Zootopia+ Directors Address the Characters They Didn't Get to Use (Exclusive)

The world of Zootopia is back thanks to the new spinoff series, Zootopia+ that arrived on Disney+ this week. The set of shorts take audiences into different places within the Zootopia universe to offer a look at the lives of various characters from the 2016 film that make up the larger world they live in. But while there are plenty of familiar faces in Zootopia+, there are some characters from the film that don't appear in the series and now, directors Josie Trinidad, Trent Correy, and Nathan Curtis are addressing the characters that they didn't get to use for Zootopia+.

"We kept trying to find a space for Finnick and it just never… we had him in a couple of scenes here and there and it never panned out," Correy said. "That's what jumps to my head."

"You know we also, in developing the Flash episode, the sloth episode, there was a moment where it was a cooking show with Yax from the Mystic Springs Oasis," Trinidad said. "I wish we could have found a way to sneak Yax in there as well. That would have been fun."

What is Zootopia+?

Zootopia+ is a follow up of sorts built off of the popular film, Zootopia. First released in 2016, Zootopia followed the story of an unlikely partnership between a rabbit police officer, Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin), and a red fox con artist, Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), as they work together to uncover a criminal conspiracy involving the disappearance of predators in the titular city where anthropomorphic animals coexist. The film brought in over a billion dollars for Disney when it was released and there have also been talks of a sequel, though there has not yet been any official announcement. Zootopia also won the Academy Award, the Golden Globe, Critics Choice Movie Award, and Annie Award for Best Animated Feature Film.

Fans of the original film will know just how large the world of Zootopia is and that the film only gave a glimpse at just a very small part of it. It seems that Zootopia+ will offer viewers a chance to expand on that world while still bringing back some fan favorite Zootopia supporting characters as well. Zootopia+ will be directed by Trent Correy and Josie Trinidad, both of whom were involved with the original film — Correy as an animator and Trinidad as a writer. The six episode anthology series follows various residents of the Zootopia world, including Flash the Sloth, Fru, Gazzel's backup dancers, and more.

Zootopia+ is now streaming on Disney+.