'The Dragon Prince' Retrospective

TV & Film

Dec 9

The Dragon Prince poster — Image Source: YouTube

When it was first announced that one of the creatives behind Avatar: The Last Airbender was starting work on a brand new series, the internet was set ablaze. After all, having anyone involved with the creation of one of the greatest animated series of all time sets a very high bar to reach, one that The Dragon Prince aimed to achieve and surpass, having some of the highest highs that rival its spiritual predecessor, but also some of the lowest lows in modern animation.

The Team

The Dragon Prince is the brainchild of Aaron Ezhaz, who was a writer and co-executive producer on The Last Airbender alongside creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino. He would write some of the most discussed episodes of The Last Airbender, including Crossroads of Destiny, The Day of Black Sun Part 2, and Sozin’s Comet Part 2, while serving as the head writer on the majority of the series. When The Last Airbender wrapped, Ezhaz would transition from animation to gaming, working as a creative director at Riot Games.

In 2017, Ezhaz would co-found Wonderstorm alongside fellow Riot Games creative Justin Richmond, where the three would lay the groundwork for a brand new animated series, which would be picked up by Netflix and animated by Bardel Entertainment. The Last Airbender director Giancarlo Volpe, Transformers: Beast Wars director George Samilski, and Lego Elves director and producer Villads Spangsberg would serve as directors, coming together to direct three initial nine-episode seasons for Netflix, with the first season premiering in 2018.

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The Dragon Prince

The story of The Dragon Prince is set in the fantasy world of Xadia, a world divided when humans were driven to isolation amidst constant wars, and their weaponization of dark magic against the mythical creatures of the realm. The series focuses on Princes Callum (voiced by ATLA alum Jack DeSena) and Ezran (Sasha Rojen), stepbrothers who find themselves at the center of a new conflict between humans and elves following the murder of their father, King Harrow (Khary Payton), the first strike in what could become an all-out war between humanity and the rest of Xadia. In their escape, the brothers uncover the Dragon King’s stolen egg and embark on a lengthy quest to reunite it with its mother, the Dragon Queen. They are joined by Rayla (Paula Burrows), a moonshadow elf and failed assassin, who was initially sent to kill the princes. During this trio’s journey, King Harrow’s advisor, Viren (Jason Simpson), takes over the Kingdom of Katolis and sends his children, Soren (Jesse Inocalla) and Claudia (Raquel Belmonte), after the princes to remove them, all while following the instructions of a mysterious being known as Aaravos (Erik Dellums).

The first season, Book 1: Moon, has some growing pains, most notably its experimental ‘stepped’ animation, giving the series a choppy, somewhat unfinished feeling. However, the animation here can be easily overlooked for the stellar character building and sprawling world. Callum and Ezran’s dynamic is truly heartwarming, with Callum trying to do the impossible and channel the arcane as a human, and Ezran’s odd ability to speak with animals leading to some fun comedy. Rayla’s interactions with the duo are unpredictable and hilarious to see play out as she tries her best to blend in as a human in a region hostile toward elves. Even the show’s villains prove to be incredibly charming, even within the show’s freshman season. This season culminates with the egg hatching and the eponymous Dragon Prince, Azymondias aka Zym, being born.

Book 2: Sky brings some big progressions storywise, putting more focus on its antagonists as Viren and Aaravos’ plans begin to come to fruition as they seek to unite the human kingdoms against Xadia, while Claudia and Soren grapple with the heavy task they’ve been given, with Claudia delving deeper into dark magic, and Soren having his loyalties tested on repeat. Meanwhile, Callum struggles in his pursuit of magic and finds himself tempted by dark magic to protect his friends, while Ezran forms an adorable bond with baby Zym, but must also grapple with the fact that he’s also become King at such a young age.

Book 3: Sun is considered by most fans to be the strongest, delivering a tense, action-packed, and emotional culmination as Callum, Ezran, and Rayla reach the home stretch of their journey, only to be faced with a battle that would determine the fate of Xadia as Aaravos and Viren amass an army to take back the Dragon Prince. All three of our heroes make great strides both in their growth and in their personal relationships, with Callum and Rayla becoming a couple. The season also sees Soren finally choosing good, and Claudia standing by her father, embracing villainy. In the end, Viren is vanquished, the Dragon Prince is reunited with his mother, and a new age of peace and coexistence between Xadia and humanity is born. All in all, a very emotionally satisfying conclusion to the story, with a singular loose end, Aaravos’ inevitable return.

The Roadmap

When The Dragon Prince aired its third season in 2019, it left fans starving for more, wanting to see more of Callum and Rayla’s relationship, Ezran’s time as King, and what’s next for Aaravos and Claudia. While Netflix had not yet announced more seasons were coming, Ezhaz and Richmond revealed their roadmap for an extended universe, including graphic novels, a Tabletop Roleplay Game, and two more ‘Phases’ of The Dragon Prince, comprised of four new seasons. In 2020, it would be revealed that Netflix had picked up all four of the planned seasons, with the series getting the new subtitle ‘The Mystery of Aaravos.’

The Mystery of Aaravos

Premiering in 2022, The Dragon Prince: The Mystery of Aaravos is a follow-up of varying quality that struggles to match the energy and bold storytelling of the original. Picking up three years after the events of the main series, our teenage cast are now on the cusp of adulthood, and brought back together when the threat of Aaravos’ arrival is on the horizon, sending Callum, Rayla, Soren and Ezran on a globe-trotting journey to stop his return, while Claudia, her new partner Terry, and a newly-resurrected Viren move forward to accelerate his arrival.

The biggest problem with The Mystery of Aaravos is that it juggles multiple different plotlines of varying quality, and struggles to make them interconnect seamlessly over the span of its four Books: Earth, Ocean, Stars, and Dark. At times, just when the story starts to get interesting, fans couldn’t help but groan as it transitions to another, much less interesting, plotline.

The biggest highlight of this season is once again its villains, with Claudia delving deeper into dark magic to resurrect her father, who himself is in the midst of having a change of heart, starting to see his own life from a new perspective. Weirdly enough, Viren becomes a far more compelling character after his death as he’s mortified by the path he’s built for himself, which his own daughter now follows in. Terry (Benjamin Callins) is a character who feels extremely out of place among these villains, injecting much-needed levity to their story, but also absolutely struggling with the moral consequences of his found family’s actions. Terry effectively becomes the heart of this band of villains, despite not having an evil bone in his body, making for a wonderful addition to the cast.

This show’s greatest sin likely comes from its seventh season, Dark. With Aaravos finally freed, our heroes must now find a way to vanquish him for good. The season results in a wild-goose chase that culminates not in Aaravos’ defeat, but his being resealed temporarily, meaning the show’s final season ends with the promise of its main antagonist’s return in seven years, putting all of our characters back where they were at the start of the season, at square one. Four seasons of storytelling culminated in a non-ending, or at least that’s what it seemed until earlier this year.

The Dragon King

At San Diego Comic Con 2025, Wonderstorm announced a sequel series to The Dragon Prince, dubbed The Dragon King, which is set seven years after The Mystery of Aaravos, promising a proper conclusion to the story, with an adult King Ezran and Zym at the forefront. The series would also promise the return of Jack DeSena, Paula Burrows, Raquel Belmonte, and Erik Dellums, as well as see Dante Basco and Dylan O’Brien joining the cast. This big announcement, however, came with an even bigger caveat: The Dragon King had not yet been picked up by Netflix.

Because of this, Wonderstorm would launch a Kickstarter campaign to prove the show’s potential to networks and streaming services. This campaign would be extremely successful, meeting its initial $250,000 goal in under an hour and earning over a million dollars in its run. Because of this, two shorts were released by Wonderstorm, giving fans a glimpse at the new status quo in this series, with Callum and Rayla having a child again, and Claudia venturing into an unknown and deeply mysterious path.

As of now, The Dragon King has not yet been picked up, but fans remain optimistic that the show can make a triumphant return and correct the mistakes made in the past. However, a successful crowdfunding campaign doesn’t guarantee the show’s return, meaning there is also the possibility that this series simply doesn’t come to fruition, leaving The Mystery of Aaravos as its definitive ending.

Verdict

The Dragon Prince is a larger-than-life adventure with some of the funniest and most dynamic characters in animation. Its first three seasons are a joy to watch from start to finish, proving the series to be a worthy successor to The Last Airbender. The Mystery of Aaravos, however, fails to keep that momentum going, resulting in an underwhelming continuation that fails to come to a proper conclusion after Wonderstorm’s initial plan was greenlit by Netflix, which has left the final fate of this series hanging in the balance, with the opportunity to make up for its past mistakes, or be defined by them for years to come.

Rating: 6.5/10

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Source(s): CultureSlate, Kickstarter

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