Voltron: Legendary Defender season 3 was a particularly dramatic series of Netflix's animated reboot, so let's recap the story and finale. The original series of Voltron was actually re-edited footage from a Japanese anime called Beast King GoLion, with story and character details heavily altered for an American audience. The story followed five pilots who command robotic lions to defend their home planet, with the lions being able to assemble to form powerful robot Voltron.
Voltron proved to be a big hit with younger viewers, leading to a franchise that runs to this day. A planned live-action Voltron movie has been trapped in development hell for over a decade, with the J.J. Abrams' produced Cloverfield once being mistaken by fans to be a secret Voltron adaptation. The last update for the movie was back in 2016 when Watchmen co-writer David Hayter - who also voices Solid Snake in the Metal Gear Solid video game franchise - was hired to pen a script.
The latest reboot of the franchise came in the form of Netflix animated series Voltron: Legendary Defender. The show had a great voice cast, including Josh Keaton, Bex Taylor-Klaus and Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead), and received acclaim for its deep characterization and action sequences. The show ended in 2018 with season 8, but for many fans season 3 proved to be one of the strongest. Let's look about at Voltron season 3 and its ending.
Voltron: Legendary Defender season 2 ended with the Paladins defeating Emperor Zarkon and the Galra fleet but at the cost of losing Black Lion pilot Shiro. Season 3 finds the team looking for Shiro while the Galra regroups under new leadership. With a vacancy in the team, King Alfor's daughter Princess Allura becomes the new pilot of Blue Lion while Keith takes over as leader. Naturally, tensions flare as the team adjust to their new situation for the first few episodes. It also turns out Shiro is alive and well, though he's held prisoner by the Galra. Shiro eventually escapes, though this is later revealed to be a ploy by his captors. It turns out the Black Lion won't accept him as a pilot either, so he has to assist from the sidelines.
The new villain of Voltron season 3 is Prince Lotor, the son of the now comatose Zarkon, who in addition to having great hair, makes for a formidable, intelligent foe to the Paladins. The big reveal in season 3 was the origin of Zoltron itself in the finale "The Legend Begins." It turns out Voltron and the Lions are forged from a comet and the same energy source also grants access to alternate realities.
The finale also reveals Alfor and Zarkon once fought together as the first Paladin team, after a rift in reality caused by the comet was found to contain evil creatures. Zarkon was once a noble fighter but was driven insane by exposure to the quintessence energy source. He sought greater power alongside his lover Honerva, who later transformed into the witch Haggar. Alfor would later destroy the rift following Zarkon's turn to evil and scattered the Lions across the universe before a resurrected Zarkon killed him. It turns out Prince Lotor plans to travel between realities to obtain more quintessence and use it to defeat Voltron and the Paladins.
Voltron: Legendary Defender season 3 sadly only contained seven episodes that zipped past quick, but it's many revelations set up an even more intense season 4, especially with Zarkon awakened from his coma by Haggar.