Ellen DeGeneres is set for a significant return to the spotlight in Hollywood, following her retreat from the industry due to accusations of bullying.
The 68-year-old comedian is slated to once again lend her voice to the beloved character Dory in Disney’s acclaimed Finding Nemo series.
As reported by Deadline, DeGeneres will reprise her role as Dory in an upcoming short film.
DeGeneres first brought Dory to life in the original 2003 Finding Nemo and reprised the role in the 2016 follow-up, Finding Dory.
The sequel was a massive success, raking in $1.029 billion globally, securing its place among the top-grossing animated films ever.
Finding Dory marked DeGeneres’ last film project, although she remained a familiar face on television until around 2021, when her reputation was tarnished by claims of bullying and inappropriate behavior.
Ellen DeGeneres is poised for a huge Hollywood comeback after fleeing Tinseltown amid a slew of bullying accusations
The embattled comedian, 68, will reprise her role as the loveable fish Dory in Disney’s billion-dollar Finding Nemo franchise
DeGeneres’ scandal was sparked by a single tweet penned by comedian Kevin T. Porter in March 2020 asking people for ‘the most insane stories you’ve heard about Ellen being mean,’ which amassed thousands of replies.
Four months later, BuzzFeed News published an exposé featuring one current and 10 former employees of the Louisiana-born star’s now-defunct daytime talk show alleging racism, workplace bullying, and sexual harassment.
By August 2020, WarnerMedia had launched an internal investigation and executive producers Ed Glavin, Kevin Leman, and Jonathan Norman were all fired from the show. DeGeneres also issued a formal apology to her 255 employees.
DeGeneres – who also apologized to fans on air – broadcast her final episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show on May 26, 2022 after 19 seasons.
She later branded the backlash ‘a coordinated misogynistic’ attack on her.
Reflecting on the experience in 2022, she told The Hollywood Reporter, ‘I have to just trust that whatever happened during that time, which was obviously very, very difficult, happened for a reason.
‘I think that I learned a lot, and there were some things that came up that I was shocked and surprised by. It was eye-opening, but I just trust that that had to happen.’
After a lengthy hiatus, she stepped back in front of the camera for her 2024 Netflix special titled Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval.
The animated film will be the star’s first major role since she was publicly ‘canceled’ amid a slew of bullying accusations
However, upon its release, the project garnered mixed to negative reviews, with a score of 33% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Last year, the Daily Mail revealed a host of explosive allegations about the behind-the-scenes antics on DeGeneres’ now-defunct daytime show, as told by a former staffer.
The source described a sense of fear from DeGeneres’ employees, as well as a prank played by them in an attempt to mock her allegedly childish behavior.
Meanwhile, DeGeneres and wife Portia de Rossi fled the US for the UK following Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election.
Last year, she spoke with English broadcaster Richard Bacon at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham about her decision to relocate.
DeGeneres said that she and wife de Rossi were also considering tying the knot again in the UK after some moves in the US to reverse the right to gay marriage.
DeGeneres and wife Portia de Rossi fled the US for the UK following Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election, but have since moved back to California
‘We got here the day before the election and woke up to lots of texts from our friends with crying emojis, and I was like, “He got in”. And we’re like, “We’re staying here”,’ she said.
Speaking of her love for the UK she added, ‘It’s absolutely beautiful. We’re just not used to seeing this kind of beauty. The villages and the towns and the architecture – everything you see is charming and it’s just a simpler way of life.’
She continued, ‘It’s clean. Everything here is just better – the way animals are treated, people are polite. I just love it here.
‘We moved here in November, which was not the ideal time, but I saw snow for the first time in my life. We love it here. Portia flew her horses here, and I have chickens, and we had sheep for about two weeks.’
However, she seems to have changed her mind since then, with the star splashing out $27.4 million on a Montecito mansion in California late last year.
She and de Rossi now appear to be splitting their time between England and celebrity-studded Montecito, which is also home to Oprah Winfrey, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Ariana Grande.
