‘Finding Dory’ Star Ellen DeGeneres Reveals Why She Worried About Waiting Too Long For ‘Finding Nemo’ Sequel

Ellen DeGeneres was thrilled to reprise her role as Dory in a “Finding Nemo” sequel, but the comedian was worried that Disney waited too long for the animated follow up. The talk show host revealed that she thought her voice might change and she wouldn’t be able to play the forgetful fish in “Finding Dory.”

“I really worried that they were going to wait so long that I was going to sound like Lauren Bacall or like, my voice was going to change and I was gonna not sound like the same fish,” DeGeneres explained to Access Hollywood. “And I love Lauren Bacall. That’s not a slam to her.”

Luckily, DeGeneres didn’t have that issue, even though the original was released in 2003. She said that voicing Dory was easy because the filmmakers never asked her to alter her voice. “I think that it was easy because it’s pretty much who I am and it’s in me,” she added. “They didn’t ask me to do anything different. They just said ‘be yourself’ from Day One when I did ‘Finding Nemo,’ so I was just myself again.”

The 57-year-old was recently promoting the 2016 film at a Disney convention, D23 Expo, in Anaheim, California. During a presentation for the movie, DeGeneres and several cast members teased the movie’s plot, which will follow Dory on a quest to find her parents. Fans who attended the event were lucky enough to see a clip from the highly anticipated movie.

According to Entertainment Weekly, the clip showed Dory waking up from a dream about her parents. She knows that she has to go across the ocean to Monterey, California, but she needs help getting there. She turns to Marlin (Albert Brooks) and Nemo (Hayden Rolence) for help, even though Marlin isn’t ready for another adventure yet. “Dad, you can get us all the way across the ocean, right?” Nemo asks.

Marlin sighs reluctantly. “No,” he says. “But I know a guy.”

While it certainly excited longtime fans to see their favorite characters on screen again, they won’t be the only ones watching the film. DeGeneres believes that even those unfamiliar with the original film will be able to fall in love with the sequel too. “It’s been a long time. We’ve been working on this for three years,” she told Movie Web. “We waited like a decade for this to happen, and I think people will be very happy with what we’re doing. I think we’re going to produce something that, regardless of if you were a 'Nemo' fan or not, you’re gonna love this film.”

“Finding Dory” is slated to hit theaters on June 17, 2016.