Here’s Your First Look at DreamWorks’ ‘Voltron: Legendary Defender’

Yesterday at Wondercon, DreamWorks Animation unveiled a sneak peek of its ’80s reboot for Netflix, Voltron: Legendary Defender. Here’s a look at the teaser they’ve posted online:

The key talent involved with the show should intrigue fans of Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. Joaquim Dos Santos, a director and storyboard artist on Avatar and Korra, is the exec producer and showrunner of Voltron. Dos Santos’ other directing/storyboarding credits include Justice League, Teen Titans, and G.I. Joe: Resolute, as well as a series of animated shorts based on DC comic book characters The Spectre, Jonah Hex, Green Arrow, and Shazam.

Dos Santos is joined on Voltron by co-exec producer Lauren Montgomery, who was most recently a supervising producer on Korra, and prior to that, worked as a board artist and director on a variety of projects including Ben 10, Justice League, Avatar, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, Green Lantern: First Flight, and Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths.

Voltron’s head writer is another Avatar and Korra alum, Tim Hedrick.

DreamWorks’ show is based on a mid-’80s syndicated American TV series called Voltron: Defender of the Universe, in which five pilots command robotic lions that can be combined into a single super-robot called Voltron. The show was an early example of remix culture; it was composed of chopped-up versions of multiple Japanese animated series that were re-edited and re-written with completely new plots and characters for American viewers. The unusual tale of how the series came to be can be read on the website Birth. Movies. Death.

“As children of the 80s who grew up with Voltron what was there not to love?” said Dos Santos in a press statement. “You had 5 awesome lions, piloted by 5 awesome heroes who combined to form a giant, sword wielding Titan! It unapologetically married sci-fi and fantasy in one incredibly over the top, bombastic package.” Dos Santos has said that he will retain all those elements from the original series in the new “comedic action-packed” reboot, but will flesh out the universe with “a rich backstory and characters who will evolve over the course of the series.”

DreamWorks also identified today the lead voice cast for the show:

• Princess Allura – Kimberly Brooks (Ben 10: Omniverse, Justice League: War)
• Coran – Rhys Darby (What We Do in the Shadows, Flight of the Concords)
• Shiro, Black Lion – Josh Keaton (Green Lantern: The Animated Series, Transformers Prime)
• Hunk, Yellow Lion – Tyler Labine (Reaper, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil)
• Lance, Blue Lion – Jeremy Shada (Finn in Adventure Time, Batman: The Brave and the Bold)
• Pidge, Green Lion – Bex Taylor-Klaus (Arrow, Scream: The Series, iZombie)
• Keith, Red Lion – Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead, The Legend of Korra)

Thirteen episodes of the Netflix Original series will launch on June 10, 2016.