Laika shows how Wildwood’s stop-motion world is being built
A new featurette previews the handcrafted sets behind Travis Knight’s fantasy film, due in theaters Oct. 23, 2026.
By Maya Lindqvist · Senior Technology Correspondent
3 min read
Laika Studios has released a behind-the-scenes featurette for Wildwood, giving viewers a closer look at the physical sets and figures behind director Travis Knight’s stop-motion fantasy film. The preview adds to the rollout for a movie based on a well-known 2011 children’s novel and underscores Laika’s bet on handcrafted animation at a time when the film’s first teaser has drawn broad attention.
According to Ars Technica, Laika released an extended teaser in May that has been viewed nearly 90 million times. The studio has not yet released a full trailer, Ars Technica reported, but the new featurette shows the animation team assembling the film’s elaborate world piece by piece.
A Portland forest turned fantasy realm
Wildwood adapts the 2011 novel by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis, according to Ars Technica. Meloy is the frontman of the indie folk rock band The Decemberists, while Ellis is an illustrator; the two live in Portland, Oregon, near Forest Park, which Ars Technica said helped inspire the book’s setting.
In the story, Forest Park becomes a concealed magical territory known as the Wilderness, populated by talking animals and dangerous forces. Ars Technica described the world as open to people of the Wood and to a small number of Outsider “half-breeds.”
The plot follows 12-year-old Prue McKee, who enters the forest after a murder of crows carries off her baby brother, Mac. Her classmate Curtis Mehlberg follows her, and both children cross into the hidden world while Prue searches for Mac, according to Ars Technica.
Ars Technica reported that their journey brings them into contact with Alexandra, a mysterious woman who has lost her son, along with coyotes, bandits and other secrets tied to the Wilderness.
Laika leans on its stop-motion identity
Knight is the chief executive of Laika Studios, which optioned film rights to the novel shortly after it was published, Ars Technica reported. The studio is known for stop-motion animation, and Ars Technica connected Wildwood to Laika and Knight’s earlier work producing the Oscar-nominated 2016 animated film Kubo and the Two Strings.
Ars Technica also noted Knight’s live-action credits, including Bumblebee and Masters of the Universe. For Wildwood, the studio’s marketing is now putting the production craft on display, with the featurette focused on the handmade sets and character pieces used to create the film’s fantasy world.
The voice cast
According to Ars Technica, Peyton Elizabeth Lee voices Prue, Jacob Tremblay voices Curtis and Carey Mulligan voices Alexandra. Angela Bassett voices the General, a giant golden eagle, while Jake Johnson and Maya Erskine voice Prue’s parents and Arthur Knight voices Mac.
The cast also includes Mahershala Ali, Jemaine Clement, Awkwafina, Charlie Day, Amandla Stenberg, Tom Waits, Tantoo Cardinal, Richard E. Grant, Rob Delaney, Marc Evan Jackson, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Blythe Danner and Len Cariou in roles that have not yet been disclosed, Ars Technica reported.
Wildwood is scheduled to open in theaters on Oct. 23, 2026, according to Ars Technica.
This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.