Finding Marlin (2025 film)

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 on a new adventure to find his long-lost wife, Coral. But when he and a rogue 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 and 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 2020. The film will also be THX-certified and presented in IMAX 3D and Disney Digital 3D.

Premise
In this sequel to Finding Dory, Marlin, Nemo, and Dory go on a new adventure to find his long-lost wife, Coral. But when he and a rogue 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, 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 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, shocked, tells everybody that he lost Coral years ago due to the barracuda. Marlin then also tells Nemo that the coral reefs remind him about Coral, then he finds clues that Coral used to leave him when she was alive on the sea bed - small broken pieces of coral - and tells Nemo and Dory about these clues.When they go back home, Marlin keeps finding clues, and later that night, he goes out to follow them, while Nemo and Dory catch up and they all head to New Zealand. 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 to New Zealand.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 science research ship, then he tells his plan to Marlin, Dory, Nemo, and the Tank Gang about a plan to get on the vessel, then they are fished up by the scientists, and are put in a tank. But then, a saltwater crocodile on the ship tries to attack the good guys, but they jump from tank to tank until the crocodile is recaptured by the scientists. Later, when they arrive at the port of Napier, New Zealand, then they land into the ocean, where Marlin runs into a genetically modified piranha named Spike, who escaped from a lab in Brazil. Spike joins him on his journey to find Coral. But then, Marlin and Spike both get caught in a fishing boat, but are rescued by the staff members of an aquarium, then Marlin and Spike get put in a cooler in a truck, and 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 and the piranha, then Gill explains that rivers also lead to the ocean, so the heroes start a new adventure to find Marlin and the piranha. They get swept away by a wave during a storm and end up on the eastern coast of the South Island. Eventually, they find a river, where a bunch of blue penguins guide them to their leader, Lincoln, a blue tang, whom Dory falls in love with, and everyone else meets a Golden retriever dog named Rommel. Nemo asks Lincoln and a dachshund named Brownie to help him find Marlin, so he and his blue penguin friends decide to help Nemo and his friends find Marlin.Meanwhile, Marlin and Spike are put in a tank in a room of the aquarium, where a group of Special Needs children are visiting. The two fish meet a teenager named Oliver, who can communicate with animals. The fish are shocked that he can talk to animals, but Oliver explains the reason why he can communicate with them - he received a brain injury in a car crash, and can now understand and talk to animals, although he also has seizures, fits, and headaches. Oliver agrees to help Marlin on his quest to find Coral, and puts the two fish in a bucket of water.Later, Marlin, Spike, and Oliver hear that a dolphin named Flipper is in trouble, so Oliver grabs a nearby ladder and puts the two into the tank. Marlin and Spike then meet Flipper, who tells them that he is being bothered by a bully named Arnold who is an orca. Marlin and Spike then stand up to the bully, who then gets taken out of the tank by the human workers. Marlin explains to Flipper about his quest to find Coral, and Flipper, in return, gives him directions to the coral reef exhibit. Then, Oliver puts the two fish into the bucket, and the trio continue their quest to find Coral. Among the way, Marlin and friends go to more exhibits, they jump into one exhibit, then Oliver warns Marlin and Spike to get out of there. Marlin and Spike were confused of why Oliver was warning them. Suddenly, Marlin and Spike were attacked by a Perentie. Then marlin realized that this exhibit had a stream, so him and Spike keep swimming down the stream, then Marlin and Spike jump back into the bucket that Oliver put them in, then the Perentie roars at Oliver, then him Marlin and Spike run off. Meanwhile, Fang the barracuda and another piranha named Paul find out that his spy Spike is missing, so they swim from the Tasman Sea to the East Coast of New Zealand. Meanwhile, after travelling from the South Island back to near Napier, Lincoln introduces Nemo, Dory, and the Tank Gang to his companion, a North Island brown kiwi named George. Nemo explains to George about his journey to find Marlin at the aquarium, so he puts Nemo, Dory, the Tank Gang, and Lincoln in a fish tank. Gill then notices the pipes, and he tells Nemo, Dory, and the rest of the gang to get in the pipes to get to the aquarium, so they travel through the storm-water pipes and fight against the current to get to the aquarium.Marlin, Spike, and Oliver go through many exhibits, and they eventually make to their destination, the Coral Reef exhibit, where Oliver gives Marlin something to remember him, and they part ways, and Oliver drops Marlin and Spike into a tank. Marlin, however, finds Coral, who is glad to see Marlin again. They have a tearful reunion. He tells Coral about his tales from the 2003 original film, 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. Spike then sneaks away and sends Fang a message through phytoplankton. Out of the aquarium, Samantha tells Max a giant otter that there is a barracuda. She shows a reef shark named Finn and a moray eel named Scales that showed Max proof that Fang is here. Max tells Samantha to get the rest of the team Which is Flash an alligator gar and Marco a cottonmouth snake. While in the pipes, the heroes are still trying to get through them, and Dory keeps forgetting Lincoln's name, which makes him find it a little endearing. Everyone sees 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 tells Coral about the tales from Finding Dory. Coral is impressed about the tales Marlin tells, and comments on how sweet those stories are. Marlin then points out that Nemo and Dory would try to find him. Then, he tells Coral about his mollusk joke from the original film, which impresses her. But then, Nigel and the pelicans arrive with Nemo and his friends, and they rescue Marlin, Spike, and Coral from the aquarium. Then, a mean gang plan to stop Nigel and the pelicans.The heroes try to escape from the gang, but a member of the gang throws a rock at Nigel's left wing, injuring him. Oliver then rescues Marlin, Nemo, Dory, and the gang and puts them in a fish tank which is in a shopping cart, and runs away from the gang. He takes one of the gangs' cars and drives away, resulting in a car chase with the other gang members. The police and the police dogs join the chase and successfully stop and arrest half of the gang. Oliver has a seizure in the car, but presses the brake, so he crashes harmlessly into a wall near the river at low speed. As the police arrest the rest of the gang, Oliver releases the heroes to the ocean, and says farewell to Marlin and his friends, while Nemo says farewell to Rommel. He is then taken to hospital by the police who know about his brain injury and seizure Meanwhile, Nigel and the pelicans are rescued by humans.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, which angers the clownfish. 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.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 Max intends to grabs him and throw him away from Marlin, then Marlin and Nemo decide to swim away from Fang and Fang chases them, leaving his baddies behind. Then, they spot an underwater volcanic crater, part of the White Island volcano, then Nemo remembers from the first film and swims away from the splashes safely with Marlin while trying to escape. Fang runs into the splashes 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 almost eats them before Max pushes him down then the ruthless fish and the brave otter throw themselves into a final battle. Nemo and Marlin then have to escape the underwater lava flows, steam and landslides. Marlin and Nemo make it out of the volcano alive, and then they check on Spike. In the volcano, Fang almost had Max but Max kicks Fang into the crater which gets him caught by the full blast of the eruption. At the aquarium, Fang falls from the sky and lands into a piranha tank and spots his baddies who were mad at Fang for leaving them behind. Fang tries to act innocent, but they ignored him because they already got here and told the piranhas that he killed a piranha. The piranhas then come out and eat Fang alive. Everyone is safe; Spike, however, is severely dying due to getting badly hurt by Fang, and apologizes to Marlin before he dies. Nemo then cries because Spike died, and everyone mourns Spike's death. 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 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. Back at the reef, Marlin, Nemo, Coral, and Dory make a little memorial in the sand for Spike. The next day, Nemo comes back to school and Mr. Ray tells him off for not being at school and that he was supposed to have a report on predators. However, Nemo is able to come up with a report on barracudas and piranhas on the spot, so Mr. Ray gives him an A+. All the other kids then think he is very cool.That night, Marlin and Coral are in the anemone, and they talk about being together and Marlin 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. The next day everybody celebrates with Dory and Nemo and all their friends, including characters from the previous 2 films. Then, Dory and Lincoln sing the Just Keep Swimming song. Nemo says he's glad that everybody has a family now, and then the film ends happily.In a post-credits scene, it shows Hank the septopus from Finding Dory getting on a plane which flies to Cleveland, Ohio, then he camouflages just as the plane starts flying to Cleveland, Ohio.

 

Cast
Main cast:
 * Albert Brooks as Marlin, an overprotective Ocellaris clownfish, Nemo's father, and Coral's husband.

Stephen Root as Bubbles, a yellow tang who is a member of the Tank Gang. Billy Connolly as Rommel, a Scottish Accent Golden retriever dog who befriends Nemo.  
 * TBA as Nemo, a young optimistic Ocellaris 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 Ocellaris clownfish, Marlin's wife and Nemo's mother.
 * Michael Keaton as Spike, a genetically modified Red-bellied piranha who is Fang's spy and the secondary antagonist-turned-one of the three deuteragonists of the film.
 * Bruno Mars as Lincoln, a Pacific regal blue tang He is Dory's Boyfriend who Falls in love With Dory
 * Andrew scholte as Max, a giant otter who tries to stop Fang from getting to Marlin.
 * Evan Fong as Flash, an alligator gar who tries to stop Fang from getting to Marlin.
 * Teresa Walsh as Samantha, an arapaima who spies on Fang.
 * Christopher Walken as Marco, a cottonmouth snake who battle Harold in Queenstown, New zealand.
 * Owen Wilson as Finn, a whitetip reef shark
 * Jason Lee as Scales, a yellow edged moray eel who is Finn's friend
 * Hayden Rolence as Oliver, a human teenager who can communicate with animals. He helps Marlin on his adventure to find Coral.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * Peter Sohn as Brownie, a dachshund who is Lincoln's best friend.
 * 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 great hammerhead shark who is friends with Bruce.
 * Bruce Spence as Chum, a completely vegetarian southern mako shark who is friends with Bruce and Anchor.
 * David Koechner as The Leopard seal
 * Goran Višnjić as Fang, the great barracuda who wants to eat Marlin and his friends. He is the main antagonist of the movie.
 * Denis Leary as Paul, a genetically modified red-bellied piranha who is much more of a baddy than Spike is, and also works for Fang.
 * John Ratzenberger as Carlos, an electric eel who is one of the three baddies that Fang makes a deal with.
 * Johnny Depp as Harold, a red lionfish who is one of the three baddies that Fang makes a deal with.
 * Alan Tudyk as Earl, a yellow-lipped sea snake who is one of the three baddies that Fang makes a deal with.
 * James S. Baker as Flipper, a common bottlenose dolphin.
 * Alec Baldwin as Arnold, a mean orca whale who bullies Flipper.
 * Frank Welker as George, a North Island brown kiwi who is a companion of Lincoln and Flint’s friend
 * Andrew Stanton as Crush, a 150-year old green sea turtle.
 * Anton Starkman as Squirt, a green sea turtle and Crush's son. He was voiced by Bennett Dammann in the previous film. He was also voiced by Nick Bird in the first film.
 * Geoffrey Rush as Nigel, a brown pelican.
 * Kaitlin Olson as Destiny, a nearsighted 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, Nemo's school teacher.
 * Ed O'Neill as Hank, a cranky East Pacific red octopus who grown back a tentacle.

Additional voices
 * Tom Franco as icy a blackfin icefish
 * Jacki Weaver as simon a sockeye salmon
 * Corey Burton as duke a whitespotted bamboo shark who help marlin to find coral
 * Jim Cummings as tim a tiger shark who help marlin to find coral.
 * frank weller as the saltwater crocodile
 * Kevin Michael Richardson as rick a greenland shark
 * collin dean as billy a japanese spider crab
 * luke evans as tony a giant pacific octopus
 * grey deliste as nick a blue shark
 * Tom kenny as Randy a thresher shark
 * Frank welker as the peretine