How To Train Your Dragon Movies: A Guide To Watching The Entire Series In Order

In 2010, DreamWorks Animation's "How to Train Your Dragon" introduced audiences to its surprisingly alluring world of Vikings and dragons. The story of aspiring inventor-turned-dragonrider Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), dog-like but powerful Night Fury dragon Toothless (Randy Thom), and the colorful denizens of Berk is one of the best animated movies of all time, spawning two great sequels and a series of other works.

Over the years, the acclaimed fantasy series has grown into a pretty huge franchise. As such, before you start looking for other movies like "How to Train Your Dragon" that kids and parents will love, keep in mind that there's a pretty good chance that you haven't seen even close to every "How to Train Your Dragon" film and show out there. To help you learn about every aspect of the franchise you may have yet to see and to establish their correct viewing order and where to find them, we've put together this handy guide to the entire series.

Watching the "How to Train Your Dragon" movies in order is the easy part. There are just three main movies, and their plots progress in the same chronological order they were released. With no prequel stuff to keep in mind, you can simply start with the first movie in the trilogy and make your way through the two sequels, like so:

• "How to Train Your Dragon" (Released March 26, 2010)
• "How to Train Your Dragon 2" (June 13, 2014)
• "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World" (February 22, 2019)

These movies will get you quite up to speed with the franchise's Viking world and its captivating lore. However, even a casual fan of the series is likely to bump into supplementary material. There are a whole bunch of "How to Train Your Dragon"-themed short films and multi-season series out there, almost all of which expand the various characters' backstories and lore. Knowing this, a true completionist — or a fan who simply enjoys the series — may very well want to dig into them all.

The "How to Train Your Dragon" franchise spans far wider than just the three main films. If you want to go all in, here's a list of every single "How to Train Your Dragon" film, short, special, and TV show released so far, listed in order of their premiere dates. 

• "How to Train Your Dragon"
• "Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon" (October 14, 2010)
• "Book of Dragons" (November 15, 2011)
• "Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury" (November 15, 2011)
• "Dragons: Riders of Berk" (August 7, 2012)
• "Dragons: Defenders of the Berk" (September 19, 2013)
• "Dragons: Dawn of the Dragon Racers" (November 1, 2014)
• "How to Train Your Dragon 2"
• "Dragons: Race to the Edge" (June 26, 2015)
• "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World"
• "Dragons: Rescue Riders" (September 27, 2019)
• "How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming" (December 3, 2019)
• "How to Train Your Dragon: Snoggletog Log" (December 5, 2019)

As you can see, that's a lot of spinoffs. "Riders of the Berk" and "Defenders of the Berk" are actually just two seasons of the 40-episode Cartoon Network show "DreamWorks Dragons: The Series," but since they both have different story arcs, they're listed separately. It's also worth noting that "Book of Dragons" and "Snoggletog Log" are largely supplementary material. The former is an animated short that introduces different dragon types, and the latter is essentially a "How to Train Your Dragon"-themed take on the classic Yule Log fireplace video, complete with cameos by various familiar characters.

If you want to watch the series in the correct in-universe order, it's mostly the same. Be aware, however, that there's one key difference: Despite airing after "How to Train Your Dragon 2" premiered, the six seasons of Netflix's "Dragons: Race to the Edge" actually take place between the events of "Defenders of the Berk" and the sequel film. As such, viewers who wish to complete the series in chronological order will want to watch the entirety of "Race to the Edge" before "How to Train Your Dragon 2."

So, now you have the correct viewing order for the "How to Train Your Dragon" series — but where can you actually watch them? The answer to this question is slightly more all over the place than you might like.

The first "How to Train Your Dragon" movie is available for streaming on Max, its sequel can be watched by Peacock subscribers, and "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World" is on FuboTV. All three can also be rented on Apple TV.  "Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon" and "Book of Dragons" are on AppleTV+, and the former can also be purchased from Microsoft Store. The "Dreamwork's Dragons" seasons "Riders of Berk" and "Defenders of the Berk" are on Peacock, and can be bought via Apple TV. "Race to the Edge" and "Rescue Riders" are both on Netflix, and you can also buy the former on Amazon. Finally, "Homecoming" can be purchased on AppleTV, and "Snoggletog Log" is on Hulu.

Unfortunately, "Gift of the Night Fury" and "Dawn of the Dragon Racers" aren't currently on any streaming services or available for purchase online. If you're on the hunt for a physical copy, the former was released as a DVD bundle with "Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon" and "Gift of the Night Fury" under the title "How to Train Your Dragon: Legends," though it's currently only available via secondary market sellers. Meanwhile, "Dawn of the Dragon Racers" was originally an extra on the home media release of "How to Train Your Dragon 2."

The "How to Train Your Dragon" franchise's Rotten Tomatoes scores are mind-bogglingly good. The first movie has a borderline unbelievable Tomatometer rating of 99% and its audience Popcornmeter stands at 91%, which means critics and fans both outright adore it. "How to Train Your Dragon 2" boasts an impressive 92% Tomatometer score and a 90% Popcornmeter one, and "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World" follows suit with 90% and 87%, respectively.

Critics appear to view the "How to Train Your Dragon" TV shows and short films as largely supplementary, seeing as there aren't enough reviews for a proper Tomatometer score for any of them. However, audiences enjoy both the "DreamWorks' Dragons" series — 93% on the Popcornmeter — and Netflix's "Dragons: Race to the Edge," which has a Popcornmeter score of 86%. Seeing as the short films are quite fun and ambitious as well, it's probably safe to say that them being overlooked by the critics doesn't mean that they're bad. If anything, the reviews for the movies alone make "How to Train Your Dragon" one of the best-liked animated franchises out there, so it's a good thing there's so much of it to explore and enjoy.

The movies have been quite lucrative, too. "How to Train Your Dragon's" worldwide box office gross was nearly $495 million against a budget of $165 million. The first sequel was even more profitable, with a budget of $145 million and a box office haul of $621 million. The trilogy's conclusion, "The Hidden World," also did very well for itself with a $521 worldwide box office take against a $129 million budget.