With Season 3 of Voltron Legendary Defender now on Netflix, the rebooted series of the 80s anime classic continues to get better and better. Fans have a wealth of information to take in despite the season's relatively short, seven-episode run thanks in part to the show's balance between honoring existing source material and striving forward into the unknown with original storytelling. A tip of the cap to showrunners Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery for that; keep an eye out for my interview with both executive producers early next week.

By the end of Season 2 (that's your cue to skidoo if you're not caught up), the Paladins (a.k.a. Voltron Lion pilots) had managed to defeat Emperor Zarkon and his Galra fleet but lost their own leader and Black Lion pilot, Shiro, in the process. With the head of Galra empire out of commission, his son Prince Lotor has stepped in to lead the armies as they fight to maintain control of their vast territory. Meanwhile, the Paladins continue their search for Shiro in order to complete their team and form Voltron iso that they may defend the recently liberated civilizations. That's where Season 3 picks up, but there are a lot of reveals, confirmations, and connections to earlier episodes that occur in this short, but intense new season. Let's get into it!

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Image via Netflix

Spoilers ahead for anyone who hasn't finished Season 3, available to stream now!

And for more of our coverage on Voltron Legendary Defender, be sure to check out some of our recent write-ups below:

Paladins: Changing of the Guard

With Shiro missing and the threat of the Galra still very real, the Paladins were on the clock to either find their vanished leader or replace him with a new pilot. This opened a storytelling door to either pay homage to the original Beast King Go-Lion series or do something original by introducing a wholly new character to the team, perhaps even a member of the Galran rebels, the Blade of Marmora.

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Image via Netflix

The writing team chose to go with the former option, and I'm kind of glad they did; the seven-episode season was just too short to introduce a new character and give them time to acclimate to the team, the Lions, and Voltron itself. So what we got is a shuffling of the Paladins that actually mirrors the original series: Keith (in his red Paladin armor) is accepted as the new pilot of the Black Lion and leader of the team, much to the loner's chagrin; that leaves an opening in the Red Lion's cockpit, which is filled by a newly confident Lance (still in his blue Paladin armor); but that leaves a vacancy in the Blue Lion ... who could possibly step up to that challenge?

None other than Princess Allura, of course! (The color of her Pink Paladin armor has symbolic meaning to the Alteans, but it's also a nod to her forebear in the first series.) This was a great storytelling decision that not only gives Allura the chance to go into proper battle with the team, but also allows her to struggle and grow as a leader and a warrior. (There's a story arc about Allura learning to be more diplomatic now that a council of rebelling planets has been formed, but unfortunately this is left hanging when the plot moves elsewhere.) This new team has a tough time getting it together as Lance and Allura face a steep learning curve in their new Lions, and Keith's hot-headed leadership gets them into more trouble than out of it. Luckily, they figure out how to overcome these odds and form Voltron, just in time to take on Prince Lotor.

Prince Lotor's Entourage

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Image via Netflix, DreamWorks TV

Prince Lotor (A.J. LoCascio) is a fantastic addition to the series and a wonderful antagonist for the Paladins in Season 3, and beyond. The son of Zarkon and heir to the empire, Lotor wins the support of the Galran people through strength, skill, and charisma; he's the perfect politician. However, he's also an accomplished strategist and ruthless tactician when it comes to the art of war. Lotor stops at nothing to achieve his single-minded goal, even if it means attacking his own Galran bases to do so. We learn by the season's end, just what that goal is, but to understand it, we have to learn the origins of Voltron itself, so hold on a tick.

The next best thing to the introduction of Prince Lotor was the unexpected arrival of his entourage, an assembly of half-Galran femme fatales. There's Narti, a blind, lizard-like humanoid with mind-controlling powers and a space cat similar to Haggar's own; Ezor, a multi-colored, high-spirited type who's quite competent in hand-to-hand combat; Zethrid, a big bruiser who's a fan of heavy weaponry; and Acxa, Lotor's right-hand woman who actually has a surprising connection to the Paladins.

It turns out that Acxa is the silent, masked Galra pilot encountered by Keith in Season 9, Episode 2, "The Belly of the Weblum." Despite their conflict, the two work together to escape the innards of a monstrous beast ... however, both of them end up harvesting some scaultrite, a material needed to build wormhole generators. We knew why the Paladins needed it, but by the end of this season, it becomes clear why the Galra need it as well.

What About Shiro?

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Image via Netflix

Never fear, the writers would not leave Shiro's fate unexplored. It turns out that, after his disappearance, Shiro once again ended up as prisoner of the Galra. He's clearly been there a while since he's now sporting stubble and long hair. Shiro eventually makes his escape, however, not everything is as it seems; Shiro is apparently part of a Galra plot dubbed Operation Kuron and he's allowed to escape so that he might return to the Voltron team. Little comes of this side-plot in this season save for the fact that Shiro complains of a persistent headache and that the Black Lion will no longer accept him as its pilot...

But there's more to Shiro's story here that will probably only make sense to fans of the original series. In the Japanese version of the anime, the Black Paladin was named Shirogane; in the American dub, he became Sven the Swede, for some reason. Well, guess who shows up in this season: Sven himself! He's technically from an alternate reality that the Paladins discover part way through this Season, looking like a blend of Shiro and Keith (cheeky), speaking in a bad Swedish accent, and partnered up with the eccentric alien scientist, Slav.

There's yet another fun homage to the original series here, but it's ever so specifically spoilery that you might want to experience it for yourself. If you're curious, highlight the following text: In the original Japanese series, Shirogane is killed by the witch Haggar, but due to U.S. censors, the Americanized version has Sven suffer a wound and ask to be taken to the hospital. In this season, Sven takes a laser shot aimed at Lance and looks to be on death's doorstep, but simply remarks, "I'll be fine, just get me to a space hospital." Very clever, writers!  

Voltron's Origin and Lotor's Plan

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Image via Netflix, DreamWorks TV

Despite Shiro's return, the reforming of Voltron, and the threat posed by Lotor, the Season 3 finale takes a weird turn by acting as a prequel episode to explain the origins of the mighty robot, the original Paladins, Emperor Zarkon's rise and fall, and Haggar's true identity. It's a strange decision, but a nice chunk of mythology nonetheless, so let's unpack it.

In this season, the Paladins discover a strange comet that's imbued with quintessence, the powerful energy source that is literally at the heart of Voltron and the five Lions. They also discover an alternate reality, one that's populated by evil Alteans bent on spreading their "peace" (through will-sapping technology that turns people into slaves called "no-cogs") to all realities. The Paladins obviously prevent this by stealing away with the comet and dragging it back to their own reality. We learn that the Lions are made of the very same ore that exists within this comet and that the trans-reality metal allows them to pass between realities; whoa. No wonder Lotor wants to get his hands on the stuff and make his own ship out of it ... which is exactly what he does (in record time, by the way).

The original comet that the Lions are made out of apparently crashed into the planet of Daibazaal--the Galran homeworld and base of operations for the original Voltron Force--millennia ago. Zarkon and the Altean King Alfor fought together to defend their people, alongside Gyrgan, Trigel, and Blaytz, a team that would become the first Paladins. However, the wealth of information that was granted by research of the comet also led to the discovery of a rift in reality itself. Dark creatures within the rift threatened to break free of confinement and destroy the Galra, so Alfor created the Lions with the help of Coran while the Altean alchemist Honerva (a nod to an original series character) continued research into the rift.

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Image via Netflix

Here's where things get dicey: The original Paladins, who were able to form Voltron thanks to Alfor's intense connection with the quintessence within the Lions, were able to contain the rift and defeat the creatures, but Zarkon and Honerva's exposure to raw quintessence addled their minds and made them obsessed with discovering more mysteries of the universe in a quest for power and knowledge. This obsession led to betrayal of the other Paladins by Zarkon, who needed Voltron in order to enter the rift in a futile hope to save an ailing Honerva, now his wife. His plan led to the ultimate corruption of both himself and Honerva (who became the witch Haggar! Her cat Kova was corrupted as well) and the dissolution of the Paladins. To contain the rift from spreading across their own reality, Alfor destroyed the Galra homeworld. Zarkon and Honerva survived only because of their corrupted lifeforce and used their newfound knowledge to encourage an uprising of their people, forge an empire, and destroy the Altean homeworld along with his former friend, Alfor. In a protective measure, the Lions were scattered to distant corners of the galaxy, which is where the series opens...

Now, Lotor seeks to prevail where his father failed. In the first episode, Lotor defeated a would-be usurper named Throk, but spared his life and sent him to a remote outpost in the Ulippa system. That's the very same outpost that Lotor's forces attack by season's end, revealing that the prince not only plans his battles far ahead of time but that he is not above personal vendetta. The Paladins learn that Lotor is hoping to use wormhole technology--pieced together from the previous season's scaultrite heist and this season's attempted theft of a Teludav crystal--and his newly created ship to cross into other realities, mine pure quintessence, and defeat Voltron once and for all to become the supreme ruling force across all realities. Pretty intense stuff.

While Season 3 felt a bit rushed and too short, the good news is that we won't have too long to wait for more episodes; Season 4 arrives this October. And as if in anticipation of more episodes, Emperor Zarkon has awoken at last...

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Image via Netflix