After two Despicable Me movies and their own spin-off, fans still aren't tired of the little yellow pill-shaped Minions. And in Despicable Me 3, their story will get expanded and widened, and grow. Just like any character in a sequel should. On top of that, we're getting a brand new Minion and his name is Mel.
Mutiny Mel, if you want to be specific, and he's leading a revolt in Despicable Me 3, as he tries to get his friends unionized. Mel calls for a revolution against Steve Carell's reformed supervillian Gru, as the once dastardly man attempts to settle into domestic bliss. As it turns out, the Minions aren't pleased with everything being so cheerful and nice around Gru's household. Says sequel co-director Kyle Balda.
"The Minions have been patiently waiting for Gru to get over this phase of being good, but when that doesn't come to fruition, Mel is the one who can't take anymore and is speaking out, and so all the other Minions get behind him to be like, 'Preach it!' He's a character who personifies the voice of objection against Gru's life choices. I think of him as sort of the head of the union. Collectively, the Minions are a character themselves, and it feels stronger when we can pull out an individual personality to rise up."
Kevin, Stuart, and Bob, who lead the Minions spin-off movie, won't be back in Despicable Me 3, which could come as a disappointment to fans of all-ages. The trio never appeared in the first two original movies, and they were last seen meeting a young Gru in the 60s. So there wasn't a reason to bring them back yet.
"Really, our feeling is that we haven't seen Kevin, Stuart, and Bob specifically in Despicable Me 1 or 2 anyway, and we wanted to be faithful to the timeline. Are they still doing their own thing? Or are they here with Gru and the other Minions? Or, like, is Bob an adult now? We didn't want to bring that out into the open too much and start to continue a storyline with characters that we hadn't seen set up earlier."
You don't have to worry about the yellow trio, they will be back in 2020 when Minions 2 hits theaters. But their absence is one of the reasons a more personable Minion was created in Mel. Illumination founder and Despicable producer Chris Meledandri served as the inspiration for Mutiny Mel, name, haircut and all. He'll be incredibly independant, yet he still speaks the same old Minion language, and he is voiced by co-director Pierre Coffin, who does the voice of all the lackies.
Mel is different from the rest of the group, because he believes that the rest of his team should go independant with their criminal indeveaors. Problem is, these creatures have always been pretty dependent on thier leaders. And without Gru there to guide them, they all quickly land behind bars. Thus the prison jumpsuits you see in the photos below. Balda goes onto say this.
"The main core of the relationship between Gru and the Minions has been that they love each other and need each other, but in any long-term relationship, there are quirks and frustrations. I think of them as an old married couple. They both have their list of complaints against each other from a long life together, and they have that one argument that goes one step too far but instantly regret it."
The Minions will serve as key players in this new storyline, and aren't just background comedy relief.
"We learned more about the commitment that the Minions have, and what's the next level of their values. The first value we learned in Minions is that they want to follow a big boss and do crimes, but the thing that's always ironic is that there's nothing inherently evil about the Minions. Their idea of being bad is slapping one another. But they just think they have it in their DNA to go and be villains. And since they've ended up destroying every boss they've had, part of what makes Gru the chosen one is that he's able to survive them, so what we're exploring now is, what does that look like years later, when all the history has built up? The Minions want to lead a life of villainy, but they've imprinted on Gru in a unique way, so what happens when that relationship changes? And you can see that on Mel...just because it's impossible to show that over 500 characters."
It won't be long before the Minions are back in theaters, tearing things up. Despicable Me 3 is arriving at the end of June, and will also introduce Gru's twin brother Dru, who has a luxurious head of hair and is also voiced by Steve Carrell. Trey Parker of South Park fame will be voicing the main villain this time out, Balthazar Bratt, a former child star from the 1980s who is obsessed with the character he once played. A new trailer will debut for National Brothers Day on May 24. Take a look at Mel as he leads his mutiny.
