Voltron: Legendary Defender is an animated mecha television series produced by American companies DreamWorks Animation Television and World Events Productions and South Korean animation studio Mir for Netflix. It is a reboot of the Voltron franchise and the Japanese anime series Beast King GoLion. Its animation is a mix of anime-influenced traditional animation for characters and backgrounds and CGI for Voltron action sequences. Voltron: Legendary Defender is set in a science fiction universe where planetary energy called quintessence can be used to power vehicles and magic. The series follows the adventures of the Paladins of Voltron who must learn to work together to form the legendary robot Voltron and use it to defeat the Emperor Zarkon and the Galra Empire. The series ran from , to , having released 78 episodes over 8 seasons.
Voltron: Legendary Defender received critical acclaim, highlighting the series' writing and visuals. Its success has spawned several comics, action figures, and other toys from Playmates Toys.
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 King Zarkon's possession. King Alfor sent the Voltron Lions across the universe to different locations to hide them from King 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 Voltron: Legendary Defender 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. Steven Yeun as Keith:The Red Paladin and the pilot of the Red Lion. Formerly a cadet at Galaxy Garrison academy before being expelled, Keith is an orphan. Sullen and temperamental, Keith spends his time away from the Garrison after he was expelled working on a mystery he discovered after living in the desert, near the canyons where the Blue Lion was residing. In season two, Keith discovers he has Galra blood, apparently from his maternal side of the family. The revelation comes from a knife that associated him with a secret rebel group of the Galra called the "Blade of Marmora", but also ends up straining Allura's trust in him for a while. Due to Shiro's absence, Keith takes over as the head of Voltron as the new pilot of the Black Lion in season three. At the start of season four, Keith steps down from this position and hands it back to Shiro so that he can continue to work with the Blade of Marmora. At the end of season five, Keith is reunited with his Galra mother, Krolia. He rejoins the Paladins in the end of season six, re-assuming command of the Black Lion. At the end of season 8, he dissolves the Galra Empire and transitions the Blades of Marmora into a humanitarian organization. Jeremy Shada as Lance:The Blue Paladin and the pilot of the Blue Lion. Lance was the fighter pilot of his team at Galaxy Garrison academy. Initially cocky and confident, Lance nicknames himself the "sharpshooter" and the "ladies' man" of the Defenders. The first nickname stuck, the other didn't. Lance maintained a one-sided rivalry with Keith from when the two were at the Galaxy Garrison together, but the two have shown to be an effective team. Lance occasionally has doubts of fulfilling his role on the team. Lance later becomes the new pilot of the Red Lion and right-hand man of Voltron from season three onward. Lance nearly died at the start of season 6, but was saved by Allura's Altean life-giving magic. He and Allura begin a romance at the beginning of season 8. After the final battle with Honerva, Lance gained Altean markings, and returns to live on his family's farm, spreading Allura's message of peace. Bex Taylor-Klaus as Katie "Pidge Gunderson" Holt:The Green Paladin and the pilot of the Green Lion. Katie disguised herself as a boy named Pidge Gunderson to get into Galaxy Garrison academy to find out what happened to her father and brother who disappeared whilst on the same scientific mission that Shiro was captured on. Being a technical genius, Pidge is the smartest member of the team, able to create specialist modifications for the Green Lion such as a cloaking device. During her time as a Paladin, she eventually rescued her brother, and then her father. Her brother, Matt, kept fighting for a rebel group, and her father, Sam, returned to Earth to warn the Galaxy Garrison about the impending war against the Galra. After the final battle in Season 8, she and her family help establish and lead the next generation of Legendary Defenders (the nature of whom can be seen to be a nod to Vehicle Voltron). Tyler Labine as Hunk:The Yellow Paladin and the pilot of the Yellow Lion. Hunk was the engineer of his team at Galaxy Garrison academy. A gentle giant with an equally large appetite, Hunk is the heart of the team, lifting them up and inspiring others. In season one, Hunk meets an Balmeran named Shay, whom he develops a kindred friendship with. Like Pidge, his position as the Yellow Paladin doesn't change throughout the course of the show, and in season 3, he helped Allura gain confidence in her newfound position as the Blue Paladin. In season seven, Keith helps Hunk attempt to save his family from Sendak's slave camps. This didn't end up working out though, but Hunk does finally succeed when he and his fellow Paladins liberated Earth from Galran rule, and his family is rescued. At the start of season eight, Hunk encourages Lance to ask Allura out, and even helps him in doing so. Following the final battle with Honerva, he starts up a culinary empire to bring worlds together, one meal at a time. Rhys Darby as Coran Hieronymus Wimbleton Smythe:The Royal advisor to Princess Allura's family, Coran was the last known male Altean. Energetic and excitable, Coran serves Allura dutifully whilst being fiercely protective of her. Despite his odd and silly character, he is a reliable and steadfast ally to the princess and the Paladins. Coran was also instrumental in getting liberated planets to join the Voltron Coalition in seasons three to five, through shows and speeches that Coran himself organized. After the Castle of Lions was destroyed at the end of season six, Coran is assigned to help aboard the IGF-Atlas as the flight commander. At the end of season eight, he is seen helping put Altea in order and still maintains a great relationship with the former Paladins of Voltron.
Galra Empire Neil Kaplan as King Zarkon: The ruler of the ruthless Galra Empire who has conquered most of the known universe over the last ten millennia. He desires the Lions of Voltron, due to them being a threat to his conquest along with the revelation that he was the former Black Paladin. He originally was a just ruler until he was exposed to quintessence and dark entities while saving the life of his ailing wife Honerva, corrupting him into his current state of being. He battled Voltron in a powerful, experimental mech-like armor in the second-season finale, only to be defeated by Voltron and put into a coma, with his connection to the Black Lion severed. Zarkon is eventually revived by Haggar, but had to wear a suit of armor to keep himself alive and issues a manhunt for Lotor upon learning of his son's schemes against him. In season five, Zarkon fights Lotor in a duel to the death and is slain by his son's hand, being declared dead by the empire. In season 8, Zarkon appears as a corrupted spirit within Honerva's mind as the final guardian of her secrets. His soul is purified by the original and present Paladins after they fight and defeat him, becoming repentant after Allura forced him to remember all the suffering he caused while he was corrupted. The old and new Paladins convince him to help them escape her mind using their combined shared bond to Voltron.