It was officially revealed last summer that in addition to Cars 2 and Monsters University, Pixar was also officially developing a sequel to Finding Nemo. The news was not a huge surprise considering that Finding Nemo is their highest grossing film outside of Toy Story 3, but the idea of a sequel still had many Pixar fans feeling dread rather than excitement. On the positive side, the fact that Andrew Stanton is returning to the director’s chair seems like a good omen, and more importantly, he also supposedly came up with the idea for the story. Although that story is still being kept under wraps, we now know that at least two of the key voice actors will be returning for part 2.

According to Deadline, Albert Brooks has officially signed on to reprise his role as Marlin, the father of Nemo. Ellen DeGeneres had already agreed to return as Dory some time ago, but it seems that Brooks initially refused to take the bait. That could have something to do with the fact that his acting career has recently been revitalized thanks to roles in Drive and This is 40.

It is still unclear if Alexander Gould will be back to play Nemo, although obviously Brooks and DeGeneres would be the main draws for a sequel. Gould had more of a supporting role the first time around, and yet it’s hard to imagine a Finding Nemo movie without Nemo. Either way, now that Brooks is on board it seems that the project will finally be moving forward for better or worse. Do you have high hopes for Finding Nemo 2?