Villain to zodiac hero: How Zootopia 2’s snake character made film a global hit
According to Disney’s chief creative officer and the film’s co-director, Jared Bush, Gary’s inclusion is a deliberate nod to the Chinese zodiac year, in which the snake symbolises wisdom, intuition, elegance and renewal.
Nine years after their first adventure, Zootopia’s “dream team” is back. Perky rabbit cop Judy Hopps and charming fox Nick Wilde return to solve a reptilian mystery.
Zootopia 2 has won the hearts of millions since its late-November release, including in China, one of the world’s most lucrative film markets. The animated comedy has topped the Chinese box office to become its highest-grossing foreign animated film of all time.
This success signals more than entertainment; it reveals how Disney reshapes cultural symbols to appeal to different audiences. At the centre of the story is an unexpected hero: a blue-scaled pit viper named Gary De’Snake, determined to clear his family’s name and see reptiles living in harmony with other animals.
According to Disney’s chief creative officer and the film’s co-director, Jared Bush, Gary’s inclusion is a deliberate nod to the Chinese zodiac year, in which the snake symbolises wisdom, intuition, elegance and renewal.
In Western tradition, snakes have long been cast as villains. From the biblical serpent tempting Eve to Medusa’s venomous hair in Greek mythology, the image of the snake has been tied to deceit and danger. These ideas are embedded in language — “snake in the grass,” “snake oil” — and reinforced in popular culture, including Harry Potter’s Slytherin house.
Hollywood has consistently leaned into these associations. From the hypnotic Kaa in The Jungle Book (1967) to the lurking dangers of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), snakes have been depicted as cold and threatening. Studies of animal representation on screen show they are among the most villainised creatures in Western storytelling.
So when Disney announced one of Zootopia 2’s pivotal new characters would be a snake — reptiles were excluded from the first film — audiences might have expected another sinister figure. Instead, Gary De’Snake, voiced by Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan, is soft-spoken and misunderstood, his anxiety masking sharp intuition and tenderness.
Gary is framed as an outsider (“No snake has set foot in Zootopia in forever”), fighting not only crime but prejudice that reads as an allegory for discrimination.
The original Zootopia (2016) earned about US$236 million at the Chinese box office, helping explain the sequel’s resonance. In the Chinese zodiac, the snake represents wisdom and prosperity, while traditions such as the creation myths of Fuxi and Nüwa and The Legend of the White Snake portray serpents as balanced, loving and transformative.
Disney weaves these ideas subtly into the film. A scene in which Gary’s family embraces Judy echoes the folk motif of “snake coiled with rabbit,” a symbol of good fortune. Gary’s red scarf may seem playful to Western viewers, but in China red is worn during one’s zodiac birth year to ward off bad luck.
This kind of “glocalisation” is not new for Disney. Australian audiences see a koala news anchor instead of the moose shown in North America, and enjoy local touches such as a quokka therapist.
Zootopia 2 reimagines a creature long feared in Western storytelling. In doing so, it shows how Hollywood films are no longer one-way exports, but shared spaces of cross-cultural creativity — often messy, but full of possibility.
The Conversation