The Dragon King
Credit: Wonderstorm
During a panel at San Diego Comic-Con Thursday, Wonderstorm dropped some very big news. The creators of the hit Netflix animated series The Dragon Prince revealed the show’s next arc: The Dragon King.
The story picks up seven years after the events of The Dragon Prince series finale, with the threat of the Starsong Titan Aaravos’s return looming over Xadia. Young Zym, the Dragon King, has grown considerably. King Ezran has also grown into a young man.
Ezran and Zym
Credit: Wonderstorm
You can certainly see his resemblance to his father, Harrow, whose fate was teased at the end of Season 7. This is just one reason we really need a sequel to The Dragon Prince. The series ended with a lot of things resolved but some very big, very important threads still dangling. Harrow’s fate (was he switched into the body of Pip the bird?) along with Claudia’s dark quest, the return of Aaravos, what happens to Xadia with the Archdragons all dead (except for young Zym) and so on and so forth. Besides, this is just a really fun, magical universe that has a lot more room for great stories.
King Harrow
Credit: Wonderstorm
Critical Role’s Liam O’Brien has joined the cast of The Dragon King in a role that’s still very hush-hush. Jack De Sena (who played Sokka in Avatar: The Last Airbender) has also been announced as returning to voice Callum, and Dante Basco – who played Rufio in Hook and voiced Prince Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender – will expand his role as the voice of Zym.
“Our community has grown up with the Dragon Prince characters, so we wanted to
create a more mature series that reflects that evolution,” said Aaron Ehasz, CEO and
co-founder of Wonderstorm, in a press release. “We’re bringing back the incredible voice work of Jack and Dante to reprise their roles, and thrilled to be adding Liam to the cast, in what we see as a creative collaboration of the talent and a coming together of three powerful fandoms.”
At this point, it’s unclear if Netflix will even pick up The Dragon King or not, though the streaming service would be crazy not to, especially given how passionate the built-in fanbase is and the popularity of animated fantasy. To that end, Wonderstorm has announced a Kickstarter for The Dragon King which you can check out right here. The actual crowdfunding campaign hasn’t started yet, but you can sign up to be notified and show interest in the project.
“The Dragon Prince enjoys the unusual privilege of being a completely independent
original property, and the fans have always played an important role in driving the
franchise,” chief creative officer and Wonderstorm co-founder Justin
Richmond said in a press release. “We need the community’s help to bring this new series to life, and have come up with some special campaign rewards that will give fans several opportunities to help shape the project and join us on the journey.”
The Kickstarter is as much about showing support for potential partners (like Netflix or its rivals Hulu, Amazon Prime Video and so forth) as anything. “A strong demonstration of support here on Kickstarter will give us the ability to find the right partners who can meet all the funding needs to bring a world-class series to life,” the Kickstarter page reads. “Proving the series this way will allow us to create the series we all want, with an uncompromised creative vision.”
I definitely hope that Netflix or possibly Amazon (where Critical Role’s Legend Of Vox Machina streams) will pick up The Dragon King for as many more seasons as we can get. While The Dragon Prince struggled a bit around Seasons 4 and 5, I really thought it ended on a high note, and its first arc remains some of my favorite animated fantasy since Avatar. Here’s the teaser for The Dragon King:
Beyond this teaser trailer, a “First Look” trailer is coming soon. Follow The Dragon King Kickstarter to stay up-to-date on all the show’s upcoming news and announcements.
