Originally, before the first film release, they had planned it to be a five-film saga, and the fifth film would be the last film in the franchise.

Josh Klausner: 'When I first joined this project, I didn't think this would be the final chapter.

Upon reading the final script written by Josh Klausner and Darren Lemke, Jeffrey Katzenberg decided to cancel Shrek 5 (which would be released in 2013 and tell how Shrek met the Swamp) and changed the name of the film to Shrek Forever After: The Final Chapter, because Jeffrey Katzenberg believed that the story Josh Klausner and Darren Lemke wrote for this fourth film was the perfect story for Shrek's journey to end his character arc. However, Tim Sullivan was replaced by Josh Klausner and Darren Lemke, who rewrote the script. The film was to be written by Tim Sullivan (writer of Letters to Juliet) and the title would be Shrek Goes Fourth.

This is more evident when looking at the story behind the film's production.

The real reason for the existence of this fourth film within the Shrek franchise was that his DreamWorks studio wanted to redeem the Shrek franchise after Shrek the Third's mixed reception by critics, and to complete Shrek's character arc: learning to open his heart in the first film, learning to value himself in the second film and learning to value everything he achieved in previous films in this fourth film.

Shrek must find a way out of the contract to restore his world and reclaim his true love. Duped into signing a contract with devious Rumpelstiltskin, he finds himself in an alternate version of Far Far Away, where ogres are hunted, Rumpelstiltskin rules, and he and Fiona (Cameron Diaz) have never met. Long-settled into married life and fully domesticated, Shrek (Mike Myers) begins to long for the days when he felt like a real ogre. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 21, 2010, and was theatrically released in the United States on May 21, 2010. It is the fourth and final installment in the Shrek film series and the sequel to Shrek the Third.

Shrek Forever After (previously promoted as Shrek: The Final Chapter), also known as Shrek 4 and promoted for home release as Shrek Forever After: The Final Chapter and styled as Shrek 4ever After: The Final Chapter, is a 2010 American computer-animated comedy-drama film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures.