Andy Serkis’ New Fantasy Movie Is Subtly A Sequel To Classic 81-Year-Old Dystopian Novel

Andy Serkis reveals how his new movie is subtly a sequel to a classic dystopian novel.

As both an actor and a filmmaker, Serkis has a long history when it comes to sequels and franchises. This includes the roles of Gollum/Smeagol in The Lord of the Rings, Caesar in the Planet of the Apes prequel trilogy, Supreme Leader Snoke in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, Alfred Pennyworth in The Batman and The Batman – Part II, and Ulysses Klaue in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Black Panther. Behind the camera, he has directed Venom: Let There Be Carnage and the upcoming The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.

In an interview with ScreenRant‘s Liam Crowley for his new movie Animal Farm, Serkis explains how the adaptation of George Orwell’s dystopian classic is a subtle sequel as well. The end of the novel mentions the next generation of pigs, which led to creating a new young character named Lucky, who is the protagonist of the film. Lucky is meant to be a character that younger audiences in particular can relate to while being pulled in two different directions. Check out Serkis’ comments below:

Well, when we set out with the book, and you read the book closely, which I have done many, many times, and it was one of the first books I read that had adult themes in it, that when you’re growing up, and you realize when you’ve read it that a lot of the lies that are being told, the fake news that the animals are receiving, or the pigs are offstage characters in many respects. You don’t get to see Napoleon very often. You hear about what’s going on in pig world, and when the animals become separated. And it suddenly occurred to me that wouldn’t it be more interesting as a moral debate for a young inquiring mind for kids, now, if they were put into a position where they had to make strong choices in a very complex world, which is what they’re having to navigate right now.

So Lucky, I mean, there is a mention in the book, right at the end, about the next generation of pigs, and they are, sort of, the young — the elite, young, new pigs. And I sort of brought that forward in our story and said, well, what if Lucky is a kid who is caught between these two leaders? One is sort of the do the right thing, Snowball, and the other is the charismatic populist Napoleon. And what if he had to navigate between that? And that’s really where we center our film. It’s seeing the film through Lucky’s eyes and him realizing quite far on down the line that he’s back to the wrong leader, that he’s made the wrong choices. He’s even given up his closest friendship with another animal, which is again, one of the themes of our story is, are you an animal or are you a pig?

Are you one of everyone, or are you part of the elite? I thought if you could put kids in that position, then that would be a really interesting point for them to start.

Since Serkis’ Animal Farm is not a direct continuation of Orwell’s original story, it cannot be considered a traditional sequel. Taking a character set up at the end of the book and having him be the adaptation’s protagonist makes it more of a subtle sequel, though. It is from Lucky’s point of view that audiences experience this new iteration of the story as he tries to decide whether Napoleon or Snowball are better leaders for the animals.

The source material features the fantastical elements of talking animals, all while serving as an allegory for the Russian Revolution and ultimately the rise of the Soviet Union, with Napoleon representing Joseph Stalin, Snowball representing Leon Trotsky, Animalism representing communism, and so forth. These direct parallels allow the original Animal Farm to follow the trajectory of real-world history and its aftermath, acting as both an allegory and a cautionary political tale.

Placing Lucky at the center of the narrative is one of several significant ways in which Serkis’ adaptation veers away from Orwell’s allegory, although some of the same themes and moral questions remain the same. Such an approach has not been well-received by critics so far, leading to a 36% score on Rotten Tomatoes. In ScreenRant‘s Animal Farm review, Liz Declan gives the movie two out of 10 stars and writes that “In place of a critique of authoritarianism and an exploration of how dictators rise to power, Animal Farm takes the laziest road possible to arrive at the declaration that absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Despite Animal Farm‘s largely negative reviews, the 2026 animated movie does have an all-star voice cast, including Gaten Matarazzo as Lucky, Seth Rogen as Napoleon, Laverne Cox as Snowball, Kieran Culkin as Squealer, Woody Harrelson as Boxer, Glenn Close as Freida Pilkington, Steve Buscemi as Mr. Whymper, Jim Parsons as Carl and Carl’s flock of sheep, Kathleen Turner as Benjamin, and Iman Vellani as Puff and Tammy. Serkis is also part of the cast as the farm’s original human owner, Mr. Jones, the pig Old Major, and Randolph the rooster.

Animal Farm releases in theaters on May 1.

Release Date

May 1, 2026

Runtime

96 minutes

Writers

Nicholas Stoller

Producers

Dave Rosenbaum, Jonathan Cavendish, Nicholas Stoller, Connie Nartonis Thompson, David Rosenbaum, Adam Nagle