Toad voice actor Keegan-Michael Key has spoken about the now confirmed The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2, saying it will feature some Nintendo characters that are “really deep cuts.”
The enormously popular The Super Mario Bros. Movie features a long list of Nintendo characters, but still some were left on the table. In an interview with Men's Journal, Key said the sequel will include characters that weren’t in the first film, some of which should please the most hardcore of Nintendo fans.
“I feel like what they've done creatively is they've really widened out the universe that these characters live in and we're going to meet some new folks,” Key said.
“We're going to meet some new folks that are old favorites and some folks that I think are really deep cuts, but because of the way the story's laying itself out right now, those characters are going to be very intriguing.”
But who? As you’d expect, Nintendo fans are already speculating about all sorts of characters who’d fit the "deep cut" bill, ranging from more well-known picks such as Bowser Jr and Rosalina to Tatanga and Toadette.
For now, we don’t know who exactly to expect, but Key did say the second movie is “a little broader in scope, and where it takes place is very intriguing lore and the Mario world.”
He added: “They're going to find some really fantastic Easter eggs and it's been very exciting so far.”
Nintendo and Illumination announced the next Super Mario Bros. Movie earlier this year with a release date of April 3, 2026. While not much was revealed, it was confirmed that The Super Mario Bros. Movie directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic will return.
Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto said at the time: "We'll let you know the details once we're ready to share more. This time too, the staff at Illumination and Nintendo are working together. We're thinking about broadening Mario's world further, and it'll have a bright and fun story. We hope you'll look forward to it!"
News of the follow-up hardly came as a surprise given that as of July 2023, 168.1 million people had seen the film worldwide, with over $1.349 billion made at the global box office. That makes The Super Mario Bros. Movie the highest-grossing video game film of all time.
Before the sequel was confirmed, Bowser voice actor Jack Black said he’d like to show off more of his vocal chops in any follow up, as he had pitched the idea of a musical titled Bowser's Revenge. "I think it should be a full musical, like what Todd Phillips is supposedly doing with Joker 2," he said.
Bowser's romantic ode to Princess Peach in The Super Mario Bros. Movie became an instant hit, landing a place on the Billboard Hot 100, but Black was initially hesitant about singing in the film. He told IGN in April last year that he tries "not to do too many crossovers" where his characters sing, but he couldn't pass up a love song.
In IGN’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie review, we called it "a fireball of animated fantasy. Mario, Luigi, and Peach’s adventure delights with its infectious energy and smart implementations of video game callbacks, and the top-shelf animation renders the Mushroom Kingdom as an Oz-like wonderland that begs to be explored in the inevitable sequels that will follow."
For more, check out our explainer of the ending of The Super Mario Bros. Movie and what it may tease about the new film, our pitches for the next Nintendo movie, and our look at if Nintendo movies can become bigger than Marvel's.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
