Voltron: Legendary Defender

Synopsis

For millennia, the Galra Empire has plagued the universe by destroying civilizations and enslaving various races. The only threat to the empire is the legendary "Defender of the Universe" Voltron, a 328-foot-tall robot warrior composed of five lion-styled starships whose pilots are known as Paladins. At the crux of the war that ended with the destruction of planet Altea, King Alfor separated Voltron to protect him from falling into the evil Galra Emperor Zarkon's possession. King Alfor sent the Voltron Lions across the universe to different locations to hide them from Emperor Zarkon. Princess Allura, Alfor's royal adviser Coran, and the Altean Castle of Lions were hidden on planet Arus along with the Black Lion.

In the present, the Galra Empire's path of conquest and search for Voltron has led them to Earth's solar system. A group of space pilots—Shiro, Keith, Lance, Pidge, and Hunk—discover the Blue Lion and immediately get swept up into the Galran War. They meet Princess Allura, become the new Paladins, and reunite the five Lions to form Voltron, beginning their fight to liberate the universe from the Galra Empire.

Cast and characters

Main

Josh Keaton as Lieutenant/Commander Takashi "Shiro" Shirogane:The Black Paladin and the pilot of the Black Lion. The leader of the Defenders of the Universe, Shiro was captured by the Galra Empire a year before the start of the series while on a scientific expedition, during which he was given a weaponized prosthetic right arm. A natural, decisive leader, Shiro is calm and always in control. At the end of the second season, Shiro reclaims his personal bayard weapon from Zarkon that enables them to defeat him, but Shiro mysteriously vanishes afterwards. In season three, Shiro wakes up on a Galran battleship. He escapes and is eventually found by the other Paladins. After finding that the Black Lion no longer accepts him as its true paladin, he continues to aid the team by providing guidance and support to them from the Castle of Lions. At the start of season four, Shiro manages to reestablish his bond with the Black Lion when Keith was absent during an intense battle. In season five, he was revealed of being an unwitting mole of Haggar, who can see through his eyes to keep an eye on Lotor. After Keith and Romelle revealed Lotor's true intentions, Haggar takes full control over Shiro, and Keith discovers that the Shiro with them is a clone, while the true Shiro died during the fight at the end of season two, and his soul lies inside the Black Lion. Afterwards, Shiro is revived when Allura uses her powers to transfer his soul from the Black Lion to the clone's body. In season 7, following his return to Earth, he becomes the captain of the Atlas, a Galaxy Garrison battleship, during the fight against Sendak. Throughout the last season (8), Shiro remains the captain of the Atlas and eventually aids in the final battle against Honerva after Voltron merged with the Atlas. At the end of season 8, he married Curtis, a fellow crewmember on the Atlas.

Kimberly Brooks as Princess Allura:The Crown Princess of Altea, the daughter of King Alfor, Allura was the last known female Altean. Pilot and keeper of the Castle of Lions, a structure that is both a castle and a spaceship, Allura granted the new group of Defenders their titles and leads them in their mission to defeat Zarkon and liberate the universe from Galra rule. Allura wishes more than anything to finish her father's work in stopping Zarkon. In season three, she becomes the new pilot of the Blue Lion and replaces Lance as the Blue Paladin (Lance replaces Keith as the Red Lion's paladin). As an Altean, Allura's abilities include the chameleon-like ability to blend in with other species and magical abilities related to quintessence. She has a telepathic bond with some Altean mice that had ended up in the same cryo-pod that she was hibernating inside of. During season 8, Allura and Lance engage in a romantic relationship. At the end of season 8, she and Honerva give their lives to restore all realities after they were destroyed by Honerva in the final battle.

Production

On January 5, 2016, Netflix and DreamWorks Animation announced a new original animated Voltron series to debut in 2016 as a reboot similar to that of Disney's Ducktales reboot, the expansion of their existing multi-year agreement. Voltron was one of several series planned for initial development and debut in 2016, including Guillermo del Toro's animated Trollhunters. Lauren Montgomery and Joaquim Dos Santos, both known for their work on Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel The Legend of Korra, served as showrunners, while fellow crew member Tim Hedrick who wrote for Avatar and Korra served as head writer. On March 25, 2016, at WonderCon, it was announced that the voice cast would consist of Steven Yeun as Keith, Jeremy Shada as Lance, Bex Taylor-Klaus as Pidge, Josh Keaton as Shiro, Tyler Labine as Hunk, Kimberly Brooks as Princess Allura, Rhys Darby as Coran, and Neil Kaplan as Emperor Zarkon. Cree Summer later confirmed that she would be voicing Witch Haggar. The first season premiered on June 10, 2016, and consists of 13 episodes.

It was announced at San Diego Comic-Con that the second season would premiere on Netflix in late 2016. A few months later, at New York Comic Con, it was announced that the second season would premiere on January 20, 2017. The second season saw a special premiere at the New York Comic Con on October 7, 2016, where an episode was shown at the Voltron panel. The second season premiered on Netflix on January 20, 2017, and consists of 13 episodes.

The third season premiered on Netflix on August 4, 2017, and consists of 7 episodes. The fourth season premiered in October 2017, and consists of 6 episodes. The series was revealed at WonderCon 2017 to have a 78-episode commitment from Netflix.

The fifth season premiered on March 2, 2018, and consists of 6 episodes.

The sixth season premiered on June 15, 2018, and consists of 7 episodes.

The seventh season premiered on August 10, 2018, and consists of 13 episodes.

The eighth and final season premiered on December 14, 2018, and consists of 13 episodes.

Reception

Critical response

Voltron: Legendary Defender received widespread acclaim throughout its eight-season run. Reviewers and a number of fans have lauded the series' plot and story arc. The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval with an average rating of 8.15 for the first season, based on 11 reviews, with Critic Consensus being that "Voltron: Legendary Defender honors its source material with beautifully expressive animation and impactful action."

In reviewing the first season, Max Nicholson of IGN wrote, "DreamWork's Voltron: Legendary Defender delivers exactly the kind of show you've come to expect from the amazing creative team behind The Legend of Korra." He rated the series an 8.9 out of 10. Sarah Moran of ScreenRant similarly gave the series a positive review, writing, "It isn't trying to reinvent or really improve on the original conceit of Voltron, but Legendary Defender is certainly a welcomed take on a classic cartoon; one that should appeal to fans both new and old." Shamus Kelly from Den of Geek gave the series a perfect score, writing, "Seriously, you won't be disappointed. It's something special that doesn't come around often in television."

In reviewing the final season, Jesse Schedeen of IGN wrote, "Minor storytelling quibbles aside, the final season of Voltron: Legendary Defender captures pretty much everything that has made this series great. The action scenes are fantastic. The story combines humor and character drama better than any season before it. These 13 episodes tie up nearly every loose end on a satisfying note and raise the stakes of the show higher than ever." He rated the season 9.1 out of 10, though he admits, "That said, it would be far more effective to see one of these animated shows acknowledge their LGBT heroes from the very beginning and not save moments like these for the literal last minute; with that rushed reveal (after spending no time establishing Shiro's new relationship or even hinting at it), Voltron relies too much on the audience's affection for Shiro to give the moment resonance, rather than earning an emotional response from its storytelling."

Dave Trumbore of Collider gave the season a perfect score, writing, "The final season of Voltron: Legendary Defender rarely stumbles; the same can be said of the series' story overall. Honestly the only shortcoming in the storytelling has to do with the way the narrative has handled romantic relationships; that trend continues here. Overall, Season 8 manages to do the seemingly impossible by ramping up the stakes to the utmost, delivering the most powerful emotional resonance between our heroes and villains yet, and wrapping everything up in a tearful, bittersweet, and fully satisfying way. It's not perfect, but it's as close to perfection as we're going to get in this reality." Shamus Kelly from Den of Geek gave the season a 4 out 5 stars, writing, "The biggest strength of the season is how nearly everyone comes back to play some part in the final season."

Comics

Three comic series detailing events happening in between episodes were announced in January 2016. Taking story ideas that were deemed too outlandish and too epic to be contained in a 23-minute episode from the animated series, these comic series bridges the time lapse between seasons.

Despite original statements of continuing into Volume 4, LionForge opted to cancel its contract. Its only response in regards to the matter was a brief tweet of an article from Geekdad.

Volume 1 (2016)

The first miniseries consists of five issues, published by Lion Forge Comics. It was written by show head writer Tim Hedrick and Mitch Iverson, and illustrated by Digital Art Chefs. A special cover variant of issue #1 was available at San Diego Comic-Con in 2016, with a limited release of 250 copies. Issue #2 was released on August 2, 2016, followed by issue #3 on October 5, 2016, issue #4 on November 9, 2016, and issue #5 on November 20, 2016. The whole series will be collected in a graphic novel and was initially scheduled for a December 2016 release, but got pushed back to January 3, 2017, then was finally released January 25, 2017, according to Lion Forge. The second series will be announced after the release of the graphic novel. A motion comic of issue 1 with full voice acting by the series cast was released on June 15, 2017, at the DreamWorksTV YouTube channel. The story takes place in between the season 1 episodes "Rebirth" and "Crystal Venom."

Volume 2 (2017)

During the Voltron: Legendary Defender panel at WonderCon 2017, it was announced that the second series of five issues would debut in May 2017. The date was pushed back to late June due to production delays., however the date was pushed back on October 4, 2017, where was published where issue 2 and 3 was published on the same day, November 1, 2017, and issue 4 was published on November 15, 2017, issue 5 was published on December 13, 2017, the Vol. 2 Trade Paperback was published on January 31, 2018. The story takes place in between the season 2 episodes "Shiro's Escape" and "Greening the Cube."

Volume 3 (2018)

Volume 3 debuted on July 11, 2018. The story is set between season 4 and season 5.

Home media

The first two seasons were released on DVD in Region 1 by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment on June 12, 2018. The first two seasons were also released in Australia on October 17, 2018. A box set for season 3–6 was released on DVD in Region 1 on June 4, 2019. In 10 years after Netflix removed the show two years ago, Universal received a complete series DVD box set was released in Region 1 on March 31, 2026, as an online-exclusive. It is the first time that seasons 7-8 have been released on DVD.

In Europe, the series was released on DVD in the UK, Italy, and Germany. Seasons 1–6 are available on iTunes, Google Play Amazon Video etc. in the UK.

Promotion and merchandising

To promote the series in between the release of season 1 and 2, a Robeast fanart contest was announced via social media on October 18, 2016. The winner was announced on December 27, 2016, on social media under the username "Zilla B". Several promotional events were run with the online social game platform Roblox.

Video games

DreamWorks Voltron VR Chronicles (2017)

A virtual-reality video game based on the series, known as Voltron VR Chronicles, was released for Steam, Oculus and PlayStation 4 via PlayStation Network.

Voltron: Cubes of Olkarion (2019)

A real-time strategy video game based on the series, called Voltron: Cubes of Olkarion, created by indie developer Gbanga, was entered into and won the 2018 Universal GameDev Challenge. The game was released on Steam Early Access on 29 August 2019. On September 19, 2019, NBCUniversal shutdown its game publishing division. Three months later on the December 19, 2019, Voltron: Cubes of Olkarion was briefly removed from the Steam store, but reactivated in June 2020. In the game, players compete in real-time player vs player (PvP) game battles by placing own and destroying opponent blocks with different features in a game board with a grid.