One of the highlights of early 2017 is undoubtedly the return of Netflix's Voltron Legendary Defender, an amazing animated series that managed to honor the original and even outshine it in Season 1. However, the end of the show's first season found the pilots of the Voltron Lions scattered and out of sorts. But as a new trailer for Season 2 reveals, the heroes and their iconic robots will surely be reunited in order to battle the evil of Zarkon. It also promises new allies and enemies along the way, meaning the galaxy is going to get even more crowded when Season 2 premieres on Netflix on January 20th.

EW had the reveal of the new trailer along with a Q&A from the show's executive producers Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra fame. Some spoilers will follow after the trailer if you haven't caught up with the show's Season 1 finale, but the trailer itself should be fairly safe to watch.

Watch the new trailer for Season 2 of Netflix's Voltron Legendary Defender below:

Team Voltron has been scattered throughout the universe in the aftermath of a perilous battle with Zarkon, Haggar and the evil Galra Empire. Working to bring the lions back together to form Voltron again, the Paladins' plan to defeat the Galra once and for all takes them across the universe in search of new worlds and unexpected allies. Find out if their plot to take down Zarkon succeeds when Season 2 of DreamWorks Voltron Legendary Defender premieres on Netflix January 20, 2017.

One of the major storylines in Season 2 will be the impact of the revelation that Zarkon was the Black Lion's original Paladin:

Joaquim Dos Santos: It speaks to the bigger picture, that there was a much bigger aspect to Voltron before our guys got involved. We obviously hinted at it and talked about it through Allura. All that stuff plays out in a much bigger, broader, and a much more in-depth way than we were able to do in the first season.

 

Lauren Montgomery: And just having a dynamic where you have two characters that are both linked to this one lion and ultimately, what does that mean for them? Does one person have a stronger link to this lion than the other? It’s an interesting problem that has to be solved.

 

Dos Santos: I will say, if I’m putting my fan hat on, why is the Black Lion still reacting to Zarkon if he’s the bad guy? There’s questions that you got to get to ask yourself and hope to get a little insight into as we move forward in the season.

Having seen Zarkon's mastery of the Black Lion, the rest of the Paladins are more inspired than ever toward becoming better pilots and deepening their bonds with their own Lions and the ultimate defender, Voltron. But that's not the only goal they'll have this season:

Montgomery: Each team member has to start the season dealing with their own problems. They’ve all been split off. We’re going to spend a little bit of time tackling problems on their own, but ultimately they do have to come back together in the end. They have to get back into solving the problem at hand, which is Zarkon has enslaved a large portion of the universe. You can’t let that just keep going for too long.

 

Dos Santos: We had that giant battle at the end of the season, but they just got away by the skin of their teeth.

 

Montgomery: They really didn’t resolve anything.

Since the new trailer teased new allies and villains, here's a hint of what we can expect:

Montgomery: We’ve still got our main villain, Zarkon, but he’s always got people helping him that are some of the enemies the team faces. [But] Voltron needs things to fight, too! So there’s always going to be some large monster or large threat that he’s going to have to take on. It’s just a matter of what presents itself to our guys and how they end up taking it down. Surprisingly, it’s not always coming directly from the Galra. Sometimes it’s just a threat to people that need to be helped. [As for allies] it’s a part of the mission that our guys have set out for themselves. They learned from the last fight with Zarkon that they can’t do this thing on their own. Now it’s a matter of ‘Who can help us?’ and ‘How can we ultimately rise up against Zarkon?’

 

Dos Santos: It’s an expansion of the universe, and it’s really where Legendary Defender starts distinguishing itself from some of the previous versions. There’s just more out there. The world just keeps getting bigger.

You can also expect big character arcs for Shiro and Princess Allura in the upcoming season, alongside the continuing adventures of Keith, Lance, Pidge, and Hunk. Be sure to tune in on January 20th to catch all the action!