Voltron is returning to action and sooner than you may think. Speaking during a panel at WonderCon, Voltron: Legendary Defender showrunner Joaquim Dos Santos confirmed that the series would return for a third season in 2017.
Voltron: Legendary Defender is a modern reimagining of the animated Voltron series from the 1980s. The new series, developed by Dreamworks Animation, debuted on Netflix in June 2016 and returned for a second season in January 2017.
Dos Santos and other panelists teased that Prince Lotor, the heir to the Galra Empire, will step up as the new series antagonist now that King Zarkon seems to have been vanquished.
Voltron: Legendary Defender is animated by Studio Mir, the production studio behind The Legend of Korra. Dos Santos, fellow executive producer Lauren Montgomery, and head writer Tim Hedrick all worked together on Avatar: The Last Airbender.
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Voltron: Legendary Defender’s voice cast includes Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead) as Keith, Jeremy Shada (Adventure Time) as Lance, Bex Taylor-Klaus (Arrow) as Pidge, Josh Keaton (Green Lantern: The Animated Series) as Shiro (formerly “Sven” in the original Voltron series), Tyler Labine (Tucker and Dale vs. Evil) as Hunk, Kimberly Brooks (Mass Effect) as Princess Allura, Rhys Darby (Flight of the Conchords) as Coran, and Neil Kaplan (Transformers: Robots in Disguise) as King Zarkon.
The second season of Voltron: Legendary Defender left many questions unanswered. The fall of Zarkon and the introduction of Prince Lotor means the Voltron Force will have an entirely new and different enemy to challenge in the third season.
Victory did not come without a price, however. Shiro, the Black Paladin who led the Voltron Force, mysterious vanished while locked in combat with King Zarkon. His fellow Paladins only found the Black Paladin’s cockpit empty. Now fans are wondering if Voltron: Legendary Defender will follow in in the original Voltron’s footsteps by having Keith take over as leader of the Voltron Force and possibly as pilot of the Black Lion, which would also make room for Princess Allura to begin piloting a Lion herself.
That isn’t the only mystery still afoot. Keith was revealed to be of Galra blood and now owes allegiance to the Galra resistance group called the Blade of Marmora. Princess Allura discovered that Hagar, the witch who has aided King Zarkon’s conquest and created his deadliest monsters, was also an Altean. Flashback’s hinted at Zarkon’s fall from being the first Black Paladin to becoming a galactic tyrant, and Pidge’s family is still imprisoned somewhere by the Galra.
In other words, there’s plenty for fans to look forward to when Voltron: Legendary Defender return for Season 3.