The first teaser for Shrek 5 confirmed plenty of the beloved franchise’s voice actors are returning, including Mike Myers as Shrek, Cameron Diaz as Fiona, and Eddie Murphy as Donkey. The movie is also introducing Zendaya to the franchise as the voice of Shrek and Fiona’s teenage daughter. But one detail about Zendaya’s characters has fans theorizing she could bring trans representation to Far Far Away.
In previous Shrek movies, we got to know Shrek and Fiona’s triplet of toddlers, Fergus, Farkle, and Felicia, two boys and one girl. That means Zendaya must be playing an aged-up version of their only daughter, Felicia — right?
Fans have a different theory. Zendaya’s character has brown eyes, but when we’ve seen Felicia before, she’s had blue eyes. Fergus and Farkle, on the other hand, do have brown eyes. Does that mean Zendaya is playing one of them, post-transition?
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Then again, the character’s eye color could simply be a continuity error, or even a reflection of the fact that some humans’ eyes change color as they grow up. But regardless of her gender, fans think the character’s styling — featuring curtain bangs and a nose ring — is patently queer-coded. The Shrek franchise has yet to feature any explicitly queer characters (though Shrek himself sparked some bisexual discourse earlier this year), so if Zendaya’s ogre is a lesbian like fans are theorizing, she could be the first.
The Shrek franchise is also known for its pop culture references, so a queer character could make a cameo that way, too. Maybe Zendaya’s character will be obsessed with a sapphic pop star turned medieval, like Billie Lady Eilish or Chappell Roan of Arc.
Princess Roan pic.twitter.com/oBTGUw1BgC
— Anny Mation (@MationMiss) February 28, 2025
In all seriousness, though Dreamworks is unlikely to make the new character either trans or gay, Shrek 5 still has plenty of hype as the long-awaited return of the franchise. It’s slated for release on December 23, 2026; check out the first teaser below.
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