People claiming that Nick and Judy are still totally platonic with no romantic endgame are actively ignoring not only the subtext of the entire sequel, but all the previous iterations of the story and the writers’ intent.
The deleted scenes and storyboards, the interviews where Jason and Ginny have mentioned different versions of the confession speeches, the entire scrapped three-year time skip—you guys. Those were all from the same story concept.
There was a version of Zootopia 2 that got so far into development that there are voiced, edited storyboard animatics of the scenes that included a full-blown love triangle, a WHOLE LOT of jealous Nick, an all-out “I’m in love with you” confessional, and a lot more ship tease than what we got in the final product. The reason they decided to back up the timeline, according to Jared, Byron, and Ginny, is because a three year time-skip was too much time for off-screen character development. And they’re right! We needed to see some of the initial growing pains between Zootopia’s first ever fox-and-bunny duo who also happen to have very deep non-work-related feelings toward one another.
Now the next movie. Will there be only another week before it or will we finally get that time jump? Who knows. But the intent was made ABUNDANTLY clear in the initial drafts of this story on where Nick and Judy’s relationship is intended to go in the future. And I highly doubt they’ve changed their minds since, given what we ultimately got in the final version.
I don’t know if there will be an actual kiss or anything going forward. But they are intended to be a developing couple. It’s not my fault your need for instant gratification is ruining your ability to enjoy where these beautifully developed characters are at now.
You’re right, they’re not together. But they’re supposed to be. That’s what the writers want. If you’re still insistent that they’re not, I hope you like Sahara Square, ‘cause your head is buried way down in the sand.
