Now that the excellent Trollhunters Season 2 is available to stream on Netflix, I get to share with you this chat with the DreamWorks show's executive producer, Marc Guggenheim. A fair warning ahead of time that we'll be getting into some spoiler territory, so if you haven't watched the 13-episode run yet, you might want to do that first. And even if you have already watched all 13 episodes, you might want to go back and watch them again because there's almost certainly something you missed, something that might hold a clue to the future of the Tales of Arcadia series.

I spoke with Guggenheim about the evolution of Trollhunters, its storytelling, and its cast of characters from Season 1 to Season 2, and beyond. While he couldn't say much about the upcoming third (and final) season of the show or the spin-off series 3 Below and Wizards, he did tease some of the connections among the series. We also spoke once again about the unfortunate passing of the late Anton Yelchin and, despite having recorded all of his performances for the entirety of this season, how his absence affected the show. All that and more follows below!

trollhunters-season-2-review-premiere-date-images
Image via Netflix

One thing I noticed was an interesting breakdown of the arcs over the 13 episodes of Season 2. How far in advance did you plan the rollout of the story? 

Marc Guggenheim: Basically, what we've done, and we did this in Season 1, we really think of the show in 13-episode increments. If you go back to Season 1, Episode 13 is the end of a chapter and Episode 14 is the beginning of a new chapter. If Netflix had wanted to, they could have split up Season 1. We would always construct the season in 13-episode increments and develop a grid: What's happening with each character, what's the logline, what's the theme, is there a subplot that needs to be serviced? We'd always think about each individual episode with a gameplan in mind, but we go into each season knowing exactly what those 13 episodes are going to be and how they're going to be structured out. Sometimes, over the course of a season, we'll alter our plans slightly, but those big structural things tend to remain in place.

Another thing that stood out was the confident narrative structure and non-traditional approach to storytelling.

Guggenheim: I couldn't agree with you more. I think we all felt like Season 1 was about table-setting: There were a lot of characters and a lot of concepts and worlds and whatnot to establish. I think when you're busy laying all of those foundations, it can be distracting to start to play with structure, but one of the joys of doing Season 2 was that we had everything in place; all of the pieces on the chessboard were in their proper squares by the end of Season 1. So once you have sort of done your homework, now you can go out and play. We do enjoy playing with narrative structure, but that's the dessert after you've eaten your vegetables, from a writing perspective.

Episodes 8 and 9 are among my favorites just because it is so narratively challenging and interesting. As a result, we definitely feel like Season 2 is better than Season 1, but whether that's really true is up to the audience, not us, and it's only possible because we had done the work of setting everything up properly in Season 1.

trollhunters-season-2-images
Image via Netflix

How long have you been playing with the idea of revisiting Jim's decision to become a Trollhunter?

Guggenheim: I don't recall that being part of the Season 1 discussions. I want to say that that was something that came up while we were breaking Season 2. There were certain ideas in Season 2 that came out of the writers' room in Season 1, like, "Oh if we get a Season 2 and if we do X, Y, and Z, then we might have this opportunity to do this moment here." I think that, in Episode 11, was just something that came up in the organic process of breaking Season 2.

While we got to see Jim back in the fold, it was bittersweet due to the passing of Anton Yelchin, especially in the episode where he gets to play with Jim's multiple personalities. 

Guggenheim: That episode that you're referring to, which we call the Multiplicity episode, that actually came about at Anton's request. Anton had so much fun doing the Crispy Jim character from the Grit-Shaka episode that he said, "You know, I really enjoyed this, and if there was some way I could do this again, that'd be great." And we said, "We could maybe do you one better." In this case, I think we went five better, perhaps more. Of all the episodes of Season 2, that episode is arguably the most gratifying for me. It's very nice when you're working with an actor who ... when Anton went into that Grit-Shaka episode, he went in with some trepidation because he wasn't a voice actor, and voice acting is a different skill set. There was a learning curve for him, one that he felt, and we all felt, that by the end of the Grit-Shaka episode, he had really nailed. The idea that he felt so confident in his talents that he could make that request of us, and then we write an episode that he just knocks out of the park, it's very gratifying.

You're right, it's made bittersweet by the fact that, not only is he no longer with us, but it hurts a bit, not just to not have him but to know that he never got a chance to see what people thought of Trollhunters. He unfortunately passed away before the show came out, so as a result, he never got a chance to see how beloved the show became; that really is salt in the wound for us. It's bad enough to lose him but it's made all the more tortured by the fact that he never got a chance to see how much everyone loves these characters and loves Jim. It's bittersweet.

trollhunters-season-2-review-premiere-date-images
Image via Netflix

Another highlight of the season was the maturity among the characters and their relationships. 

Guggenheim: One of the very early mission statements that we set for ourselves was, unlike a lot of children's television that is very episodic, we went into this knowing that we wanted--not because it's being binge-watched, but because of our narrative ambitions--we wanted to tell a story where our characters grow and evolve and change. Part of that is relationships. They're are relationships with a lowercase "r" because of the youthful relationships of the characters, but that's part of a growing evolution. I think you can sort of see how there are stories that we're doing in Season 2 that wouldn't have been possible in Season 1 just because the characters weren't at the proper place in their emotional journeys.

We get some fun development for supporting characters, like Steve and Eli. Where did their pair-up come from?

Guggenheim: The Creepslayerz. First of all, I think in large part, that was an inspiration that came out of the writers' room and we grew very enamored with the characters of Steve and Eli over the course of Season 1; that's really a testament to the actors playing them. When you're doing a second season of a show, you really start with all the things that you enjoyed from the first season; you approach it as a fan. We just enjoyed Steve and Eli as characters so much and the idea of seeing more of them and getting these guys together, the bully and the nerdy kid. When we met Steve and Eli, we met them right after Steve had shoved Eli into a locker. Going back to this notion of characters growing, changing and evolving, the idea that these two characters, who obviously were antagonistic when we first meet them, would develop a strange, unconventional friendship, that just really tickled us. I will say, I actually feel like their storyline and their characters are some of the highlights of Season 2.

trollhunters-season-2-review-premiere-date-images
Image via Netflix

With them, there's a bit of a glimpse of the new series arriving as part of the Tales of Arcadia. What can you tease about 3 Below and Wizards?

Guggenheim: I can definitely tell you that Steve and Eli play a huge role in 3 Below. In many ways, they start out as being more prominent in 3 Below than some of the other Trollhunters characters. Again, we started doing 3 Below in reaction to what we were seeing in Season 2 of Trollhunters and writing towards what's working and what we like; their involvement in 3 Below was sort of a natural thing for us. I don't want to tease too much, except to say that I think you will see that we're actually laying down a lot of foundation in Trollhunters for the subsequent two shows, but hopefully we're doing it in a way that is really subtle, that when you see 3 Below and Wizards, you'll go, "Oh wait a moment! That character was seeded in this early episode of Trollhunters." If we've done our job correctly, it should be very subtle and feel organic.

Any spin-offs need to stand on their own, and that includes the launch show; you don't want to feel too much like it's just setting up future shows. We always want Trollhunters, the flagship show, to stand on its own and that you're not being distracted by the introduction of some new characters, even though some of those new characters are a lot of fun and voiced by incredibly talented people.

guillermo-del-toro-dreamworks-animation-deal
Image via DreamWorks, Netflix

While that cast has yet to be announced (though I think you'll be pleasantly surprised when it is), here's a look at the premiere dates and synopses for future seasons of Tales of Arcadia:

DreamWorks Trollhunters Part 2, from Guillermo del Toro, premieres on Netflix, on Friday, Dec. 15, with a third and final chapter of the Emmy-winning series set to debut in 2018.

 

3 Below, the second series in the previously announced Tales of Arcadia trilogy, will premiere in late 2018 and feature two royal teenage aliens and their bodyguard who flee a surprise takeover of their home planet by an evil dictator and crash land in Arcadia. Now on the run from intergalactic bounty hunters, they struggle to blend in and adapt to the bizarre world of high school all the while attempting to repair their ship so they can return and defend their home planet.

 

A final chapter, Wizards, is set to debut in 2019.

 

Premiering in 2016 to critical acclaim, Trollhunters introduced audiences to the seemingly quiet town of Arcadia and an ordinary kid who embarks on an extraordinary adventure in a hidden world right beneath his feet featuring the voices of Anton Yelchin, Kelsey Grammer, Ron Perlman, Steven Yeun, Anjelica Huston and more."

guillermo-del-toro-pinocchio-netflix
Image via DreamWorks, Netflix