Ellen DeGeneres rides tidal wave of excitement over 'Finding Dory'

Ellen DeGeneres rides tidal wave of excitement over ‘Finding Dory’

By Nardine Saad

April 3, 2013 12 AM PT

Ellen DeGeneres will “just keep swimming” in her new “Finding Nemo” sequel, “Finding Dory.”

The talk show host, who voiced the friendly-but-forgetful blue tang fish of 2003’s “Nemo,” has been lobbying Disney and Pixar for years for a follow-up for the Academy Award-winning ocean adventure. On Tuesday, Disney made it official, announcing that the film would be released Nov. 23, 2015, Movies Now reported.

And DeGeneres couldn’t be more excited.

“I have waited for this day for a long, long, long, long, long, long time,” she said in a statement. “I’m not mad it took this long. I know the people at Pixar were busy creating ‘Toy Story 16.’ But the time they took was worth it. The script is fantastic. And it has everything I loved about the first one: It’s got a lot of heart, it’s really funny, and the best part is -- it’s got a lot more Dory.”

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No longer just her pipe dream, the new fish tale will take place a year after the last film leaves off and will focus on DeGeneres’ lovable character. The TV host was teeming with excitement, and wasn’t hiding it.

“One thing we couldn’t stop thinking about was why she was all alone in the ocean on the day she met [Nemo’s dad] Marlin,” director Andrew Stanton said. “In ‘Finding Dory,’ she will be reunited with her loved ones, learning a few things about the meaning of family along the way.”

The comedian also made a splash on her show and social media to showcase her excitement further.

“It’s official,” she tweeted Tuesday with a picture of the “Finding Dory” movie poster.

On her Tuesday show, she opened up with a montage of her pleas to Disney and Pixar to make a sequel, telling her audience of her journey with the director and frustrations along the way. But she finally got her wish.

“Kids, let that be a lesson to you,” she said. “Anything is possible if you’re patient and beg enough on national television. I’m excited that it’s finally happening, and I read the script. It’s fantastic. It’s hilarious. It’s warm. It’s everything that you want it to be,” she said on the show. Watch the video below.

She then put up a countdown clock of the millions of minutes left till the movie swims its way into theaters in 2015.

“In honor of Finding Dory, here’s an ocean joke,” she later tweeted. “Why did the mussel hide his iPad from his sister? He was being shellfish #ClassicJokeTuesday”

But her promos didn’t stop there, DeGeneres has high aspirations for the film and is already campaigning for its sequel.

“Too soon?” she asked, posting on a photo on Instagram with a poster for “Finding Dory 2.”

But on Wednesday, her partner Portia DeRossi possibly wiped out DeGeneres’ hopes.

“Portia pointed out that if the movie is called ‘Finding Dory,” she wrote Wednesday. “I’m probably gonna be missing for most of it. Somebody get my agent.”