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 prequel to Finding Dory, and features the returning voices of Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, and Williem Dafoe, with TBA (replacing Hayden Rolence), Michael Keaton, Idris Elba, and others joining the cast.

Finding Marlin will focus on the formerly overprotective clownfish Marlin, who goes on a new adventure to find his long-lost wife, Coral. But when he and a piranha named Spike get taken to an aquarium at New Zealand, Nemo, Dory, and the Tank Gang travel on their own adventure to find Marlin. Meanwhile, at an aquarium, Marlin and Spike travel and work together to find Coral as they grow a friendship.

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 2024. The film will also be THX-certified and presented in IMAX 3D and Disney Digital 3D.

Premise
In this prequel to Finding Dory, Marlin, Nemo, and Dory go on a new adventure to find his long-lost wife, Coral. But when he and a piranha named Spike get taken to an aquarium, Nemo, Dory, and the Tank Gang travel on their own adventure to find Marlin. Meanwhile, Marlin and Spike travel and work together to find Coral and grow a friendship.

Plot
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 offs and finds 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 and that he is beginning to think about going on a new adventure to find Coral. Later that night, Marlin goes out 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.

Later, the sharks drop off Marlin, Nemo, and Dory at a cave, near the ruins of the shipwreck, where the trio sleeps for the night. The trio later continues their quest for days and days, until they run into Gill and the Tank Gang, who escaped from the Marine Life Institute and are now stuck in a water bottle. Marlin, Nemo, and Dory free the Tank Gang and swim up to the surface, where Gill sees a transport ship. He then tells his plan to Marlin, Dory, Nemo, and the Tank Gang about getting 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 Wellington, 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 get into the pipes.

In the pipes, Marlin tells Spike that he is trying to find Coral, and Spike tells him that he is a genetically modified piranha who escaped a lab, and later became a minion of the barracuda Fang, who had repeatedly mistreated him in the past to the point where he once injured his torso. The two fish notice two pipe pathways and split up, with Marlin going into the right one while Spike goes into the left one. Later, Marlin and Spike eventually run into each other, but a pipe pig shows up and begins chasing Marlin and Spike. They try to escape, but Spike's torso injury stops him from swimming. As the pipe pig nearly hits Spike, Marlin saves his life by pushing him out of the way and both successfully escape. Spike thanks Marlin for saving his life from the pipe pig and agrees to help him find Coral.

At the river at South Island, Nemo and company arrive at the North Island and say farewell to the flying fish. There, they encounter a falcon that snatches Dory. Nemo, worried, but brave enough, discusses his own very first plan to the Tank Gang to rescue Dory. Gill and the Tank Gang head out to rescue Dory from the falcon and distract it as it lets go of Dory. Realizing that Dory was hurt in the process, Nemo realizes that he has to keep everyone safe since he is leading the search and tells Dory that everything will be fine.

Meanwhile, Marlin and Spike, having traveled in the aquarium for days, go 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 with Flipper to stop Arnold. As Marlin and Spike confront Arnold, he chases them as the two fish work together to take advantage of him as Spike knocks some rocks onto Arnold. Flipper stands up to him as Arnold agrees to never bully someone again and swims away. Having stopped Arnold, Marlin explains to Flipper about his adventure to find Coral, and Flipper, in return, tells him that there are tropical 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.

Meanwhile, after a few days of travelling, Gill discovers a drain entrance that is blocked by a pile of rocks, and the heroes try to pick up the rocks, but fail. Dory swims away, only to meet a shy but curious and friendly North Island brown kiwi named George. Nemo, traumatized by the falcon incident, tells Dory that George might attack anyone, but she insists that he is friendly. Nemo talks to George and asks him if he can lift the rocks out of the way, and George agrees to do so, as he lifts the rocks out of the way. 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 protective and remembers becoming brave the first time when he succeeded in stopping the filter.

Meanwhile, Marlin and Spike eventually make it to a tank in the tropical fish exhibit. There, they ask multiple fish one by one if they know a clownfish named Coral, before Marlin and Spike are told that no clownfish in this tank. Marlin swims off, sad that he'll never get to see his friends and family again and that he will never get to leave the aquarium. Spike then tells Marlin that they'll eventually find a way for them to escape from the aquarium.

Meanwhile, a stream of phytoplankton leaves the pipes and enters the ocean. It eventually passes by a volcano, where it is found by a moray eel named Paul, who then tells his boss about this.

While in the pipes, the heroes are still trying to get through them, and Dory is trying to guess directions for the heroes to go through. Eventually, Nemo and Dory discover a barely opened drain gate and look through it as they find out that they're nearby an aquarium, but Gill and the Tank Gang get stuck in a drain. Nemo calls the pelicans (who are on vacation) for help, as they arrive and 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 Spike are planning a way to escape this aquarium. 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 two 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 two fish and a crab unlocked a pipe entrance which would lead them to a water facility. They figure out that the two fish are Marlin and his new friend Spike, so they leave the aquarium and try to locate the nearest water facility. Meanwhile, Marlin and Spike, 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, explains to Nemo, Dory, and the Tank Gang that he wasn't able to find Coral. The pelicans eventually make it to the shore, where they drop off the heroes and tell them that they will see them again on the holidays. Marlin and his friends then head off to the ocean.

Having returned to the ocean, the heroes travel from Hawke's Bay up to a cave near a volcano in the Bay of Plenty, where Spike, feeling remorse for betraying Marlin's trust, confesses that he was forced to bring food to Fang, revealing that he sent a secret message to him about bringing him food while he was in the pipes, and that Coral was truly dead the whole time, before Marlin turns hostile towards him. Marlin and Spike end up in an argument, but Spike agrees to help Marlin defeat Fang.

Paul reveals to Fang that Spike is here with food, as he leaves the cave. Marlin, Spike, and the others are caught by Fang, who immediately recognizes Marlin and reveals to him that Spike was telling the truth as he spits out a fish's skeleton, as Marlin immediately recognizes that it is Coral's skeleton. Fang then asks Spike to help him bring the heroes down; Spike refuses and sides with Marlin at his own expense, making Fang furious, as the heroes fight Fang and Paul. During their fight, Fang knocks a sea column on Spike's head, thus hurting him and physically sending him into a rock wall. Marlin, horrified because of what he just saw, escapes with Nemo 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 as they enter it, and swim together in the bubbles safely with 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. Meanwhile, Spike gets up and heads to the crater as Dory and the Tank Gang follow him there. Nemo and Marlin try to warn Fang to look out and get out of the crater, but he continues chasing them and nearly devours them before Spike arrives with Dory and the Tank Gang. As the volcano is about to erupt, Spike fights against Fang, while Gill warns everyone that the volcano is going to erupt, and Marlin tells Spike to leave or else he will die. Spike tells Marlin that "it's the only way" as he rams downwards into Fang as he (Fang) gets caught by the full blast of the eruption and gets burned to death as Marlin, Nemo, Dory, and the Tank Gang escape the volcano.

Everyone, having made it out of the volcano alive, celebrating Spike's survival. Paul, realizing that Fang is dead, escapes. Everyone then begins to head 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, Squirt, and the other sea turtles about their adventures, as well as Spike's sacrifice. Marlin is still celebrating Spike's surival and the fact that Coral really is dead, but Crush comforts him and tells him to move on from Coral and be grateful for what he has, before everyone exits the current and they return to the reef. There, as everyone goes back to their regular lives, Nemo and Dory tell their friends about their adventures and Spike's heroic sacrifice. A year later, Marlin, Dory, and Nemo watch the coral reef as everyone talks about the story of how Marlin traveled hundreds of miles to find Nemo, as well as the story of how Spike survived himself against Fang. Marlin tells Nemo and Dory that they're grateful for everything that they have, especially after the death of Coral. The film ends with a shot of Marlin, Dory, and Nemo looking at the reef.

Main Cast
more coming soon...
 * Albert Brooks as Marlin, a formerly overprotective clownfish, Nemo's father, and Coral's husband. He is the main protagonist of the film.
 * Michael Keaton as Spike, a genetically modified piranha who works for Fang and the secondary antagonist-deuteragonist of the film.
 * TBA 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.
 * 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.
 * Simon Pegg 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.
 * Idris Elba as Fang, the barracuda who ate Coral in the first film, and is Marlin's archenemy. He is the main antagonist of the movie, like his first appearance in the first Finding Nemo. Elba previously voiced Fluke in Finding Dory.
 * John Ratzenberger as Paul, a moray eel who works for Fang.
 * Greg Sestero as Jake, an Atlantic blue crab, who helps Marlin and Spike get out of the aquarium.
 * James S. Baker as Flipper, a common bottlenose dolphin who lives at the New Zealand Public Aquarium.
 * Lou Romano as Arnold, a mean orca whale who bullies Flipper.
 * Jeff Bennett 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.
 * Bob Peterson as Mr. Ray, a spotted eagle ray, the school bus of the class, and the teacher of the class.
 * 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.
 * Ed O'Neill as Hank, a cranky East Pacific red octopus who previously lost a tentacle.
 * TBA as Sheldon, a sea horse.
 * TBA as Pearl, a flapjack octopus.
 * TBA as Tad, a long-nosed butterfly fish.
 * Katherine Ringgold as Kathy, a chickenfish.
 * Andrew Stanton, Brad Bird, Bob Peterson, and Lee Unkrich as the pelicans who are Nigel's friends. They help Nemo and friends find Marlin 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 2026, 10 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 May 2026.

Rating
Finding Marlin received a PG rating (for mild thematic elements and intense sequences) 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, Coco, 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 the official YouTube channel for Pixar, followed by a full theatrical trailer on the official YouTube channel for Pixar on May 20, 2026, on June 22, 2026, and the final second theatrical trailer on the official YouTube channel for Pixar on YouTube.

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, 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray and DVD in the United States on November 17, 2026. The DVD release includes the short film, Oliver the Penguin.

Rejected ideas
Finding Marlin/Rejected Ideas

Transcript
Finding Marlin/Transcript

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 the opening isn't a flashback.
 * 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 Simon Pegg.
 * Unlike Finding Dory, the Tank Gang have a large role in the film.
 * In 2030, 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 could not 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.
 * 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, but as the main antagonist of the movie.
 * 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 16:9 aspect ratio, like the two previous films that were originally shot in 16:9.

Gallery

 * See also: Finding Marlin/Gallery

Poll
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Credits
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