We’ve known for a while that the planned Voltron reboot had evolved from a Dreamworks movie into a Dreamworks TV series for Netflix — but now the streaming video company has lifted the lid on how Voltron: Legendary Defenders is taking shape. And good news, lion-robot fans: It sounds and looks a hell of a lot like Voltron.
You can see the new Voltron formed from the five main heroes’ mecha above, and aside from a bit of streamlining (and a liberal application of neon to the chest and head), it looks pretty much like the robot we all know and love from the original cartoon.
The premise itself is similar, but it does have a few tweaks — instead of the five galactic military troopers and and an alien Princess, this time the team is made up of human teenagers: Five young boys named Keith, Lance, Hunk, Pidge and Shiro (the first four taking their names from the American adaptation of Voltron, while Shiro is named after Takashi Shirogane, the character from GoLion turned into Sven Holgersson in the West). The heroes are thrust into a conflict to save the planet Arus and its Princess Alura, and countless other worlds, from a villainous space empire. So far, so Voltron.
We’ll have to wait to see how it all pans out, but it sounds like Dreamworks is trying to keep the reboot as true to the original series as it can. Fans attending Wondercon in Anaheim, California this weekend can get a preview of the series at a panel for the show tomorrow. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait until later this year for all 13 episodes of the first series to drop on Netflix.