fury dragon he was meant to attack and naming it Toothless.
With his brutish father, Stoick (Gerard Butler), acting as the village’s chieftain, Hiccup must overcome his community’s beliefs and convince them that dragons aren’t worth fighting after all. As if his life weren’t complicated enough already, Hiccup is also nurturing a budding romance with Astrid (America Ferrera) after she finds out he’s trained a dragon.
Throw in a wide array of dragons of all different colors, shapes, and sizes, andyou’ve got a critical and commercial hit, as seen in EW’s A- review. Just like that, a beloved franchise was born.
How to Train Your Dragon (2025)
Universal Pictures
Remember all those plot details above? Go ahead and repeat those here, because this live-action film — directed by the franchise’s longtime caretaker, Dean DeBlois — is an unfailingly faithful adaptation of the original. Many sequences are a shot-for-shot remake with flesh-and-blood actors. (Flesh-and-blood dragons, regrettably, do not yet exist; CGI was used instead.)
With the rocky seaside cliffs of Northern Ireland standing in for the Isle of Berk, the new How to Train Your Dragon built a whole Viking village to deliver its more tactile incarnation. Mason Thames takes the reins as Hiccup, with Nico Parker as Astrid alongside a cast of memorable supporting players (Nick Frost, Julian Dennison, Peter Serafinowicz).
As for the mighty chieftain, Stoick? Gerard Butler reprises his voice role in person here, complete with a beard of such magnificent volume, circumference, and swagger, it would make even a Viking warrior weep.
Where to watch How to Train Your Dragon: In theaters
DreamWorks Dragons (2012–2018)
Dreamworks Animation/Netflix
The DreamWorks Dragons series helps fill in the five-year gap between the first two big-screen features. The two initial seasons, which aired on Cartoon Network under the subtitles Riders of Berk and Defenders of Berk, retain the movies’ coming-of-age charms, complete with Baruchel, Ferrera, and others reprising their voice roles.
The dragon drama is ongoing, as there’s still some resistance to this new way of life in the greater Berk community; let’s just say the village is working out the integration kinks. The show also features a Dragon Training Academy and, later, a Dragon fight club to help the two parties bond.
The next six seasons, titled Race to the Edge, streamed on Netflix until 2018. These stories take place three years and change later, so the characters are closer to the adulthood they reach in subsequent big-screen sequels.
Where to watch DreamWorks Dragons: Riders of Berk: Peacock
Where to watch DreamWorks Dragons: Defenders of Berk: Peacock
Where to watch DreamWorks Dragons: Race to the Edge: Netflix
How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)
20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection
It’s been years since Hiccup helped dragons and his people become allies rather than enemies, but the rest of the world is another matter entirely. Not everyone wants to befriend our fire-breathing pals — especially Drago Bludqvist (Djimon Hounsou), a ruthless dragon conqueror who has enslaved and trained a ferocious dragon army.
As far as Hiccup is concerned, that’s not even the dramatic part of this sequel. On the verge of succeeding his father as chieftain of Berk, he gets a surprise: thge return of his mother Valka (Cate Blanchett), long believed dead. Turns out she has an affinity for protecting dragons, too. She and Drago are, naturally, at odds.
The bulk of the cast returns for this high-flying follow-up, including now-grown-up supporting dragon riders like Snotlout (Jonah Hill), Fishlegs (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), and twins Ruffnut (Kristen Wiig) and Tuffnut (T.J. Miller).
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)
DreamWorks Animation
All good things must come to an end, and The Hidden World proves a worthy finale to the Hiccup and Toothless saga.
One year after the second entry, Hiccup, his friends, and the Isle of Berk are all thriving. Then along comes their biggest threat yet. Its name is Grimmel the Grisly (F. Murray Abraham), another merciless dragon hunter who’s out to ensnare Toothless and complete his quest to eliminate the Night Fury species.
As Hiccup and Astrid’s relationship matures, Toothless finds his own special lady friend in a Light Fury dragon who gets caught in the crossfire between Grimmel and our beloved one-winged dragon. The continued danger and destruction between species is epitomized by the eponymous hidden world, a sanctuary for dragons who wish to live in peace away from human trappers and hunters. Certain harsh realities lend a melancholy note to this climactic story of Hiccup and Toothless, as they have to make difficult choices about their futures.
Even in the third go-round, the magic hadn’t worn off, as the trilogy went out on a high note and earned the franchise’s third Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature.
Where to watch How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World: Peacock
DreamWorks Dragons: The Nine Realms (2021–2023)
Courtesy of DreamWorks
How to Train Your Dragon takes place in medieval times, well over 1,000 years ago. The Nine Realms asks: What would a world with dragons be like in modern times? In answering that question, the animated series further expands the franchise’s lore.
This contemporary fantasy revolves around a group of teenagers — namely Tom (Jeremy Shada), a descendant of Hiccup and Astrid, and his friends, including future love interest Jun Wong (Ashley Liao). While investigating a massive trench, he falls in, only to be saved by a Night Light dragon named Thunder. Wouldn’t you know it, ol’ Thunder is a descendant of — you guessed it — Toothless and his Light Fury sweetheart.
From there, Tom and Co. have a series of adventures, often revolving around protecting the secret of the dragons’ whereabouts from greedy humans looking to use them for nefarious purposes.
Key supporting characters include Julia Stiles and Haley Joel Osment as lumberjack turned dragon hunter Leonard “Buzzsaw” Burne. The show, which has an even more kid-friendly tone than the movies, ran for eight bite-sized seasons, spanning 52 episodes over two years.
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