Shrek’s equine buddy is stepping into the spotlight for his own origin story.

At least a year after Eddie Murphy said the film was being planned, Universal made it official on Thursday: a Shrek spinoff starring the Eddie Murphy-voiced Donkey in in production at DreamWorks, slated for a June 30th, 2028 release.

Called simply Donkey, the story focuses on how an ordinary donkey became capital-D Donkey, companion to filmdom’s most famous ogre. Charlie Bean (The Lego Ninjago Movie and the live-action Lady and The Tramp) will direct, and Rebecca Huntley (Kung Fu Panda 4 and The Bad Guys) will produce. Matt Flynn, story artist on another Shrek spinoff, Puss-in-Boots, will co-direct.

Last summer, Murphy told ScreenRant, “Donkey’s going to have his own movie, own little story with his dragon wife and his kids that are half-dragon and half-donkeys…They’ve written this funny story.”

DreamWorks is dropping Shrek 5 in summer of 2027. Mike Myers, Murphy and Cameron Diaz are returning as Shrek, Donkey and Fiona, and new voices include that of Zendaya.

The Shrek franchise has proved to be a reliable moneymaker for Universal: the two Puss in Boots movies combined grossed $1 billion, making the total Shrek universe haul across all six movies $4 billion. And it’s a been critical and/or audience-favorite franchise too – Shrek won the first ever Animated Feature Oscar back in 2001.

No other story or casting details are available at this time.