The Dragon Prince team reveals plans for the future of the series at SDCC

Wonderstorm’s animated series The Dragon Prince has captured fantasy fans with new twists on classic tropes. At the Netflix show’s 2019 San Diego Comic-Con, creators Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond only hammered home the point. There are grand plans for The Dragon Prince and the world of Xadia.

Ehasz started the panel by laying out the timeline of The Dragon Prince, which is expected to continue on with four more seasons after season 3, which is subtitled “Sun.”

“There is a distinct trilogy quality within the books of the saga,” he said. “The first part of that is The Dragon Prince and that’s now.”

Image: Polygon/Wonderstorm

The duo also revealed that the franchise will publish new books intended to deepen the lore through a collaboration with Scholastic. “It’s an amazing creative partnership, and every single book that we are working on with them is meant to feed the fandom and the community,” Ehasz said. The deal includes a guidebook, graphic novels, and a core book that tells the story of the saga “but can go deeper.”

The team also teased The Orphan Queen, a new story they hope to tell in the series, books or even in a feature film, which follows a young human girl who starts from nothing and grows up without parents. She takes a dangerous journey to Xadia and ends up saving the world. She’s also Ezran’s first royal ancestor. Ehasz and Richmond said the idea was born when they were imagining where the Key of Aaravos comes from.

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Ehasz and Richmond also dug into the timeline of Xadia, and how certain eras will impact both the books and the series. Five thousand years ago, Xadia was in its “mythical, Biblical first days,” a time long before elves and dragons were allied in which humans suffered and struggled. The “rise of Elarion” came around 2,000 years before the events of the series, and saw humans find their way to magic.

Around 1200 years ago finds the arch dragon of sun, Sol Regem, as king of the dragons during this era, when dark magic became problematic and humans poached magical creatures for their parts. Shortly after came the division of Xadia.

The next big turning point for the world was 300 years before the series, a time Ehasz and Richmond dub “the era of Avizandum.” Two stories they want to tell take place during this era: The Fallen Star and The Orphan Queen. We don’t know anything about The Fallen Star yet ... but we will. The team noted that history will one day know the modern era as “The Return of Aaravos.”

Polygon/Wonderstorm

Along with the info dump, Ehasz and Richmond gave fans an exclusive look at book 3. The clip was a flashback, opening with Sol Regem, the sun dragon, soaring over the open water. He lands on a mountain and meets Ziard, a dark mage. ”I smell death,” the dragon tells the human, before asking him kindly to give up on dark magic. Ziard pushes back: dark magic is what brought humans out of the age of starvation, helped them grow beyond being lesser beings.

“YOU ARE LESSER BEINGS,” the dragon snaps.

The dragon threatens to destroy the city of Elarium if the human doesn’t give up dark magic. He takes flight, and the human shoots a spiral of purple smoke into the sky, channeling dark magic. He drains the life of a flock of birds. The dragon wheels around to take care of this problem. They shoot twin fireballs at each other. The human appears to be vaporized. The dragon crashes into the sea. And that’s that.

The creators made scattered promises for the future of the series. Fans will learn how Zym’s dragon egg survived over time in season 3 and, despite being dead, should a resolution for King Harrow in the future. No release date for the next book was released at the panel, but Ehasz and Richmond did unveil a new poster, featuring Sol Regem.

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