Guillermo del Toro’s Trollhunters to expand with alien and wizard spin-offs

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

It won't be long now until the sophomore season of Guillermo del Toro's TROLLHUNTERS arrives on Netflix. Though as exciting as that is, an even bigger story surrounding the fantasy animation series has recently surfaced, with news that del Toro plans to expand the universe with two new shows: the alien epic 3 BELOW and a magical mystery tale entitled WIZARDS.

In watching the above clip, you'll witness teen conspiracy theorist Eli Pepperjack (Cole Sand) explaining away to Toby Domzalski (Charlie Saxton) that their town of Arcadia is hot-bed of both alien and wizardly activity. This information no doubt leads to the boys embarking on an investigative journey to supernatural parts unknown, for a bit of mystery, mayhem, and fun.

When speaking to Entertainment Weekly about the spin-offs, del Toro told the outlet “The idea was to create three interconnecting series that shared a mythology. When I was kid growing up in a small city in Mexico, I thought everything was going to happen there. When I was in seventh grade, we went into the sewers with flashlights and crossed the whole city. I don’t recommend it! But we crossed the city from beneath, and that’s where Trollhunters come from.”

Although crossing a city-wide sewer system sounds like a rancid-smelling good time, del Toro then revealed an even more fantastical bit of insight regarding his early days by saying "And for whatever reason, at age 15, I saw a UFO. I have had a strange life," the filmmaker shared. Additionally, it's these bizarre occurrences that gave del Toro the inspiration for a mythology comprised of three branching narratives that collide in a tiny California town.

3 Below is set to arrive next year and will focus on two royal teenage aliens and their bodyguard who escape their home planet during a coup by an evil dictator and end up crashing on Earth near Arcadia. The sentient mothership gives them a choice of sanctuary: “The ship says, ‘There are two alternatives to hide, a planet that is about to be devoured by a black hole, or this floating ball of mud called ‘Earth,’ and that is such a crappy planet that no one will ever look for you there,'” del Toro told EW.

Meanwhile, the group are being hunted by a set of intergalactic bounty hunters as they scramble to gather parts that will help them repair their ship and return home. In order to do this, the aliens are forced to disguise themselves as ordinary high school students, lest they be discovered before their work is complete.

“The mothership says, ‘I will give you the shape of people who are invisible, that nobody looks at,'” del Toro continues. “So she turns the prince into a Latino boy, the bodyguard into an elderly man, and the princess into a girl.”

Lastly, WIZARDS will make a 2019 debut by uniting all three mystical story lines, with magical heroes engaged in a battle that will determine the fate not just of our world, but also the troll kingdom and the alien worlds as well.

“In the early season of Trollhunters, we already introduced characters you don’t know how important they are for the [other] two series, that have been in the planning for years,” del Toro states. “Wizards tracks down the whole backstory of Trollhunters and much, much more and brings  all of this group [of shows] to a conclusion.”

Well, it sounds to me like del Toro and company have big plans for the TROLLHUNTERS animated series and I am here for it! In my opinion, the first season of the show was really something special, with del Toro and his team expertly blending '80s nostalgia with supernatural elements in really entertaining ways. It should be cool to follow each series over the next couple of years and see how they all come together for one epic conclusion.

TROLLHUNTERS Season 2 will debut on Netflix beginning on December 15th.