French animator Pierre Coffin has finally addressed one of the internet’s strangest long-running pop culture debates: whether the Minions ever worked for Adolf Hitler.
In a new interview, Coffin was asked directly: what were the Minions doing between 1939 and 1945, during World War II?
“I knew you were going to ask me that question. Shame on you,” Coffin told Polygon. “I think they were in that cave,” he added, referring to the ice cave where the Minions hid for 156 years after fleeing Napoleon Bonaparte in 1812, as 2015’s Minions revealed.
The Minions, first introduced as the babbling yellow sidekicks of Gru in Despicable Me, are quasi-immortal beings that have existed since prehistoric times with a singular purpose: to seek out and serve the world’s most despicable masters. Over the centuries, they are shown attaching themselves to an eclectic parade of rulers and villains: from a Tyrannosaurus rex and an Egyptian pharaoh to Dracula and even Napoleon Bonaparte, before accidentally causing each master’s downfall.
This opened an unexpectedly dark line of questioning. If the Minions are hardwired to serve history’s worst figures, many fans wondered, where exactly were they during the rise of Hitler?
“So the Minions that we know from Minions 1 were stuck in the cave. These ones, I don't know where they were, but they were not part of the Big History,” Coffin said, finally putting an end to years of online speculation about the characters’ wartime whereabouts.
Coffin, who co-created the Minions and voices the characters, returns in the latest instalment in the franchise, Minions & Monsters. Set in 1920s Hollywood, the film follows a new tribe of Minions as they fall in love with cinema and set out to make a monster movie of their own, only to accidentally unleash real monsters.
The film features Trey Parker as Goomi, alongside Jesse Eisenberg, Zoey Deutch, Allison Janney, Jeff Bridges, and Christoph Waltz in the voice cast.
Minions & Monsters is the seventh entry in the Despicable Me franchise and the third Minions-focused film. The franchise has become one of animation’s biggest commercial successes, grossing more than $5.6bn (£4.1bn) worldwide across six films and becoming the first animated franchise to cross the $5bn mark in 2024.
Coffin recently opened up about how “exhausting” it is to work as both director and a key voice actor on the franchise. “Each film takes three years, sometimes four when things don’t go as planned,” he told Variety. “It’s exhausting. And on top of directing, I also do the Minions’ voices. If the script changes, I have to redo all the voices. I’m the only one doing that.”
After Despicable Me 3 was released in 2017, Coffin said he informed Minions co-creator Chris Renaud that he “wanted to stop”.
“I have a strange relationship with these films. Every time one came out, I thought, ‘You can tell only 20 people worked on it, that it was pulled in every direction.’ And every time, I was surprised by the box office,” he said.
“This one feels different. Now, when I watch it, I think, “Actually, it’s pretty good.” Maybe it will be a flop, I don’t know!”
Minions & Monsters is currently showing in cinemas.
