Ellen DeGeneres is returning to the big, or rather, small screen, and she’s bringing everyone’s favorite forgetful fish with her.
The former talk show host will reprise her role as Dory in a new short film set in Finding Nemo universe according to Deadline.
No further details have been released at this time.
The return marks DeGeneres’ first acting credit since 2021 Pixar Popcorn miniseries, where she also voiced the beloved blue seaweed.
She originally brought Dory to life in the 2003s Finding Nemowhich won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature before reprising the role in 2016 Finding Dory, a global phenomenon that grossed over $1 billion worldwide.
The news is notable as DeGeneres, 68, had suggested her public appearances were effectively over.
After finishing The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2022, following widely reported allegations of a toxic workplace, she moved to England with wife Portia de Rossi in 2024 and released a Netflix stand-up special, Ellen DeGeneres: For your approvalwhere she treated the dispute with her characteristic dry wit.
“Well, let me catch you up on what’s happened to me since you last saw me,” she told the audience.
“I decided to take up gardening. I got chickens.” She appeared to consult notes before trailing off: “Oh yeah, I got kicked out of show business.”
She also took aim at the headline that had followed her.
“The ‘Be Kind Girl’ was not kind.’ That was the headline. Here’s the problem: I’m a comedian who got a talk show, and I ended the show every day by saying, “Be kind to one another.” Had I ended my show by saying, ‘Fuck yourselves,’ people would have been pleasantly surprised to find out that I’m friendly.”
Before the special’s release, she had told a California audience that it would likely be her last appearance on screen.
“This is the last time you’ll see me. After my Netflix special, I’m done.”
It seems Dory had other plans.
