Contrary to internet rumors and opinion Voltron: Legendary Defender won’t be returning for a ninth season on Netflix anytime soon. Despite being mired in controversy there are still many fans hoping to see the series make a triumphant return, however, we’ll discuss below why Voltron: Legendary Defender won’t be returning for season 9 on Netflix.
Between July 2016 and December 2018, a total of eight seasons and 78 episodes of Voltron: Legendary Defender was released on Netflix. The DreamWorks reboot of the popular Japanese mecha franchise is one of the most successful animated series on Netflix, and also one of the most controversial.
Why isn’t Voltron: Legendary Defender returning for season 9 on Netflix?
The simplest answer is often the best answer, and that is simply Netlfix fulfilled its commitment to releasing at least 76 episodes of Voltron: Legendary Defender. Within the 78 episodes that were released, the final batch of 13 episodes for the final season successfully concluded the story to the series.
However, there are other reasons why Netflix won’t be bringing back the animated series anytime soon.
The LGBTQ+ Controversy
Netflix has made a monumental effort to represent the LGBTQ+ community in its original content, and that includes representation in its animated content too.
Voltron featured several LGBTQ+ characters throughout its run, in particular the characters of Shiro, Adam, and Curtis. However, not everyone was happy with how the LGBTQ+ characters were represented throughout the show, especially with the depiction of the relationship between the characters of Adam and Shiro.
Not only was the relationship of Adam and Shiro heavily criticized, but further controversy also followed when Netflix was accused of the “burying that gay” stereotype when Adam was later killed off. The reaction online was so strong that executive producer Joaquim Dos Santos apologized to fans.
Voltron: Legendary Defender showrunners Lauren Montgomery (left) and Joaquim Dos Santos (right)
Sadly, this wasn’t the end of the controversy, thanks to the show’s attempt to shoehorn in a wedding between Shiro and the background character of Curtis.
The show was accused of pulling off a publicity stunt by adding in the wedding, to which showrunner Lauren Montgomery and Joaquim Dos Santos would later admit that the wedding was added at the last minute as an “olive branch” to the LGBTQ+ community.
Montgomery apologized behind the scenes about the way the show represented its LGBTQ+ characters:
There’s so much that I would do differently, but so little we could’ve done differently.
Arguably the show is still radioactive from the controversy surrounding the representation of LGBTQ+ characters.
This means that Netflix, DreamWorks, World Events Productions and the South Korean studio Mir could be sleepwalking into a PR disaster if the return of the show and its representation of its LGBTQ+ characters are handled poorly.
The heroes of Voltron: Legendary Defender
Fan Behaviour
Most of the erratic and poor fan behavior can be credited to the LGBTQ+ controversy and shipping.
For anyone unaware, shipping is when a select group of fans within a fandom support the act of two characters engaging in a romantic relationship, even if those characters have shown no sign of romantic interest in each other. On social media, there are small communities within the fandoms dedicated to their favorite ship.
In the wake of the aforementioned LGBTQ+ controversy, Lauren Montgomery and Joaquim Dos Santos received death threats or threats of physical violence. Some of the voice cast of Voltron also received death threats, which lead to some considering dropping out of fan conventions for their own safety.
One fan threatened to release sensitive private internal documents that were related to the series unless the characters of Keith and Lance became an official couple.
So Voltron: Legendary Defender isn’t returning to Netflix in December 2021?
Sadly, there is a fake news site reporting on various different Netflix Originals and is providing fake release dates. The site claims that Voltron was due to return on December 10th, 2021, however, this is 100% false.
Are you disappointed that Voltron: Legendary Defender isn’t returning for a ninth season on Netflix. Let us know in the comments below!