How I Would've Written Pawbert in "Zootopia 2" (spoilers!!!)

Seriously, go watch the movie first. This has major spoilers. 

Got it? Good. 

Spoilers begin in 3…2…1…

Don’t get me wrong: I still liked the movie, but it’s not something like “Zootopia” or recently, “Puss in Boots 2: The Last Wish” where it was so spectacular that I had to see them in theaters twice. By the time the credits started to roll, my editor’s brain already went into overdrive, and I started to think of how Disney could’ve made “Zootopia 2” much greater, especially in writing Pawbert.

You know what I would've done if I wrote the script? I would've actually had the film partially split 2/3 between Nick and Judy and Pawbert and Gary and given Pawbert a character arc that the audience sees. Maybe we get to see him start off as the villain, first meeting Gary and seeing from his POV his plans to destroy the patent to make his family proud. As this happens, we get glimpses of how much of an outcast he is with his father and siblings in the manor and not just at the gala we saw in the film. We get to see just how alone and craving for acceptance and familial love the lynx wants. We also get to see more of a friendship form between the lynx and snake, with some parallels even reflecting the dynamism that Judy and Nick had in the first film, perhaps, being two different animals.

Then, as the two rendezvous with Judy, there's a scene where Gary describes his family outside the city, and Judy describes her parents and many siblings, which contrasts with Pawbert's own family as he minimally describes growing up the outcasted runt of the Lynxley litter. Both Gary and Judy tell Pawbert that family is important, but family should also support your dreams, and Judy tells Pawbert that even though her parents disagree with hers, they still love her and support her unconditionally, no matter what. This causes doubt to simmer and boil within Pawbert, listening to two other characters who trust him how much his family is dysfunctional. He steels his resolve though, despite Judy and Gary not suspecting a thing. 

The film goes on as usual up until Pawbert's betrayal (during his explanation to Gary and Judy about why he's killing them and looks panged with guilt and uncertainty as he tells Judy, "I don't want to be different."). He considers killing the beaver, but instead decides to knock her out, but then tries to tell Nick that the snake did in fact kill his partner, trying to play into Nick's speciesism about reptiles. However, Nick doesn't buy it and tells Pawbert how he's been in the criminal underworld and knows a liar at first sight. The fight ensues, Pawbert's resolve further crumbles, and the film continues all the way until the manor where Pawbert explains his plan to his 'daddy' (heh). Unlike the film though, Milton Lynxley instead orders Pawbert's sister and brother—I can’t remember their names—to be the one to destroy the patent, with Milton being dismissive of Pawbert and passively telling him he 'did a good job'. Pawbert finally realizes how much his father doesn't really care about him in a huge revelation.
It's right that Nick and Judy enter the Lynxley office and chase after Pawbert's siblings out to the maze that Pawbert finally snaps and decides to stand up to Milton, chasing also after his siblings through the maze and still giving us that hilariously awesome homage to Jack Nicholson's scene in "The Shining". Pawbert then spots Nick and Judy's carnage as they’re driving through the maze, and chases after them. 

The protagonist group of Nick, Judy, Gary, and Nibbles Maplestick get into a stand-off with the older Lynxley siblings, who are more capable fighters and get the upper hand. It doesn't look good for the heroes. The sister knocks out Nibbles, tosses Gary into a puddle of ice water to freeze to death, and the brother begins brutally choking Nick and Judy to the ground. They boast about their speciesism and how nobody will know the truth. During this villain monologuing, an unseen figure rescues Gary and warms him up next to an also-rescued Nibbles, and then...a righteously furious Pawbert strikes his siblings, claws extended. 

He screams for Nick and Judy to run, telling Gary he's sorry. He tries and fails to take on both of his older siblings two-to-one, and they berate him for not being a Lynxley and that he's no different than the 'awful reptile vermin', and a now-confident Pawbert proclaims during the fight that he, "Doesn't want to be different!"

The tide turns and Pawbert is wounded, scared but defiant. That's when his newfound friends come in and help turn the tide, knocking the siblings out and tying them up. The film then goes on as usual, with a remorseful Pawbert accompanying Nick, Judy, Nibbles, and Gary down to the buried Reptile District, with a limping/injured Pawbert especially in awe and wonder about how his family destroyed such a beautiful place. He once again tries to apologize to his new friends, telling him he's sorry for what his family did and that he's a terrible person for betraying them and trying to kill them, and that he too wants the Lynxley's crimes to come to light. The group forgives him, especially Gary, who hugs him and keeps him close for warmth in a hug. 

The film continues as normal, but it's the crazed siblings instead of Pawbert who light the fire and get knocked out by the pair of boar officers who’ve been chasing them throughout the film. Milton Lynxley and his children (sans Pawbert) are promptly arrested and the protagonists exonerated. And during the news montage, a now less awkward, more confident Pawbert announces at a press conference that as the Lynxley family's new patriarch, he's personally funding the reconstruction of the Reptile District as well as returning the credit and much of the fortune to Gary's family. Milton is livid upon seeing this on the jail’s TV, now treating his oldest son and daughter like he once did Pawbert as they sit in prison. 

We then cut to the party in Gary's ancestral home, with one scene added where Pawbert is back to his charming and awkward self, then warmly happy as Gary implies to Pawbert that he can be a member of his snake family, if he wants to. He accepts and they laugh in a group hug as Nick makes a snide remark to Judy, only to find himself trapped in a conversation with Judy's parents, who tell her how proud they are and that they love her. The film then continues to Nick and Judy undercover as they go after the recently escaped Bellweather trying to go to Outback Island.

That’s my two cents. Honestly, I feel like it would’ve been cool to see Pawbert go through a character arc like this. Rather than be a twist villain like Bellweather, he'd start off as a villain but then slowly work to be a conflicted villain and finally, a protagonist who redeems himself. He would’ve also mirrored Judy’s and Nick’s growth as well, and maybe the film would’ve had him as another addition to the dynamic duo. 

For what it is though, I still enjoyed “Zootopia 2”. I’m still eager for a third movie in the future, possibly a fourth, and even more fan content from this amazing fandom. I just wanted to exercise my editing and experiment with writing. What do you think of the scenario? Do you agree or disagree?