‘How to Train Your Dragon’ director breaks down Toothless’ design

‘How To Train Your Dragon’ director Dean DeBlois has shared valuable insights into the making of the lovable dragon, Toothless.

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The Universal’s title generated $35.6 million from preview screenings on Friday in North America, the fourth-biggest opening day figure of 2025.

According to analysts, the film is expected to reach $82.7 million in its first three days.

Dean DeBlois, who helmed all three ‘Dragon’ animated films, returned to direct the live-action version.

The filmmaker faced the uphill task of designing Toothless in a way that resonates with the audience.

However, Dean DeBlois revealed that the design team almost made Toothless look very different from the animated version.

“We went too far a couple of times in exploring where Toothless could have come from. We received some advice from John Dykstra. He’s a legendary visual effects person from ILM, and he was consulting with Universal at the time. He said to think backwards, like if the animated movie is a stylised and exaggerated version of these creatures, then what did they look like in real life?” he said.

The filmmaker added, “It was a great philosophy to adopt as the designers at Framestore started to explore the other dragons.”

According to DeBlois, the ‘How To Train Your Dragon’ team made some changes to other dragons; however, they decided not to alter the design of Toothless.

“We could depart from some of the cartoonish designs with the other dragons. But with Toothless, in particular, he’s so iconic and so expressive,” the filmmaker shared.

“He’s already quite specific that as we tried to change his face and maybe make his mouth or eyes smaller, or shift proportions around, he stopped feeling like the character very quickly,” he added.