Wait, What Happened to The Furious Five in 'Kung Fu Panda 4'? Fans Want Answers

The Gist:

• The trailer for Kung Fu Panda 4 was released on Dec. 13, 2023.
• Fans noticed that The Furious Five is missing from the action, or so it seems.
• The film's director addressed the fate of the characters in an interview.

Fans of the Kung Fu Panda film series noticed a seemingly glaring absence when the highly-anticipated trailer for the film, which will be available in theaters in March 2024, first dropped.

Where is The Furious Five? The trailer was released on Dec. 13, 2023, but it appears that some characters are missing. Fans want answers. Let's see what the director had to say.

Kung Fu Panda is nothing if not a gluttonous display of Hollywood A-list voice talent. Of course, there's the dynamic Jack Black as Po, but fans also love The Furious Five.

The roles of the longtime allies for the titular character are pivotal in the first three movies. Never mind that Tigress is voiced by Angelina Jolie, Viper is none other than Lucy Liu, Jackie Chan voices Monkey, David Cross is Crane, and the instantly-identifiable voice of Seth Rogen animates Mantis.

But much to fans' chagrin, The Furious Five don't even make cameos in the trailer for Kung Fu Panda 4. So what is going on?

In a conversation with Collider, the film's director Mike Mitchell spoke about the fate of the five master fighters.

"They make an appearance, I'll tell you that much," he said, assuaging the nerves of fans who thought the movie wouldn't include the much-adored characters. "But to be fair," he added, "Po is leaving the Valley of Peace and he's going on a huge adventure to this giant city."

Mike continued, "All the characters come back. Every single character that you remember comes back, and a few villains that I don't want to spoil. But really, we wanted to introduce a whole slew of new characters which we did."

Despite the anguish expressed by fans who didn't see The Furious Five in the trailer for the upcoming movie, they can rest assured that not only do they return, but a new characters are poised to win a spot in viewers' hearts.

Indeed, a new foe named Chameleon is voiced by the magnificent Viola Davis, while a thief called Zhen comes to life with the unmistakable voice of Awkwafina.

Awesomely, Jack FaceTimed Viola and Awkwafina during an Instagram video to tease the release of the trailer. "The #KungFuPanda family just got bigger," he captioned the hilarious share.

He catches Viola in the pool, while Awkwafina appears to be in a car.

Fans loved the post, with one person calling it a "genius promotion." However, many were also concerned about the old cast. Hopefully after reading this update, they will start to get as excited as we are that as Jack said, the family is only getting bigger — not losing members.

Kung Fu Panda 4 drop kicks itself into movie theaters on March 8, 2024. As for whether this will be the final installment of the franchise, given the immense popularity of Po and the rest of the cast, we kind of doubt it.