Will There Be More Romance on Voltron?
Depending on who you follow online, Voltron Legendary Defender can seem like several different shows. To some it’s a science fiction action series that can appeal to everyone, featuring some of the best world building out there. Others see it as a much needed update to the original Voltron: Defender of the Universe series for a new generation.
You’d be forgiven though if you searched around for Voltron fan content and assumed it was all about the romantic relationships between the characters. Much of the content online created by Voltron fans centers around various “ships” of the Voltron main cast and discussion over which characters belong together.
However Voltron Legendary Defender has only had one of its main cast in any sort of romantic realationship, Hunk with the Balmeran Shay. Lance has also flirted with several characters, incuding Allura, but that hasn’t lead to anything concrete.
Despite this some fans are hoping there will be more romantic content throughout the series. Many point to Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, which contained quite a few romantic subplots and were worked on by the lions share of the Voltron crew, as indication romance will find its way into Voltron.
Showrunners Lauren Montgomery and Joaquim Dos Santos however want to make it clear Voltron is its own show seperate from Avatar/Korra and, according to Dos Santos, “This is its own show. For us these character should stand on their own without the romance.”
Montgomery adds, “When we set out to make this show we wanted to make one where no one character was solely defined by being in a relationship.”
She’s quick to clarify that the Avatar and Korra characters were of course incredible and fully formed characters themselves but, “when we really looked at what was at stake with this show (Voltron) the relationship or romance aspect of it just didn’t feel as important as the work that they were doing to save their universe.”
Both showrunners don’t rule out the possibility of it happening down the line, but only if it happens naturally within the story.
“We’re not going to try to just put it in there for the sake of needing romance in the story,” Montgomery explains.
Although the show may not have much romance that doesn’t mean the characters personal relationships with each other aren’t important to the overall story.
“Having all of these different unique personalities is a big part of keeping the show interesting,” Montgomery lays out. “How those characters react to each other will change as those characters grow. Evolving them is part of wanting to make a serialized show where action taken by characters have real consequences and real effects on those relationships.”
We can’t wait to see how those personal relationships grow in Voltron Season 5, coming to Netflix this Friday.
Shamus Kelley is a pop culture/television writer and official Power Rangers expert. The only ship Shamus has is Hunk/happiness. Follow him on Twitter!
