Voltron: Is Lance Treated Right?
Over the course of its six currently released seasons, the Voltron characters have grown and changed. Perhaps none more than Lance, who started the series as a jokester and wanted nothing more than to show off and flirt with girls.
Now, leading up to Voltron season 7, Lance has matured without losing the core essence of his character. He still jokes quite a bit but there’s more respect for everyone around him. Especially when it comes to Allura, he’s no longer trying to chat her up at every chance he gets. He’s respectful and puts her needs before his.
Despite these many changes there are still a small group of fans who think Lance has been mistreated by the shows writers or not given any development. Lance actor Jeremy Shada attributes some of this to the recent shorter seasons of six or seven episodes and fans hoping for a “crazy intense conflict” for Lance in each one. Shada recommends they look at the show as a whole and you’ll see development for Lance “in every episode.”
Story editor Josh Hamilton also quells this idea of the writers hating Lance because he identifies with Lance personally. “Lance is one of my favorite characters. We’re the same!”
To Shada, Lance started as a very immature teenager and by the end of season six, he’s become both the physical and metaphorical right hand of Voltron.
Shada sees how Lance handled the betrayal of Lotor as indicative of his character’s arc, especially his interactions with Allura during it. Allura had defended Lotor and even kissed him when Lance had expressed some major concerns about him joining the team.
“It was cool to see Lance be right about Lotor, but even then he’s not harsh about being right about it afterwards.”
In the aftermath of the Lotor reveal Lance simply comforts Allura, telling her they’d all been tricked by Lotor.
“That really shows his character,” explains Shada.
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“That right there also proves his development,” adds Bex Taylor-Klaus who plays Pidge (and was present for this interview).
“Early Lance would probably have rubbed it in people’s faces. Like, ‘I was right! Yes! Razzle dazzle, baby! But this Lance is like, ‘look, I will be there for you because you fell for it and you understandably fell for it.’”
It may not seem like it episode to episode but if you watch the show from the beginning you can see just how far Lance has grown. But where is Lance headed in season seven? When asked if Lance could ever lead Voltron, Shada answers, “I just want to pilot Black Lion so I can have the highest Lion number count.”
Shamus Kelley is a pop culture/television writer and official Power Rangers expert. Follow him on Twitter!