How to Train Your Dragon 2, in theaters June 13, will include a coming out scene for Craig Ferguson's character Gobber, the right-hand man to the Viking tribe's chief Stoick and lead character Hiccup's mentor. Gobber, while watching another couple bicker, will reveal the reason he never married a woman, says out director Dean DeBlois:
"When we were recording Craig Ferguson, I had written the line, 'This is why I never got married,' and he, as he often does, added it as an ad-lib and he said, 'Yup, Gobber is coming out of the closet,'" DeBlois said. "I think that's a really fun [and] daring move to put in. I love the idea that Gobber is Berk's resident gay [inhabitant]."
The end of the 2012 animated film ParaNorman revealed one of its main characters was gay and became the first animated feature film to be nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for its portrayal of Mitch, a broad-shouldered, flat-headed lunk of a teenager who loves cars and sports -- and who just happens to be gay. The PG-rated film also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature Film alongside blockbusters like Wreck-It Ralph and Brave.
The original How to Train Your Dragon film released in 2010 launched a successful franchise which includes the Cartoon Network series DreamWorks Dragons covering the events between the first film and the sequel set five years later, video games How to Train Your Dragon and School of Dragons and the arena show How to Train Your Dragon Live Spectacular.