Last month, I journeyed to Pixar’s headquarters in Emeryville, California, for an exclusive preview of footage from Cars 3. These sneak peeks are always intriguing, offering a glimpse into the movie, though it’s always emphasized that we’re only seeing select portions. Having experienced a similar preview for The Good Dinosaur in New York a few years prior, where only a few brief scenes were shown, I knew to expect a curated experience.
This Cars 3 preview was considerably more generous. Pixar presented around 40 minutes of footage to the assembled press, representing just under half of the complete film. Among the scenes shown was race car legend Lightning McQueen’s devastating crash on the racetrack – the very scene highlighted in the movie’s intense teaser trailer – and his subsequent return to Radiator Springs. Back in his hometown, McQueen seeks solace and nostalgia, reminiscing about the golden days with his mentor, the late Doc Hudson. Pixar cleverly incorporated old recordings of Paul Newman, the original voice of Doc, to bring him back for these poignant flashback sequences.
We also witnessed McQueen (Owen Wilson) resolutely refusing to retire, embarking on a rigorous training regimen for a comeback. He’s placed under the guidance of a new, enthusiastic coach, Cruz Ramirez (Cristela Alonzo). Cruz champions cutting-edge training techniques to propel the seasoned racer into the future of competitive racing. However, McQueen, resistant to these modern methods, takes Cruz on a transformative journey back to the grassroots of racing – the dirt tracks where legends are born.
The previewed material of Cars 3 leaned into themes of aging and the physical limitations faced by athletes. This gave the film a noticeably more mature and somber tone compared to the previous Cars installments. However, conspicuously absent from all the footage was any sign, or even a mention, of characters from Cars 2. The 2011 sequel had taken McQueen and his best friend Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) on a globe-trotting spy adventure. Cars 2, heavily inspired by classic spy films, expanded the Cars universe in ways that were both bizarre (a Popemobile in a world of cars suggests complex theological questions!) and, ultimately, divisive with audiences. Adjusted for inflation, Cars 2 remains Pixar’s second-lowest-grossing film and the only Pixar movie to hold a negative score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Given the lukewarm reception to Cars 2, I wasn’t anticipating major roles for characters like the suave super-spy Finn McMissile, the resourceful secret agent Holly Shiftwell, or the flamboyant Italian racer Francesco Bernoulli in Cars 3. However, their complete absence from the preview footage was still surprising. Cars 3 almost seemed to operate as if Cars 2 had never occurred. At the press event, screenwriter Mike Rich described Cars 3 as “the third act in the overall Cars story,” contrasting Cars 1 as young McQueen’s story with Cars 3 being about an older McQueen. Noticeably, he bypassed any reference to Cars 2. This omission sparked my curiosity: Was Cars 3 intentionally ignoring Cars 2 entirely? And might these Cars 2 characters reappear in the unseen half of the movie?
I had the opportunity to pose this very question to the Cars 3 writing team – Rich, Kiel Murray, and Bob Petersen, along with story supervisor Scott Morse. Initially, they attempted to deflect the question with humor, pointing out that McQueen and Mater, both central to Cars 2, were also integral to Cars 3. However, when I pressed specifically about the spy characters, Petersen clarified, “That was Mater’s world. We’re back to Radiator Springs and that team [in Cars 3], because this is McQueen’s story.”
Rich elaborated, “That’s where it started for him, Radiator Springs. So we have him at this position in his life and his career.” In essence, Finn, Holly, and their cohort have been sidelined, at least for Cars 3.
While the writers stopped short of confirming a complete absence of these characters from the final cut – a brief cameo wouldn’t be entirely unexpected – it’s clear they won’t play any significant part in Cars 3. Interestingly, even Mater’s role in the previewed footage was diminished. While he made occasional appearances, his traditional sidekick role seemed largely taken over by Cruz, highlighting a shift in character dynamics.
It’s worth noting that despite its critical panning, Cars 2 was a commercial success, raking in half a billion dollars globally. Merchandise from Cars 2 generated a staggering $2 billion annually for Disney just a few years ago. Therefore, the possibility of Mater and his spy allies resurfacing in a future Cars 4 or in spin-off shorts shouldn’t be dismissed. For now, however, Cars 3 firmly steers back to Lightning McQueen’s personal journey and his Radiator Springs roots when it opens in theaters on June 17th.
