Kieran Culkin is moulding his career to include a new animated movie from Disney.

He will voice star in Clay, which is centered on a man chosen to be a mentor — but his mentee is a moldable ball of clay, who he must keep alive on a journey through a fantastical forrest. Disney Animation’s Jared Bush made the announcement at Disney’s D23 fan event on Friday to reveal the news, and announced a release date of November 2028.

Culkin won a best supporting actor Oscar as well as a Golden Globe in 2025 for A Real Pain, and won an Emmy and a Globe for his breakout work as Roman Roy in HBO’s Succession. Coming up, he has The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, in which he plays Caesar Flickerman, the character played by Stanley Tucci in the original features. He also has a role in Nancy Meyer’s upcoming movie for Warner Bros., which is expected for 2027.

Also as part of the D23 presentation, Disney Animation announced an upcoming Zootopia 3 and new additions to its project Hexed, with Jodie Foster and Walton Goggins joining lead Hailee Steinfeld in the voice cast. Sister division Pixar also showed off what it had in the works, including Incredibles 3 and Coco 2.

Last year, Zootopia 2 became the biggest Hollywood animated film of all time, landing $1.87 billion at the worldwide box office; now, a third movie is on the way.

The announcement was made during Disney‘s D23 fan event on Friday by Disney Animation head Jared Bush, with Ginnifer Goodwin and Ke Huy Quan also on hand. “The bunny and the snake will be back!” Goodwin declared, as Bush confirmed this iteration will see the return of its fan-favorite characters and feature the introduction of a bird-centered storyline.

The hit franchise follows optimistic young rabbit Judy Hopps (Goodwin) and sly red fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) as they partner together as rookie cops, solving crimes in the animal metropolis of Zootopia. The original 2016 film grossed over $1 billion worldwide, and nine years later, the sequel proved to be an even bigger smash.

Even before Zootopia 2 went on to break records, the team was already looking ahead, with Goodwin telling The Hollywood Reporter at the November 2025 premiere, “I’m putting everything out there trying to manifest a number three, after a much shorter break. All we’ve got to do is get everyone in the world to go see the movie, it’s not a lot to ask.”

Directors Jared Bush (who serves as chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation) and Byron Howard also had their eyes on doing more with the franchise. Bush said at the time, “If it goes well, we would spend the rest of our careers in the world of Zootopia. It’s the most fun place in the world and there’s so much left to explore. We’ve actually only seen one city on one continent on one planet. There’s quite a lot more stories to tell.”