For the past 15 years, DreamWorks Animation has expanded the Kung Fu Panda franchise with fun and entertaining sequels as well as a more than a few televised series. Now, the studio has released a brand new trailer for Kung Fu Panda 4.

The trailer gives us a small glimpse of Po’s (voice of Jack Black) newest quest to find spirituality as he is about to become the Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace. Accepting such a high honor also means he must find and train a successor to replace him as the Dragon Warrior. And to make things even more complicated, a new shape-shifting villain called the Chameleon intends to use steal the very thing that would make Po the Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace and use its power to re-summon all the master villains he’s vanquished.

The new trailer gives us a small sample of some of the new voices we can expect to hear in the new film. First, there’s Viola Davis as the shapeshifting Chameleon. As the film’s chief antagonist, she intends to use her morphing abilities to overhelm Po and any other villain he has ever faced. Then there’s the quick-witted thief Zhen (Golden Globe winner Awkwafina), a corsac fox ox who really gets under Po’s fur but whose skills will prove invaluable. And finally, there’s Han (Oscar-winner Ke Huy Quan) as the leader of the Den of Thieves. 

The film features the voice talent of returning stars Academy Award® winner Dustin Hoffman as Kung Fu master, Shifu; James Hong (Everything Everywhere All at Once) as Po’s adoptive father, Mr. Ping; Academy Award® nominee Bryan Cranston as Po’s birth father, Li, and Emmy Award nominee Ian McShane as Tai Lung, Shifu’s former student and arch-nemesis.

Kung Fu Panda 4 is directed by Mike Mitchell (DreamWorks Animation’s Trolls, Shrek Forever After) and produced by Rebecca Huntley (DreamWorks Animation’s The Bad Guys). The film’s co-director is Stephanie Ma Stine (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power). In 2008, the Academy Award®-nominated 2008 inaugural chapter, Kung Fu Panda, became DreamWorks Animation’s highest-grossing original animated film and launched a franchise that has earned more than $1.8 billion at the global box-office.

Kung Fu Panda 4 opens in theaters on March 8, 2023.

Here’s the plot synopsis for Kung Fu Panda 4:

After three death-defying adventures defeating world-class villains with his unmatched courage and mad martial arts skills, Po, the Dragon Warrior (Golden Globe nominee Jack Black), is called upon by destiny to … give it a rest already. More specifically, he’s tapped to become the Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace.

That poses a couple of obvious problems. First, Po knows as much about spiritual leadership as he does about the paleo diet, and second, he needs to quickly find and train a new Dragon Warrior before he can assume his new lofty position. 

Even worse, there’s been a recent sighting of a wicked, powerful sorceress, Chameleon (Oscar® winner Viola Davis), a tiny lizard who can shapeshift into any creature, large or small. And Chameleon has her greedy, beady little eyes on Po’s Staff of Wisdom, which would give her the power to re-summon all the master villains whom Po has vanquished to the spirit realm. 

So, Po’s going to need some help. He finds it (kinda?) in the form of crafty, quick-witted thief Zhen (Golden Globe winner Awkwafina), a corsac fox who really gets under Po’s fur but whose skills will prove invaluable. In their quest to protect the Valley of Peace from Chameleon’s reptilian claws, this comedic odd-couple duo will have to work together. In the process, Po will discover that heroes can be found in the most unexpected places.