Finding Marlin

Finding Marlin is an upcoming 2026 American 3D computer-animated buddy comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed and written by Andrew Stanton, the screenplay was co-written by Bob Peterson and Stanton. The film is a sequel to the critically acclaimed 2016 Disney/Pixar film, Finding Dory, and features the returning voices of Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Elizabeth Perkins, and Williem Dafoe, with TBA (replacing Hayden Rolence), Michael Keaton, TBA, Tom Hiddleston, and others joining the cast.

Finding Marlin will focus on the formerly overprotective clownfish Marlin, who journeys to New Zealand to find his long-lost wife, Coral. But when he and a new piranha friend get taken, Nemo, Dory and the Tank Gang try to rescue them. Meanwhile, at an aquarium, Marlin and Spike travel across the aquarium and work together to find Coral. Unknownst to Marlin, Spike is actually a spy for the barracuda Fang, but he eventually changes his mind.

The film received critical acclaim and won several Annie Awards, and was nominated for the Best Animated Feature OSCAR. It earned a total of $1 billion worldwide.

Finding Marlin is scheduled to be released on July 24, 2026. Upon release, the film was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $1 billion worldwide, becoming the third Pixar film to cross this mark after 2010's Toy Story 3 and 2016's Finding Dory.

The film set several records, including being voted one of the 100 greatest motion pictures since 2020. The film will also be THX-certified and presented in IMAX 3D and Disney Digital 3D.

Premise
Marlin, Nemo, and Dory go on a new adventure and head for New Zealand to find Marlin's long-lost wife, Coral. But when he and a new piranha friend named Spike get taken by humans, Nemo, Dory, and the Tank Gang try to rescue them while meeting new and colorful friends. Meanwhile, at an aquarium, Marlin and Spike travel across the aquarium and work together to find Coral. Unknownst to Marlin, Spike is actually a spy for the barracuda Fang, but he eventually changes his mind.

Plot

 * See also: Finding Marlin/Transcript

The film begins with Marlin, Nemo, and Dory getting ready for bed. Nemo and Dory ask Marlin what happened to Nemo's mother (Coral), so Marlin tells them what happened. Then, Marlin and Nemo go into their anemone, and Dory goes to her brain coral, then they all fall asleep. Later, at midnight, Marlin has a nightmare about losing Coral and their eggs to the barracuda. He wakes up, screaming in fear, and he wakes up Nemo and Dory in the process. Nemo and Dory ask him what's wrong, and Marlin says nothing, telling them to go back to sleep. Marlin then goes to a rock, thinking about Coral.

The following morning, on the way to bring Nemo to the Sandy Patch School, Marlin sees that people have families, reminding him of his life with Coral before the barracuda incident. Nemo then asks Marlin to come with him on a field trip, then he responds, then they go to a field trip with Mr. Ray to learn about coral reefs. At the field trip, Nemo's classmates ask Marlin about ever having a wife, but Marlin, nervous, tells everybody that he lost Coral years ago due to the barracuda. Marlin swims off only to find Nemo, who found small broken pieces of coral - clues that Coral used to leave him when she was alive on the sea bed.

Returning home, Marlin explains to Dory about the clues that involve Coral. Later that night, Marlin goes out on a new quest to find Coral, while Nemo and Dory catch up and they all leave the reef and travel. During their quest, Nemo falls asleep, and then the trio run into Bruce, Anchor, and Chum, who are now fully vegetarian. Marlin explains to the sharks about his quest to find Coral, so the sharks give Marlin, Nemo, and Dory a lift.

A few hours later, the sharks drop off Marlin, Nemo, and Dory at a cave, where the trio sleeps for the night. The next morning, the trio continues their quest, but they run into Gill and the Tank Gang, who escaped from the Marine Life Institute. Nemo is glad to see the Tank Gang again. Gill then sees a transport ship, then he tells his plan to Marlin, Dory, Nemo, and the Tank Gang about a plan to get on the vessel to use the coordinates to locate Coral. Gill sends Peach and Jacques to the ship, where the two distract the guards and incapacitate them, and get a map to find the location where the boat is going to. The plan succeeds, and the heroes follow the ship until they arrive at the port of Napier, New Zealand, where Marlin is ambushed by a piranha, whom he tries to fend off. But then, Marlin and the piranha both get rescued by the staff members of an aquarium and get put in a cooler in a truck, as it heads for the New Zealand Public Aquarium, in the city of Napier.

Nemo, Dory, and the Tank Gang make a plan to find Marlin as they then travel. They travel too far and end up on the eastern coast of the South Island, where Gill spots some of his old friends, a shoal of flying fish led by a middle-aged flying fish named Lincoln. Nemo asks them if they can help them find Marlin, and they agree. As everyone gets on them, the flying fish then travel across the river.

Meanwhile, Marlin and the piranha are put in a tank in a room of the aquarium, where a group of children are visiting. Marlin and the piranha get in a steaming feud and swim away from each other. The piranha, however, feels bad and decides to help Marlin escape from the tank, as he introduces himself as Spike. The plan succeeds, with the two fish getting into a bucket leading to another exhibit.

Meanwhile, the barracuda Fang and a piranha named Paul decide to go check on Spike, but eventually realize he's missing. Then they both swim from the Tasman Sea to the East Coast of New Zealand. At the aquarium, Marlin and Spike are put into an exhibit where they hear that someone is in trouble. They then meet a dolphin named Flipper, who tells them that he is being bothered by a bully named Arnold who is an orca whale. Marlin and Spike come up with a plan and discuss ideas to stop Arnold. As they confront Arnold, he chases them as the two fish work together to take advantage of him as he crashes into a bunch of rocks while Spike hides into a hole. The two fish stand up to him as Arnold agrees to never bully someone again and swims away. Returning to Flipper, Marlin explains to him about his adventure to find Coral, and Flipper, in return, tells him that there are clownfish at a large tank on the highest floor. As the two fish say farewell to Flipper, Marlin and Spike enter some pipes which would be a quick way to find the exhibit which could contain Coral.

At the river at South Island, Nemo and company arrive at the North Island and say farwell to the flying fish. Eventually, they encounter a falcon that snatches Dory. Nemo, horrified but brave enough, discusses his own very first plan to the Tank Gang. Gill sends the Tank Gang to rescue Dory from the falcon and distract it as it lets go of Dory. Noticing that she is hurt, Dory swims off. Nemo realizes that he has to keep everyone safe since he is leading the search and tells Dory that everything will be fine.

Fang and Paul continue to search for Spike so they can check on him, but are in trouble and fight off other predators. As they succeed, they find a drain entrance. Meanwhile, in the pipes, Marlin and Spike are trying to find the exhibit featuring clownfish, but notice two pipe entrances. The two fish split up, with Marlin going into the right one while Spike goes into the left one. Marlin swims as fast as he can, while Spike secretly sends his boss Fang a message through phytoplankton, promising Marlin as food. As Marlin and Spike eventually run into each other, a group of clams warn Marlin and Spike that there is a pig in the pipes, but they act skeptical. But then, a pipe pig shows up and begins chasing Marlin and Spike. The pig nearly hits Spike, but Marlin saves his life by pushing him out of the way into another pipe entrance as they both successfully escape. Spike thanks Marlin for saving his life from the pipe pig and enter an exhibit where they stay for the night.

Meanwhile, after a few days of travelling, Dory meets a shy but curious North Island brown kiwi named George. Nemo, scarred by the falcon incident, tells Dory that George might attack anyone, but she insists that he is friendly. Dory talks to George and asks him if he knows a shortcut to find Marlin, so he leads the way and guides Nemo, Dory, and the Tank Gang to a pipe entrance. As the heroes enter the pipe entrance, they travel through the storm-water pipes and fight against the current to get to the aquarium. Nemo, knowing that George is friendly, realizes that he shouldn't be a bit rough and remembers becoming brave the first time when he succeeded in stopping the filter.

Marlin and Spike continue searching for Coral, but they get lost. Spike, who is unsure wherever he must let Marlin live or not after he saved his life, swims off to find help. He meets a group of friendly eels and asks them to help Marlin. Marlin talks to the eels that he has to find Coral and tells them how he lost her; the eel Peter tells him not to hold onto the past and think of the future. Asking for a shortcut, the eels guide Marlin and Spike to the pipe entrance and says farewell as the two fish enter the pipes. The two fish eventually make it to a small tank the tropical fish exhibit, where they are searching for Coral, but run into a familiar face: it turns out to be Coral. The two clownfish have a tearful reunion. He tells Coral about how his life was after losing her and Coral reveals how she survived the barracuda incident: she swam out of the barracuda's mouth before it closed, but she was injured in the process, so she has a scar on one side and doesn't swim well because her tail was injured as well.

Meanwhile, Fang, sick and tired of waiting for Spike, sends Paul to go into the pipe entrance, where he finds the phytoplankton message by Spike (in Morse Code). Learning that Spike is going to bring him a clownfish and must recruit allies in case he brings more fish, Fang and Paul make a plan to attack at a dangerous place as they head there.

While in the pipes, the heroes are still trying to get through them, and Dory is guessing directions for the heroes to go through. Everyone notices that they are almost outside of the pipes, but Gill and the Tank Gang get stuck in a drain, and the pelicans with George's help lift the drain grate and scoop the fish out of the storm-water drain and carry them in their beaks to the NZ Aquarium. Back at the Coral Reef exhibit, Marlin and Coral are spending time with each other for the first time in years since the barracuda incident. As they notice another pipe entrance with a lock on it, they ask a crab named Jake if there is a way to get out of the aquarium. He twists the lock from the inside, opening it. The three fish and Jake enter the pipeline, which unintentionally leads them to a water facility connected to the aquarium.

As Nemo and friends make it into the aquarium and go into the tropical fish exhibit, they learn that three fish and a crab unlocked a pipe entrance which would lead them to a water facility. They figure out that two of the fish are Marlin and his new friend Spike, so they leave the aquarium and try to locate the nearest water facility. Meanwhile, Marlin, Spike, and Coral, along with Jake, have to avoid all the obstacles in order to get out. As the heroes make it to the water facility, they spot the three fish in one of the sections and successfully rescue them. Marlin, after being rescued, introduces Nemo, Dory, and the Tank Gang to Coral. The pelicans eventually make it to the shore, where they drop off the heroes and tell them that they will see them later. Marlin and his friends then head off to the ocean.

Meanwhile Fang and Paul find a perfect place to attack the fish that were promised by Spike. They then meet three predators named Ryan, Harold, and Ben and ask them to join him and they agree.

When the heroes go back to the ocean, they travel from Hawkes Bay up to the Bay of Plenty, where Spike, feeling remorse for betraying Marlin's trust, confesses his plans and his role as a spy to Marlin, causing him to turn hostile towards him. Marlin and Spike end up in an argument, but Coral stops Marlin from making things worse. Spike has a change of heart, and agrees to help Marlin escape from the barracuda and his baddies. Soon, Spike goes to Fang, who briefly gets angry at him for going missing. Fang then sees Dory and Coral, and starts chasing them while Spike goes with Marlin and co.

Leading the barracuda away from Marlin, whom he intended to ambush, Dory swims away with Coral; Meanwhile, Marlin and friends make a plan to stop Fang. Dory and Coral, however, catch up with Marlin and his friends, but Fang and his baddies show up and corner everyone, and he asks Spike to help him bring the heroes down. Spike refuses and sides with Marlin, making Fang furious, and the heroes fight Fang and his baddies. During their fight, Fang knocks a sea column on Spike's head, brutally hurting him and physically sending him into a rock wall. The barracuda then corners Marlin, intending to attack him, but Marlin and Nemo decide to escape from Fang as he begins chasing them. Then, the two clownfish spot an underwater volcanic crater, part of the White Island volcano, then Nemo remembers the Ring of Fire from the first film and swims in the bubbles safely with Marlin while trying to escape. Fang runs into the bubbles and gets burned. Angry and in pain, he blindly crosses the crater just as the eruption starts. Nemo and Marlin yell at him to look out and get out of the crater, but he continues chasing them and nearly devours them before he gets caught by the full blast of the eruption. Nemo and Marlin then have to escape the underwater lava flows, steam and landslides.

Everyone then sees the volcano eruption and believe that Marlin and Nemo have died, so they mourn their loss. Then, Marlin and Nemo make it out of the volcano alive, and then everyone cheers for them. The baddies, realizing that Fang is dead, leave. Everyone is safe, except for Spike, who is badly injured, and tells Marlin his last words before he dies. Nemo then cries because Spike died, and everyone mourns the death of Spike. Marlin then confesses how he regrets his fallout with Spike. Marlin and everyone then head back home to the Great Barrier Reef.

Marlin and the others go back to the reef by riding the East Australian Current, and they tell Crush and the sea turtles about their adventures. Marlin is still sad about Spike's death, but Crush cheers him up, and then everyone exits the current and they return to the reef. There, Marlin, Nemo, Dory, and Coral hold a funeral for Spike. Later, as everyone goes back to their regular lives, Marlin and Coral talk about being together and he talks about how much he missed Coral, but that somehow he knew that she wasn't dead because he didn't turn into a female. They share a loving hug because they're happy to be together again and spend time with everyone else as the movie ends.

Main Cast

 * Albert Brooks as Marlin, a formerly overprotective clownfish, Nemo's father, and Coral's husband.
 * Frankie Ryan Manriquez as Nemo, a young optimistic clownfish, Marlin and Coral's son, and Dory's friend. He was voiced by Hayden Rolence in the previous film. He was also voiced by Alexander Gould in the first movie.
 * Ellen DeGeneres as Dory, a Pacific regal blue tang who suffers from short-term memory loss.
 * Elizabeth Perkins as Coral, a female clownfish who is Marlin's wife and Nemo's mother.
 * Michael Keaton as Spike, a genetically modified piranha who is Fang's spy and the secondary antagonist-turned-one of the three deuteragonists of the film.
 * Williem Dafoe as Gill, a Moorish idol who is the leader of the Tank Gang.
 * Brad Garrett as Bloat, a pufferfish who is a member of the Tank Gang.
 * Allison Janney as Peach, a pink starfish who is a member of the Tank Gang.
 * Austin Pendleton as Gurgle, a royal gramma who is a member of the Tank Gang.
 * Stephen Root as Bubbles, a yellow tang who is a member of the Tank Gang.
 * Vicki Lewis as Deb/Flo, a four-striped damselfish who is a member of the Tank Gang.
 * Jerome Ranft as Jacques, a cleaner shrimp who is a member of the Tank Gang. He was voiced by Joe Ranft, Jerome's late brother, in the first film.
 * Idris Elba as Bruce, a completely vegetarian great white shark. He was voiced by Barry Humphries in the first film.
 * Eric Bana as Anchor, a completely vegetarian hammerhead shark who is friends with Bruce.
 * Bruce Spence as Chum, a completely vegetarian mako shark who is friends with Bruce and Anchor.
 * TBA as Fang, the barracuda who wants to eat Marlin and his friends. He is the main antagonist of the movie, unlike his first appearance in the first Finding Nemo.
 * Tom Hiddleston as Paul, a genetically modified piranha who is much more of a baddy than Spike is, and also works for Fang.
 * John Ratzenberger as Ryan, an electric eel who is one of the three baddies that Fang makes a deal with.
 * Alan Tudyk as Harold, a lionfish who is one of the three baddies that Fang makes a deal with.
 * Kirk Thornton as Ben, a sea snake who is one of the three baddies that Fang makes a deal with.
 * Tommy Wiseau as Peter, an electric eel, who turn out to be a hippy
 * Greg Sestero as Jake, an Atlantic blue crab, who helps to get out of the aquarium
 * James S. Baker as Flipper, a common bottlenose dolphin who lives at the New Zealand Public Aquarium.
 * Alec Baldwin as Arnold, a mean orca whale who bullies Flipper.
 * Frank Welker as George, a North Island brown kiwi.
 * Andrew Stanton as Crush, a 150-year old green sea turtle.
 * Finn Carr as Squirt, a green sea turtle and Crush's son. He was voiced by Bennett Dammann in the previous film, and Nicholas Bird in the first film.
 * Geoffrey Rush as Nigel, a brown pelican from the first film.
 * Kaitlin Olson as Destiny, a near-sighted whale shark and Dory's childhood friend.
 * Ty Burrell as Bailey, a beluga whale.
 * Diane Keaton as Jenny, Dory's mother.
 * Eugene Levy as Charlie, Dory's father.
 * Bob Peterson as Mr. Ray, a spotted eagle ray, the school bus of the class, and the teacher of the class.
 * Ed O'Neill as Hank, a cranky East Pacific red octopus who previously lost a tentacle.

Additional Voices
more coming soon...
 * Owen Vaccaro as Sheldon, a sea horse.
 * Scarlett Estevez as Pearl, a flapjack octopus.
 * Connor Corum as Tad, a long-nosed butterfly fish.
 * Katherine Ringgold as Kathy, a chickenfish.
 * Brian Firenzi as a captain
 * John Cena, Paul Scheer, and Hannibal Buress as guards
 * Tom Franco as a truck pilot
 * Jacki Weaver as truck co-pilot
 * Grey Griffin as the NZ aquarium owner
 * James Franco and Dee Bradley Baker as fishermen
 * Hans Zimmer as a whitespotted bamboo shark
 * Jim Cummings as a reddish egret
 * Kevin Michael Richardson as the Tropical Fish Exhibit owner
 * Andrew Stanton, Brad Bird, Bob Peterson, and Lee Unkrich as the pelicans who are Nigel's friends. They help Nemo and friends find Marlin, Coral, and Spike at the NZ Aquarium.

Production
In June 2016, director Andrew Stanton talked about the possibility of a sequel, saying that he would never exclude it because of the introduction of new characters, citing the Toy Story films as guides for how to expand a world through sequels.

Finding Marlin began production in 2022, 6 years after the release of Finding Dory. The film contains many new scenes inspired from deleted scenes and rejected concepts that were originally going to be used for Finding Nemo and Finding Dory. It was decided early in development of Finding Marlin that they would use inspiration from Finding Dory and Ice Age and that deleted scenes and rejected concepts from the first two films would be revisited.

The film was officially announced at the 2023 D23 Expo. It was also confirmed that Brooks, DeGeneres, Dafoe, and Perkins had already signed on to reprise their roles as Marlin, Dory, Gill, and Coral. Eventually a short teaser trailer released at the 2025 D23 Expo, accompanied by the announcement that the film would be released on July 24, 2026. Some time later, a subsequent full-length trailer was released on Disney and Pixar's social media pages in April 2026.

Rating
Finding Marlin received a PG rating (for mild thematic elements, violence, mild rude humor, and action) by the MPAA. This is the ???th Pixar movie to be rated as such in the US after The Incredibles, Up, Brave, Inside Out, The Good Dinosaur, Finding Dory, and Incredibles 2. It is also the second Pixar sequel to have another rating other than the original film's rating (G).

Box Office
Finding Marlin earned $1,324,411,567 at the worldwide box office.

Critical Response
Finding Marlin received positive reviews from critics, with a 8/10 rating on IMDB, a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 95/100 rating on Metacritic. Critics typically praised the animation quality, the characters, the storyline, and the well-done voice acting, while some did criticize the fact that it may get a little cliché at times. Finding Marlin won several Annie Awards, and was nominated for the Best Animated Feature OSCAR.

Marketing
On December 17, 2025, a teaser trailer was released on Pixar's YouTube channel, followed by a full theatrical trailer on Pixar's YouTube channel on February 4, 2026.

Theatrical release
The film was released in theaters worldwide on July 24, 2026, marking the 40th anniversary of Pixar.

Home media release
Finding Marlin is scheduled to be released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on Blu-ray (2D and 3D) and DVD in the United States on December 8, 2026. The DVD release includes the short film, Oliver the Penguin.

Rejected ideas
Finding Marlin/Rejected Ideas

Trivia

 * The plot of Finding Marlin used inspiration from some elements in other movies, such as Finding Dory and Ice Age.
 * This is the sixth film to be directed by Andrew Stanton. His final film will be a live-action remake of Ice Age.
 * Finding Nemo is the third Pixar franchise to have three films, after Toy Story and Cars.
 * The film marks several firsts for the Finding Nemo franchise:
 * The first time there isn't an entire flashback scene at the opening.
 * The first time where Mr. Ray doesn't sing.
 * The first film that doesn't have a post-credits scene.
 * Barry Humphries didn't reprise his role as Bruce because he died of natural causes in the 2020s. He is replaced by Idris Elba.
 * Unlike Finding Dory, the Tank Gang have a large role in the film.
 * In 2027, Disney made a Finding Marlin-themed ride at Disneyland, replacing the original Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage ride. The ride at Disneyland became so popular that it boosted the film's popularity.
 * Hayden Rolence couldn't reprise his role of Nemo because of his deepened voice, which is due to him being too old to reprise as Nemo. The role was given to TBA.
 * Similar to Alexander Gould, who made a cameo in Finding Dory as Passenger Carl, Hayden Rolence made a small cameo as one of the employees at the aquarium.
 * This is the third Pixar's sequel film to be rated PG by the MPAA, after Finding Dory and Incredibles 2.
 * Similar to Finding Dory, some of the visitors at the NZ Aquarium have the same models from earlier Pixar films.
 * This is the first Finding Nemo installment to include the Wilhelm scream. It is at the scene where Fang is killed by the full blast of the volcanic eruption.
 * Finding Marlin has strong connections to Finding Nemo, in terms of continuity, some reused music and flashbacks. Here are examples of callbacks to the first:
 * Marlin tells Nemo and Dory a bedtime story of what happened to Coral at the very beginning of the film.
 * Marlin has a bad dream of when he lost Coral to the barracuda.
 * When the kids at Nemo's field trip ask Marlin about ever having a wife, he tells them the truth that he lost Coral to the barracuda.
 * The three sharks (Bruce, Anchor, and Chum) return from the first film, as they give Marlin and company a lift.
 * When Marlin, Nemo, and Dory wake up from the cave they slept for the night and continue to travel, we see places and certain characters from the first film, including the trench, a jellyfish forest, and the whale.
 * When Gill explains his plan to everyone, the "Foolproof" music from reused since its previous appearance in Finding Nemo, when Gill discusses his plan in which Nemo is the only one to jam the filter.
 * Fang, the barracuda from the first film, returns as the main antagonist of the movie.
 * When Marlin and Coral reunite, she reveals how she survived the barracuda incident.
 * In the film's climax, Nemo remembers the "Ring of Fire" from Finding Nemo and, proving that he is brave enough, helps Marlin escape from Fang by going into the crater.
 * This will be the first Finding Nemo film to be filmed in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio, unlike the two previous films that were originally shot in 16:9.

Gallery

 * See also: Finding Marlin/Gallery

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