Voltron: Legendary Defender wrapped its final official panel at New York Comic Con, and it was an emotional affair.
If there was a dry eye in attendance at the Voltron panel at NYCC — and let me just say, thank god for waterproof mascara! — I certainly didn’t notice. It was a far more subdued event than in previous years, as the cast and crew in attendance used their allotted time at the Hammerstein Ballroom to pay tribute to both the show and the fandom that made their journey to season 8 possible.
The usual fan Q&A session was forgone, and in its place there was an opportunity to reminisce. Between executive producers Lauren Montgomery and Joaquim Dos Santos, story editor Josh Hamilton, and voice actors Josh Keaton, Kimberly Brooks, Jeremy Shada and Bex Taylor-Klaus, each chose a scene from the show that was one of their favorite moments to revisit since Voltron premiered in 2016.
With little in the way of new information for the upcoming final season, we’re recounting some of the highlights from the panel instead.
‘Voltron’ New York Comic Con Highlights
- Voltron season 8 will premiere in its entirety on December 14.
- Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery took a moment at the start of the panel to address the fandom. They wanted to let everyone know that they were reading everything about Adam and Shiro, their relationship, and the narrative they chose to convey in season 7, and while they could not take back or change what was already there, it had led to many conversations internally about what meaningful representation looks like.
- Bex Taylor-Klaus originally auditioned for the role of Pidge wearing a Batman onesie.
- The cast was all devastated when they thought that A.J. Locasio would not be part of the show any more after Lotor was defeated. They were all so glad that he could return to play James Griffin.
- Almost the entire panel was in agreement that Shiro becoming Captain of the Atlas was one of the best parts of season 7. They had a lot of love about that storyline, Josh Keaton in particular.
- A montage highlighting their favorite scratch tracks — where the crew uses placeholder dialogue to animate to — was shown. Steve Ahn was by far the most loved of all the crew that did lines. Steven Yeun asked for a copy of Ahn saying “calm down” to use as a ringtone.
- Taylor-Klaus’ biggest shock moment of the entire show has yet to happen.
- Josh Keaton became a first time dad when Voltron first started production. He drew a lot on that experience for Shiro’s dedication to the team.
- Cree Summer is by far the most difficult voice actor to wrangle when it comes to recording, just because she is so funny, and gets everyone off track. Andrea Romano was considered the Cree Summer-whisperer.
To round out the end of the panel, they showed a preview of season 8, which elicited many screams and cheers, but also stunned the audience into silence at other parts.
The synopsis for season 8 reads, “After saving the Earth, the Paladins embark to prevent Honerva from setting into motion her deadliest plan yet. It’s a race against the clock as the Voltron Coalition gathers from the corners of the galaxy to defend the universe once and for all.”
You can watch the trailer for the seriously epic looking final season of Voltron below.
Stay tuned on Hypable for additional Voltron content in the run up to the final season airing on Netflix on December 14.