Brendan Fraser and Sarah Michelle Gellar have reunited for the primary time in 18 years with Breaking Bear, and the pair are prepared for the present to ruffle some feathers. Fraser and Gellar beforehand co-starred collectively within the 2007 ensemble crime drama The Air I Breathe, with the 2 remaining mates within the years that adopted, together with a shock look from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer star at 2023’s Santa Barbara Worldwide Movie Pageant to award him the American Riviera Award for excellent achievement in movie for The Whale.
The 2 are again collectively within the Breaking Bear solid as Jer and Blair Bear, two of three siblings within the titular household who, in an effort to avoid wasting their forest from the approaching arrivals of frackers, mobsters and a vicious wolf pack, flip to a lifetime of crime. The animated sequence can even see the pair going up towards a neighborhood biker gang, a immodest human information anchor and common household dysfunction.
Breaking Bear has assembled a star-studded roster to affix Fraser and Gellar, with Frozen vet Josh Gad starring because the Bears’ child brother, Alistair and Schitt’s Creek vet Annie Murphy because the reporter, Tawny. Moreover, the sequence provides one other reunion for Fraser with Elizabeth Hurley, whom he starred alongside within the Harold Ramis-directed remake of Bedazzled, and is starring within the animated comedy because the menacing Wolf Queen.
In honor of the present’s presence at New York Comedian Con 2025, ScreenRant hosted Brendan Fraser, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Elizabeth Hurley and Annie Murphy in our media suite to debate Breaking Bear. The previous duo mirrored on their various reunions with Fraser on the animated comedy, whereas additionally providing some perception into their characters’ dynamics and why they assume the present goes to get all of them in hassle.
Breaking Bear Is An “Equal Alternative Offender”
Breaking Bear‘s creation and 2026 launch come within the midst of an ongoing increase in grownup animation ever since Rick and Morty‘s mammoth success impressed different studios to strive their arms in comparable methods. This has led to every thing from the upcoming sequence, which hails from Julien Nitzberg (Mike Choose Presents: Tales from the Tour Bus), to Hulu’s Photo voltaic Opposites, which simply ended with season 6, and Netflix’s Massive Mouth, which additionally simply concluded with season 8.
In reflecting on this current surge in reputation, Gellar believes that as a result of “our world is so loopy“, animated reveals directed in the direction of older viewers are “in a position to do correct commentary“ and permit each the creators and stars the chance to “say what you wish to say” and “do the issues that you simply wish to do“. Hurley concurred by calling the present “fairly liberating” to make, with Fraser chuckling as he admits, “I am simply glad another person is writing it“.
Oh yeah, if somebody despatched me this position in live-action, I would be like, “No, improper particular person”.
In discussing what audiences ought to anticipate from the general tone of Breaking Bear, Gellar admitted she and her co-stars are “so restricted in what we will say“, however did tease that “there may be not a popular culture reference or a information story that we do not discover a method to skewer“. Murphy additional expounded on current discussions of “comedy being useless“, acknowledging that whereas there is a feeling “everybody [is] being simply too treasured“, the solid had been shocked by the scripts.
Gellar described it as being an “equal alternative offender“, and expressed that if somebody is “not offended” by Breaking Bear, it is as a result of “you are not watching“. Fraser agreed along with his co-stars, telling us to “be excited for the hilarity to ensue” and smiling as he mentioned in a singsong-y voice that they are “gonna get in hassle” for the present’s materials, which Murphy mentioned she’s excited for.
The Present Has A Distinctive Dysfunctional Household And Surrounding Characters
One factor that has confirmed to be a constant thread throughout a lot of contemporary grownup animation is having a sitcom-like format, centering on both a household or a gaggle of mates of their lives. Breaking Bear is preserving that construction alive, with the titular animal household displaying the identical humorous dysfunctions as human ones. For Fraser, he describes Jer Bear as being somebody who “screws issues up“, although he believes “I am in cost“. Nonetheless, secretly, his character is “actually simply curious about consuming and consuming“, requiring Gellar’s Blair to “are available and have to avoid wasting the day“.
A personality who Blair finds herself having to battle to guard her household is that of the vicious Wolf Queen, with Hurley explaining that the battle between her pack of wolves and the titular household is that “she does not need them in her area” of Wolf Hollows. As such, the Bears coming in with their felony goals results in the plan to “kill the bears“. Hurley and Gellar humorously displayed a few of their characters’ rivalries, saying their opposing animals “would win” in a battle in nature.
Earlier than diving into her personal character, Murphy identified that there “is energy in numbers” in relation to a battle, teasing that the wolves “have an enormous outdated pack“. As for enjoying Tawny, when it got here to discovering the right method to play her reporter character, Gellar initially joked that “her breasts” had been the key to mastering the position, with the Schitt’s Creek star laughing as she mentioned it was Tawny’s “bodacious breasts and sexy sensibilities“.
“I had enjoyable with it, as a result of I had, like, three totally different voices,” Murphy defined. “One was my information anchor voice, one was simply my regular voice, after which one was my thirsty, sexy voice. It was enjoyable. I took somewhat little bit of my information anchor voice from Trisha Takanawa from Household Man. I stole somewhat little bit of her inflection. However, yeah, I had an actual outrageous time enjoying this character.“
Every part Else We Realized From The Breaking Bear Solid
ScreenRant: I do know that with something that is animated, something the place you are lending your voice to the position, typically you will document in several time zones, in several areas. Is that this the primary time you guys have met as a solid? Is that this a reunion?
Elizabeth Hurley: No, we did the upfronts collectively, which was the primary time that I would met Sarah and Annie, however Brendan and I knew one another anyway.
Brendan Fraser: Yeah, from like, the flip of the century, I believe? [Chuckles] She hasn’t aged. Is it like ingesting child’s blood or one thing? Talking of which, it’s best to try Breaking Bear.
Sarah Michelle Gellar: Sure, the place we do not drink child’s blood. Or perhaps we do, or perhaps we do.
Brendan Fraser: Possibly in season 2?
ScreenRant: I do have one query outdoors of Breaking Bear, Brendan. The Mummy franchise is one thing so close to and pricey to my coronary heart, and I noticed that you simply and The Rock had a reunion at TIFF a month in the past forward of the premiere of The Smashing Machine. Somebody mentioned that after that dialog, you let it slip that you simply simply mentioned to him, “That is your second,” and I would love so that you can simply present perception on that.
Brendan Fraser: I am certain you’d, however that was a non-public dialog. [Laughs] If you happen to had been eavesdropping — I simply needed him to know that he is an enormous expertise, and he is received a spot in my coronary heart at all times, and I wanted him the very best of luck with this movie.
Breaking Bear is about to premiere on Tubi in March 2026.