'Puss In Boots' to feature 'all new characters'

Shrek spin-off movie Puss In Boots will feature all new characters, it has been reported.

Antonio Banderas has signed up to reprise his role as the voice of the swashbuckling feline, while none of the original film's parts will star in the origin tale, Movie Hole reports.

"No, all new characters - except Puss," said screenwriter David H. Steinberg. "It doesn’t overlap with Shrek at all.

"Partly that was done to tell an original Puss story, but partly because we didn’t know what Shrek 4 - and now Shrek 5 - were going to do with the characters and we couldn’t write conflicting storylines."

Banderas recently spoke out about the project, saying: "It goes in a different way, and the movie sometimes gets almost emotional, I may say, and it's kind of epic."

Puss In Boots has a 2012 release date, while Shrek Forever After is scheduled to arrive in cinemas in 2010.