With Shrek Forever After, the Shrek chapter in the Far Far Away universe was said to have closed. Its focus, instead, switched to Puss in Boots in DreamWorks Animation's 2011 spin-off film. While this continues with Puss in Boots 2: Nine Lives and 40 Thieves, Shrek may not have disappeared from the screen, if recent reports are true.

Puss in Boots/Shrek voice actor Antonio Banderas told Empire on their podcast the Mike Myers-voiced character may return for the upcoming sequel, which does not have a release date at the moment.

"I have heard some rumors that Shrek may be coming back," Banderas said. "That would be great." Slipping into the voice of his Puss in Boots character, he continued to note, "Shrek doing a cameo in my movie? Uh huh!" He then went back to his normal voice to say, "I would like that."

As you may remember, Puss in Boots made his first appearance in 2004's Shrek 2 and instantly became a scene-stealer and one of the fans' favorite characters in the sequels. While Puss in Boots did fine at the box office— as one would guess with a sequel in the works—DreamWorks Animation had a string of box office disappointments for the last couple years. This resulted in the company cutting jobs and its upcoming schedule, with only two films to be released for the next couple years, after three last year and only one, last weekend's Home, in 2015. This also includes some in-the-works films delayed, including B.O.O.: Bureau of Otherworldly Operation, Kung Fu Panda 3 and How to Train Your Dragon 3.

As such, even though Home had a solid $55.5 million opening weekend, the company wants to profit on its successful established properties. This is why they would want to bring Shrek back, to ring out some extra dollars to save their company. If Shrek returns, one assumes Myers comes back as well.

As for when fans should expect to see the Puss in Boots sequel, Banderas reminds people how long animation films take to go from page to screen.

"The process with these movies is way longer than people think," he said. "A lot of people gotta participate in the creation of the script and story and narrative, everything. So we are in the process. They are now restructuring everything and probably by the end of the year we are going to start just laying down the tracks, the new recording. It’s going to take a while. It’ll take probably a couple of years just to get the movie done."

While it's unclear when Puss in Boots returns to the big screen, he recently did come back, in TV form through Netflix's new series The Adventures of Puss in Boots. Although the character-in-question is voiced by Eric Bauza and not Banderas in the program.

As for properties Banderas is in, he was seen last in The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. He'll later star in Knights in Cups, 33 dias, Altamira, and The 33.

Image courtesy of INFphoto.com