Eddie Murphy reveals that he's been working on 'Shrek 5' and confirms a 'Donkey' spinoff to ET.
Shrek and Donkey are back!
ET's Nischelle Turner sat down with Eddie Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Kevin Bacon, John Ashton and Judge Reinhold for their highly anticipated sequel, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. But Murphy, 63, had other movie news: He revealed that a new Shrek film is on the way and confirmed a Donkey spinoff.
"We started doing Shrek six months ago," Murphy told ET. "So Shrek is coming back. So we're doing another Shrek and we're doing a Donkey movie. There's a Donkey, we have a Donkey movie."
Murphy voiced the swamp ogre's faithful donkey sidekick in all four Shrek films. The beloved franchise began in 2001 with Shrek. It spawned three sequels – 2004's Shrek 2, 2007's Shrek the Third and 2010's Shrek Forever After. Now, the fifth Shrek movie is in production.
There’s also been two spinoffs based on Puss — 2011’s Puss in Boots and 2022’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.
As for the Donkey spinoff, Murphy said it'll be about "just Donkey, well, his dragon wife, his half-dragon donkey children will be in it."
In the first film, Shrek was able to rescue Fiona from the Dragon-guarded abandoned castle when Donkey distracted Dragon with his charm. Donkey was equally seduced by Dragon when she blew a smoke-shaped heart at him. The two eventually wed and have hybrid Dronkey babies.
"I love Shrek," Murphy gushed.
Reprising his iconic voice-acting role was an easy decision for Murphy. Last January, the comedian said he'd be "absolutely" down to bring back everyone's favorite noble steed.
"I'd absolutely be open if they ever came with another Shrek, I'd do it in two seconds. I love Donkey," Murphy said in an interview with Etalk. "You know, they did Puss in Boots movies...I was like, 'They should have done a Donkey movie. Donkey is funnier than Puss in Boots.' I mean, I love Puss in Boots, but he ain't funny as the Donkey."
That's when Murphy suggested a spinoff focused entirely on Donkey.
"DreamWorks, if you all want to do it, just call me. I'm ready. I'm sitting and ready to do Donkey," he said.
It looks like DreamWorks Animation made the call!
It's unknown what kind of action Shrek and Donkey will get into in the new installments, but it'll be nothing compared to the action Murphy does as Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. The film comes nearly 30 years after the last installment in the franchise and 40 years after the original.
Bringing back his iconic part was a process. Murphy shared with ET that for the past few years, the script just wasn't right, and it got to the point they were thinking about a TV series and casting someone to play Axel's son while Murphy starred in the pilot.
"They had the script that came together, all the other scripts they wrote over the last 10-15 years were just not right, it wasn't right," Murphy said. "It got to the point where we were like, 'Well let's just do a TV series and someone plays Axel's son' and we were gonna do a show and I wasn't gonna be- I was just going to be in the pilot. It was going to be an Axel series."
The series didn't work out. Once superhero movies died down and streaming changed everything, it was "the perfect time" to bring back a Beverly Hills Cop movie.
"The superhero thing kind of settled down and the whole town is kinda like in the cross road trying to figure out, 'How do we do it?'" he said. "Streaming and everything changed everything. It just made the perfect storm. The script came together and it just, it was the perfect time to do it."
There's no word yet on when the new Shrek movie will come out, but Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F premieres July 3 on Netflix.
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