Finding Marlin

Finding Marlin is an upcoming 2026 American computer-animated buddy comedy-drama adventure film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Directed and written by Andrew Stanton, the screenplay was co-written by Bob Peterson and Stanton.

The film is a direct to video sequel to the Disney/Pixar films, Finding Nemo, Finding Dory, and Finding Destiny, and features the returning voices of Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Elizabeth Perkins, and Williem Dafoe, with Ferdia Shaw, Michael Keaton, Ben Mendelsohn, Denis Leary, and others joining the cast.

Finding Marlin will focus on the overprotective clownfish Marlin, who journeys to New Zealand to find his long-lost wife, Coral.

But when he and a new piranha friend get taken, Nemo, Dory and the Tank Gang try to rescue them.

Meanwhile, at an aquarium, Marlin and Spike travel across the aquarium and work together to find Coral.

Unknownst to Marlin, Spike is actually a spy for the barracuda, but he eventually changes his mind.

The film received critical acclaim and won several Annie Awards, and was nominated for the Best Animated Feature OSCAR. It earned a total of $1 billion worldwide.

Upon release, the film was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $1 billion worldwide, becoming the third Pixar film to cross this mark after 2010's Toy Story 3 and 2019's Finding Dory.

The film set several records, including the highest-grossing animated film opening of all time in North America.

Rules & Notes

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 * If you would like to correct errors on the plot and cast. But please don't add weird or bad comments, only good comments.
 * Add some character development between Marlin and Spike

Premise
Marlin, Nemo, and Dory go on a new adventure and head for New Zealand to find Marlin's long-lost wife, Coral.

But when he and a new piranha friend named Spike get taken by humans, Nemo, Dory, and the Tank Gang try to rescue them while meeting new and colorful friends.

Meanwhile, at an aquarium, Marlin and Spike travel across the aquarium and work together to find Coral.

Unknownst to Marlin, Spike is actually a spy for the barracuda, but he eventually changes his mind.

Plot

 * See also: Finding Marlin/Transcript

The film begins with Marlin, Nemo, and Dory getting ready for bed.

Nemo and Dory ask Marlin what happened to Nemo's mother, so Marlin tells them what happened.

Then, Marlin and Nemo go into their anemone, and Dory goes to her brain coral, then they all fall asleep.

Later, at midnight, Marlin has a nightmare about losing Coral and their eggs to the barracuda.

He wakes up, screaming in fear, and he wakes up Nemo and Dory in the process.

Nemo and Dory ask him what's wrong, and Marlin says nothing, telling them to go back to sleep.

Marlin then goes to a rock, thinking about Coral.

The following morning, on the way to bring Nemo to school, Marlin sees that people have families, reminding him of his life with Coral before the barracuda incident.

Nemo then asks Marlin to come with him on a field trip, then he responds, then they go to a field trip with Mr. Ray to learn about coral reefs.

At the field trip, Nemo's classmates ask Marlin about ever having a wife, but Marlin, shocked, tells everybody that he lost Coral years ago due to the barracuda.

Marlin then also tells Nemo that the coral reefs remind him about Coral, then he finds clues that Coral used to leave him when she was alive on the sea bed - small broken pieces of coral - and tells Nemo and Dory about these clues.

When they go back home, Marlin keeps finding clues, and later that night, he goes out to follow them, while Nemo and Dory catch up and they all head to New Zealand.

During their quest, Nemo falls asleep, and then the trio run into Bruce, Anchor, and Chum, who are now fully vegetarian.

Marlin explains to the sharks about his quest to find Coral, so the sharks give Marlin, Nemo, and Dory a lift to New Zealand.

A few hours later, the sharks drop off Marlin, Nemo, and Dory at a cave, where the trio sleeps for the night.

The next morning, the trio continues their quest, but they run into Gill and the Tank Gang, who escaped from the Marine Life Institute.

Nemo is glad to see the Tank Gang again.

Gill then sees a science research ship, then he tells his plan to Marlin, Dory, Nemo, and the Tank Gang about a plan to get on the vessel to use the coordinates to locate Coral.

Gill sends Peach and Jacques to the ship, where the two distract the guards and incapacitate them, and get a map to find the location where Coral is most likely at.

The plan succeeds, and the heroes follow the ship until they arrive at the port of Napier, New Zealand, where Marlin runs into a genetically modified piranha named Spike, who escaped from a lab in Brazil.

Spike joins him on his journey to find Coral. But then, Marlin and Spike both get caught in a fishing boat, but are rescued by the staff members of an aquarium, then Marlin and Spike get put in a cooler in a truck, and it heads for the New Zealand Public Aquarium, in the city of Napier.

Nemo, Dory, and the Tank Gang make a plan to find Marlin and the piranha, then Gill explains that rivers also lead to the ocean, so the heroes start a new adventure to find Marlin and the piranha.

They travel too far and end up on the eastern coast of the South Island.

Eventually, they find a river, where a bunch of blue penguins guide them to their leader, Lincoln, a blue tang, whom Dory falls in love with.

Nemo asks Lincoln to help him find Marlin, so he and his blue penguin friends decide to help Nemo and his friends find Marlin.

Meanwhile, Marlin and Spike are put in a tank in a room of the aquarium, where a group of children are visiting.

Marlin and Spike quarrel because they will never be able to find Coral since they got put into the tank, so Marlin swims off and wants to be left alone.

Spike, however, feels remorseful and remembers helping someone for the first time, so he decides to help Marlin escape from the tank.

As the plan succeeds, with the two fish getting into a bucket leading to another exhibit.

Meanwhile, the barracuda Fang and a piranha named Paul decide to go check on Spike, but eventually realize he's missing.

Then they both swim from the Tasman Sea to the East Coast of New Zealand.

At the aquarium, Marlin and Spike are put into an exhibit where they hear that someone is in trouble.

They then meet a dolphin named Flipper, who tells them that he is being bothered by a bully named Arnold who is an orca whale.

Marlin and Spike then confront Arnold, who then chases them as the two fish work together to take advantage of him as he crashes into a bunch of rocks while Spike hides into a hole.

The two fish stand up to him as Arnold agrees to never bully someone again and swims away.

Returning to Flipper, Marlin explains to him about his adventure to find Coral, and Flipper, in return, tells him that there are clownfish at a large tank on the highest floor.

As the two fish say farewell to Flipper, Marlin and Spike enter some pipes which would be a quick way to find the exhibit which could contain Coral.

At the river at South Island, Nemo and company, with help from Lincoln and his blue penguin friends, continue to search for Marlin. Eventually, they encounter a falcon that snatches Dory.

Nemo comes up with a plan to rescue Dory, so Lincoln sends some of his blue penguin friends to rescue Dory from the falcon and distract it as it lets go of Dory.

Noticing an injury, Dory suddenly remembers her bad injuries from the jellyfish and swims off.

Nemo tells Dory that everything will be fine, especially since she was injured.

As everyone continues to search for Marlin, Lincoln tells Nemo, Dory, and the Tank Gang that he has a companion who can help them out.

Fang and Paul continue to search for Spike so they can check on him, but are in trouble and fight off other predators.

As they succeed, they find a drain entrance.

Meanwhile, in the pipes, Marlin and Spike are trying to find the exhibit featuring clownfish, but notice two pipe entrances.

The two fish split up, with Marlin going into the right one while Spike goes into the left one. Marlin swims as fast as he can, while Spike secretly sends his boss Fang a message through phytoplankton, promising Marlin as food.

As Marlin and Spike eventually run into each other, a group of clams warn Marlin and Spike that there is a pig in the pipes, but they act skeptical. But then, a pipe pig shows up and kills the clams off-screen as it begins chasing Marlin and Spike.

The pig nearly kills Marlin, but Spike saves his life by pushing him out of the way into another pipe entrance as they both successfully escape.

They then both enter another exhibit featuring eels as they form a bond, but as they get out of the pipes, Marlin and Spike work together and try to find another pipe entrance which would lead them to the tropical fish exhibit featuring clownfish.

Meanwhile, after travelling from the South Island back to near Napier, Lincoln introduces Nemo, Dory, and the Tank Gang to his companion, a North Island brown kiwi named George.

Nemo and Lincoln explains to George that they're journey to find Marlin at the aquarium, so he guides them to a pipe entrance while unintentionally bumping into stuff.

As Nemo, Dory, the Tank Gang, and Lincoln go through a pipe entrance, they travel through the storm-water pipes and fight against the current to get to the aquarium.

In the eel exhibit, Marlin and Spike continue searching for the entrance, but they fail.

Spike, who changes his plans, gets help from a friendly eel named Peter, who turn out to be a hippy.

Marlin discusses that he needs to go to a tropical reef exhibit and tells him how he lost Coral to the barracuda, but shakes his head thinking how sad it must be to no longer have the ability to dream of a world that everyone was taught to strive for as children.

Marlin, remembering when Crush advised him that parents can’t hold on too tightly to their children, accepts it.

Peter then guides Marlin and Spike to the pipe entrance and says farewell as the two fish enter the pipes.

The two fish eventually make it to a small tank the tropical fish exhibit, where they are searching for Coral, but run into a familiar face: it turns out to be Coral.

The two clownfish have a happy reunion.

He tells Coral about how his life was after losing her and Coral reveals how she survived the barracuda incident: she swam out of the barracuda's mouth before it closed, but she was injured in the process, so she has a scar on one fin and doesn't swim well because her tail was injured as well.

Meanwhile, Fang, sick and tired of waiting for Spike, sends Paul to go into the pipe entrance, where he finds the phytoplankton message by Spike.

Learning that Spike is going to bring him a clownfish and must recruit allies in case he brings more fish, Fang and Paul make a plan to attack at a dangerous place like at a hill for example as they head there.

While in the pipes, the heroes are still trying to get through them, and Dory keeps forgetting Lincoln's name, which makes him find it a little endearing.

Everyone notices that they are almost outside of the pipes, but Gill and the Tank Gang get stuck in a drain, and the pelicans with George's help lift the drain grate and scoop the fish out of the storm-water drain and carry them in their beaks to the NZ Aquarium.

Back at the Coral Reef exhibit, Marlin and Coral are spending time with each other for the first time in years since the barracuda incident.

As they notice another pipe entrance with a lock on it, they ask a crab named Jake if there is a way to get out of the aquarium.

He twists the lock from the inside, opening it.

The three fish and Jake enter the pipeline, which unintentionally leads them to a water facility connected to the aquarium.

As Nemo and friends make it into the aquarium and go into the tropical fish exhibit, they learn that three fish and a crab unlocked a pipe entrance which would lead them to a water facility.

They figure out that two of the fish are Marlin and his new friend Spike, so they leave the aquarium and try to locate the nearest water facility.

Meanwhile, Marlin, Spike, and Coral, along with Jake, have to avoid all the obstacles in order to get out.

As the heroes make it to the water facility, they spot the three fish in one of the sections and successfully rescue them.

Marlin, after being rescued, introduces Nemo, Dory, and the Tank Gang to Coral.

The pelicans eventually make it to the shore, where they drop off the heroes and tell them that they will see them later. Marlin and his friends then head off to the ocean.

Meanwhile Fang and Paul find a perfect place to attack the fish that were promised by Spike.

They then meet three predators named Ryan, Harold, and Ben and ask them to join him and they agree.

When the heroes go back to the ocean, they travel from Hawkes Bay up to the Bay of Plenty, where Spike, feeling remorse for betraying Marlin's trust, confesses his plans and his role as a spy to Marlin, causing him to turn hostile towards him.

Marlin and Spike end up in an argument, but Coral stops Marlin from making things worse. Spike has a change of heart, and agrees to help Marlin escape from the barracuda and his baddies.

Soon, Spike goes to Fang, who briefly gets angry at him for going missing. Fang then sees Dory and Coral, and starts chasing them while Spike goes with Marlin and co.

Leading the barracuda away from Marlin, whom he intended to ambush, Dory swims away with Coral; Meanwhile, Marlin and friends make a plan to stop Fang. Dory and Coral, however, catch up with Marlin and his friends, but Fang and his baddies show up and corner everyone, and he asks Spike to help him bring the heroes down.

Spike refuses and sides with Marlin, making Fang furious, and the heroes fight Fang and his baddies.

During their fight, Fang knocks a sea column on Spike's head, brutally hurting him and physically sending him into a rock wall.

The barracuda then corners Marlin, intending to attack him, but Marlin and Nemo decide to escape from Fang as he begins chasing them.

Then, the two clownfish spot an underwater volcanic crater, part of the White Island volcano, then Nemo remembers the Ring of Fire from the first film and swims in the bubbles safely with Marlin while trying to escape.

Fang runs into the bubbles and gets burned.

Angry and in pain, he blindly crosses the crater just as the eruption starts.

Nemo and Marlin yell at him to look out and get out of the crater, but he continues chasing them and nearly devours them before he gets caught by the full blast of the eruption.

Nemo and Marlin then have to escape the underwater lava flows, steam and landslides.

Everyone then sees the volcano eruption and believe that Marlin and Nemo have died, so they mourn their loss by crying.

Then, they stop crying when Marlin and Nemo make it out of the volcano alive and then everyone cheers for them.

Everyone is safe, except for Spike, who is badly injured, and tells Marlin his last words before he dies.

Nemo and Marlin both cry because Spike died and everyone mourns the death of Spike.

Marlin then confesses how he regrets his fallout with Spike. Marlin and everyone then head back home to the Great Barrier Reef.

Marlin and the others go back to the reef by riding the current and they tell Crush and the sea turtles about their adventures.

Marlin is still crying about Spike's death, but Crush comforts him, and then everyone exits the current and they return to the reef.

Back at the reef, Marlin, Nemo, Dory, and Coral hold a funeral for Spike.

The next day, Nemo comes back to school.

Nemo is able to come up with a report on barracudas and piranhas on the spot, so Mr. Ray gives him an A+.

All the other kids then think he is very cool.

That night, Marlin and Coral are in the anemone, and they talk about being together and Marlin talks about how much he missed Coral, but that somehow he knew that she wasn't dead because he didn't turn into a female.

They share a loving hug because they're happy to be together again.

The next day everybody goes back to their happy lives, and Marlin is happy about being with Coral again.

Marlin, Coral, Nemo, and Dory are happy about the ocean and how it has changed due to their adventures.

They then go spend time with everyone as the movie ends.

Main Cast

 * Albert Brooks as Marlin, an overprotective clownfish, Nemo's father, and Coral's husband. The main protagonist of the movie.
 * Noah Schnapp and Ferdia Shaw as Nemo, a young Teenager optimistic clownfish, Marlin and Coral's son, and Dory's friend. He was voiced by Hayden Rolence in the previous film. He was also voiced by Alexander Gould in the first movie.
 * Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas and Kovu A Teenager optimistic clownfish Marlin and Coral's son, and Dory's friend. Coral Saved them along with Jacob And Millview. Nemo's Real Brother.
 * Chosen Jacobs as Jacob A Teenager optimistic clownfish Marlin and Coral's son, and Dory's friend. Coral Saved them along with Lucas, Kovu And Millview Nemo's Real Brother.
 * Francesca Capaldi as Millview A Teenager optimistic clownfish Marlin and Coral's son, and Dory's friend. Coral Saved them along with Lucas, Kovu And Jacob. Nemo's Real Sister.
 * Preston Oliver as Sniper A regal blue tang Nemo's Best Friend Who Helps Nemo Find Marlin.
 * Kyleigh Curran As Silver A regal blue tang Nemo's Best Friend Who Helps Nemo Find Marlin.
 * Elle Graham As Milver A regal blue tang Nemo's Best Friend Who Helps Nemo Find Marlin.
 * Ellen DeGeneres as Dory, a Pacific regal blue tang who suffers from short-term memory loss.
 * Elizabeth Perkins as Coral, a female clownfish who is Marlin's wife and Nemo's mother.
 * Michael Keaton and Denis Leary as Spike, a genetically modified piranha who is Fang's spy and the secondary antagonist-turned-one of the three deuteragonists of the film.
 * Jon Hamm and Alexander Gould as Lincoln, a blue tang who is the leader of 20 blue penguins and Dory's Love Interest. And Gould Voiced Nemo In The first movie
 * Williem Dafoe as Gill, a Moorish idol who is the leader of the Tank Gang.
 * Brad Garrett as Bloat, a pufferfish who is a member of the Tank Gang.
 * Allison Janney as Peach, a pink starfish who is a member of the Tank Gang.
 * Austin Pendleton as Gurgle, a royal gramma who is a member of the Tank Gang.
 * Stephen Root as Bubbles, a yellow tang who is a member of the Tank Gang.
 * Vicki Lewis as Deb/Flo, a four-striped damselfish who is a member of the Tank Gang.
 * Jerome Ranft as Jacques, a cleaner shrimp who is a member of the Tank Gang. He was voiced by Joe Ranft, Jerome's late brother, in the first film.
 * Idris Elba as Bruce, a completely vegetarian great white shark.
 * Eric Bana as Anchor, a completely vegetarian hammerhead shark who is friends with Bruce.
 * Bruce Spence as Chum, a completely vegetarian mako shark who is friends with Bruce and Anchor.
 * Ben Mendelsohn and Frankie Ryan Manriquez as Fang, the barracuda who wants to eat Marlin and his friends. He is the main antagonist of the movie, unlike his first appearance in the first Finding Nemo.
 * Tom Hiddleston as Paul, a genetically modified piranha who is much more of a baddy than Spike is, and also works for Fang.
 * John Ratzenberger as Ryan, an electric eel who is one of the three baddies that Fang makes a deal with.
 * Alan Tudyk as Harold, a lionfish who is one of the three baddies that Fang makes a deal with.
 * Kirk Thornton as Ben, a sea snake who is one of the three baddies that Fang makes a deal with.
 * James S. Baker as Flipper, a common bottlenose dolphin who lives at the New Zealand Public Aquarium.
 * Alec Baldwin as Arnold, a mean orca whale who bullies Flipper.
 * Jeff Bennett as George, a North Island brown kiwi who is a companion of Lincoln.
 * Andrew Stanton as Crush, a 150-year old green sea turtle.
 * Finn Carr as Squirt, a green sea turtle and Crush's son. He was voiced by Bennett Dammann in the previous film. He was also voiced by Nicholas Bird in the first film.
 * Geoffrey Rush as Nigel, a brown pelican from the first film.
 * Kaitlin Olson as Destiny, a near-sighted whale shark and Dory's childhood friend.
 * Ty Burrell as Bailey, a beluga whale.
 * Diane Keaton as Jenny, Dory's mother.
 * Eugene Levy as Charlie, Dory's father.
 * Lori Alan as Meghan, Destiny's mother.
 * Bob Peterson as Mr. Ray, Nemo's schoolteacher.
 * Ed O'Neill as Hank, a cranky East Pacific red octopus who grown back a tentacle.
 * Bill Fagerbakke as Mark, a orca whale and Eric's friend.
 * Tom Kenny as Eric, a dolphin and Mark's friend.
 * Mr. Lawrence as Pete, a crab.

Additional Voices

 * Owen Vaccaro as Sheldon, a sea horse.
 * Scarlett Estevez as Pearl, a flapjack octopus.
 * Connor Corum as Tad, a long-nosed butterfly fish.
 * Katherine Ringgold as Kathy, a chickenfish.
 * Andrew Stanton, Rodger Bumpass, Bob Peterson, and Lee Unkrich as the pelicans who are Nigel's friends. They help Nemo and friends find Marlin, Coral, and Spike at the NZ Aquarium.

more coming soon...

Production
In June 2016, director Andrew Stanton talked about the possibility of a sequel, saying that he would never exclude it because of the introduction of new characters, citing the Toy Story films as guides for how to expand a world through sequels.

Finding Marlin began production after the release of Disney/Owen Laramore's Disney Dimensions in December 2023, 7 years after the release of Finding Dory.

The film contains many elements of deleted scenes and rejected concepts that were originally going to be used for Finding Nemo and Finding Dory.

The crew also used inspiration from Finding Dory and Ice Age to make the movie.

It was decided early in development of Finding Marlin that they would use inspiration from Finding Dory and Ice Age and that deleted scenes and rejected concepts from the first two films would be revisited.

The film was officially announced as a direct to video at the same time production began. It was also confirmed that Brooks, DeGeneres, Dafoe, and Perkins had already signed on to reprise their roles as Marlin, Dory, Gill, and Coral.

In December 12, 2025 a short teaser trailer released with "Nemo Saves The Ocean" accompanied by the announcement that the film would be released on July 24, 2026.

Some time later, a subsequent full-length trailer was released on Disney and Pixar's social media pages in January 2026.

Box Office
Finding Marlin earned $1,324,411,567 at the worldwide box office.

Critical Response
Finding Marlin received positive reviews from critics, with a 8/10 rating on IMDB, a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 95/100 rating on Metacritic.

Critics typically praised the animation quality, the characters, the storyline, and the well-done voice acting, while some did criticise some of the scenes that don't make sense.

Finding Marlin won several Annie Awards, and was nominated for the Best Animated Feature OSCAR.

Marketing
On November 22, 2025, a final trailer was released on Pixar's YouTube channel.

Home media release
The film was released in Disney DVD on December 9, 2026. and blu ray on december 28 2026

Rejected ideas
Finding Marlin/Rejected Ideas

Trivia

 * The plot of Finding Marlin was inspired by Finding Dory.

Poll
What do you think of this idea? Great idea! It should exist! Not bad. Horrible!

Petition
A friend of mine has made a petition written to Pixar to make my Finding Marlin idea into a real movie.

We are really encouraging you guys to sign the petition because we want Pixar to make this fan idea real.

I know they'll reject my idea, but we really want them to make my idea real.

Please, I would actually love Pixar to paste my Finding Marlin fan idea into a real film.

It's because we fans care about Finding Nemo, and it hurts when you're expecting something specific and you don't get it from something that you love.

Here is the petition:https://www.change.org/p/pixar-animation-studios-please-make-a-finding-marlin-fan-idea-into-a-real-movie