Zootopia fans get a clearer Nick and Judy answer as Byron Howard looks ahead to Zootopia 3

The Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps debate is not going away. Byron Howard has now given the clearest answer yet, saying the pair have real chemistry and even moments that feel like soulmates, but he still is not defining them as a romantic couple.

Howard's latest comments, given around Zootopia 2's streaming debut earlier this year, are a more direct read on the relationship than fans have had before. He said the creative team loves Nick and Judy's dynamic and agreed there is chemistry between them. He also said parts of Zootopia 2 feel, to him, like the two are soulmates, something that goes past ordinary friendship. Even so, he stopped short of calling it romance.

That matters because Zootopia 3 is now in early development, and Howard has made clear he knows the audience is split. Some fans want Nick and Judy to become a couple. Others want them to remain friends. He said he enjoys that unresolved tension and pointed to the performances of Jason Bateman and Ginnifer Goodwin as a big part of why the pairing works.

One thing the filmmakers have already ruled out is the idea that the world itself would block them. Jared Bush has said interspecies couples do exist in Zootopia and that he sees no reason they would not. He also confirmed in 2016 that Judy's argumentative neighbors, Pronk and Bucky, are married. If Nick and Judy do not become official, it is not because that kind of relationship is impossible in the city.

What it means for the next film

The strongest clue to how Disney Animation sees the duo may be in Zootopia 2 itself. Howard described the heart-to-heart between Nick and Judy after they escape death as the scene the film was built around. Bush said that moment went through major changes. An earlier version placed the conversation on a snowy mountain near the Lynxleys' estate, with Judy racing across town to reach Nick. He said the sequence did not land emotionally because Nick was not risking himself to save Judy at the same time, so the filmmakers reworked it around the Weather Walls, the giant structures that divide Zootopia's biomes.

The franchise has only grown since the first film raised the question. Zootopia 2 earned about $1.87 billion worldwide on a $150 million budget, becoming Disney's highest-grossing animated film ever. The third movie was announced at D23 in August, where Bush said birds will enter the city for the first time. Ginnifer Goodwin and Ke Huy Quan appeared with him at the Honda Center. There is still no release date, and no director, writer or producer has been formally announced.