Despicable Me 4 Director Says Characters Will Never Age

The Despicable Me franchise has always centered around Gru, his family, and the Minions, and despite the new entries, director Chris Renaud says the character’s ages will never change.

Speaking to Deadline, Renaud — who directed Despicable Me 1, 2, and 4, and was an executive producer on Despicable Me 3 — was asked if the films would ever see Gru’s children Margo (12), Edith (9), Agnes (6), or newborn Gru Jr would ever age.

Renaud joked that they get asked about that a lot, but will be taking a page out of The Simpsons’ book, and keeping them all the same age.

“It’s funny, it comes up a lot. I don’t think the audience cares,” Renaud said. “First off, to your point, we could do a story about Margo being 18 and going to college… but we’ve taken a The Simpsons approach that nobody ages. They’re frozen in time. I’ve seen the film with an audience quite a few times and I don’t feel people are coming out and seeing it as an issue, asking, ‘Why didn’t Margo grow up?’”

What is Despicable Me 4 about?

The latest Despicable Me 4 clip shows most of Gru’s Minions at the Anti-Villain League, where five of them get chosen to become test subjects for an experiment. This super serum experiment turns them into elite agents with different unique powers.

The fourth installment is directed by Chris Renaud and Patrick Delage from a screenplay written by The White Lotus creator Mike White and Ken Daurio. The film stars returning cast members Steve Carell as Gru, Miranda Cosgrove as Margo, Kristen Wiig as Lucy, Dana Gaier as Edith, Madison Polan as Agnes, Steve Coogan as Silas Ramsbottom, and Pierre Coffin as the Minions. Joining them are franchise newcomersWill Ferrell, Sofia Vergara, Joey King, Stephen Colbert, and Chloe Fineman. It is produced by Chris Meledandri and Brett Hoffman.

“In the first Despicable Me movie in seven years, Gru, the world’s favorite supervillain-turned-Anti-Villain League-agent, returns for an exciting, bold new era of Minions mayhem in Illumination’s Despicable Me 4,” reads the synopsis. “The film begins a new chapter with Gru and Lucy and their girls welcomed a new member to the Gru family, Gru Jr., who is intent on tormenting his dad. Gru faces a new nemesis in Maxime Le Mal, and his femme fatale girlfriend Valentina (Vergara), and the family is forced to go on the run.”