| Tales of Arcadia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | |
| Original work | Trollhunters (2016 novel) |
| Owner | Netflix /DreamWorks Animation(Universal Pictures) |
| Years | 2016-2021 |
| Print publications | |
| Novel(s) |
|
| Comics |
|
| Films and television | |
| Film(s) | Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans (2021) |
| Animated series |
|
| Games | |
| Video game(s) | Trollhunters: Defenders of Arcadia (2020) |
| Official website | |
| https://dreamworks.com/shows/trollhunters | |
Tales of Arcadia is a trilogy of animatedscience fantasy television series created forNetflix byGuillermo del Toro and produced byDreamWorks Animation and Double Dare You.[2] The series comprising the trilogy follows the inhabitants of the small suburban town of Arcadia Oaks, which is secretly home to various supernatural creatures and the young heroes who fight against the forces of evil that lurk in the shadows.
The four installments of the trilogy,Trollhunters,3Below,Wizards andRise Of The Titans, have been released worldwide.[3][4][5][6]
Since its release, the franchise has been widely praised as an ambitious and boundary-pushing animated series, withFilmink's Travis Johnson calling it "the best children's animation to come along sinceAvatar: The Last Airbender."[7]Trollhunters was nominated for nineDaytime Emmy Awards in 2017, winning more than any other animated or live-action television program that year,[8] and the trilogy has been twice nominated for the Emmy forOutstanding Children's Animated Series. It has also received or been nominated for aBAFTA Award, severalAnnie Awards,Golden Reel Awards, aSaturn Award, and twice won theKidscreen Award of "Best New Series" for the first and final chapters,Trollhunters andWizards. The franchise has been critically acclaimed for its high-quality CGI animation, its dark emotional and mature tone and complex writing, voice acting, representation of Latin Americans and immigrants, themes of prejudice, music, humor, and characters.
The show has also spawned several original children's books and has been adapted into a series of graphic novels byMarc Guggenheim and Richard Hamilton released byDark Horse, and avideo game titledTrollhunters: Defenders of Arcadia, released onPlayStation 4,Xbox One,Nintendo Switch andMicrosoft Windows.[9][10][11]
In August 2020, it was announced the trilogy would be concluded with a full-length feature film titledTrollhunters: Rise of the Titans, which was released to Netflix on July 21, 2021.[12][13]
Guillermo del Toro initially envisioned the idea ofTrollhunters as a live-action television series. However, this was deemed impractical due to budgetary concerns of usingcomputer generated monsters as main cast members in a live-action production, and as a result he instead turned the idea into a book he co-wrote alongsideDaniel Kraus and published byDisney-Hyperion.[14]DreamWorks Animation then optioned the book to develop as an animated feature film set to be directed byPixar veteran Rodrigo Blaas, who stayed on as executive producer and supervising director whenNetflix greenlit the project as a CGI-animated television series.[15]Marc Guggenheim was hired to pen the original screenplay for the film version, and went on to write pilot forTrollhunters.Dan and Kevin Hageman were brought on as co-executive producers for the series, withAaron Waltke, AC Bradley, and Chad Quandt joining the writers' room.[16]
Production on the series and its subsequent sequels began in early 2014 and continued until the end of the franchise in 2021. The project attracted an all-star cast, including the voices ofAnton Yelchin,Emile Hirsch,Mark Hamill,Kelsey Grammer,Ron Perlman,Glenn Close,Lena Headey,Steven Yeun,Anjelica Huston,Diego Luna,Nick Offerman,Tatiana Maslany,Nick Frost,Stephanie Beatriz,Alfred Molina,David Bradley,Colin O'Donoghue,John Rhys-Davies, and more throughout its six year run.
In November 2017, del Toro announced thatTrollhunters would be expanded into a trilogy of interconnected animated series under the nameTales of Arcadia. The two sequel series set to continue the story would be entitled3Below andWizards, and would explore the secret worlds ofextraterrestrials andwizards hidden in the same fictional town ofTrollhunters.[17][18]
In April 2018, it was announced that despite the sudden passing of lead actorAnton Yelchin, the role of Jim Lake Jr. would incorporate both the voices of Yelchin andEmile Hirsch for the entirety of Part 3 ofTrollhunters and future iterations of the series.[19] Two characters introduced in the final season ofTrollhunters—Aja and Krel (voiced byTatiana Maslany andDiego Luna, respectively)—also reprised their roles and serve as the leads in3Below.[19] In May 2018, it was revealed that Steve Palchuk would also have his role extended intoWizards as well, making him and Toby Domzalski (voiced byCharlie Saxton) the first characters to encompass the entire trilogy.[20] On July 7, 2020, it was revealed that the character of Douxie Casperan (voiced byColin O'Donoghue) and his familiar Archie (voiced byAlfred Molina) would be introduced as the final main characters ofWizards: Tales of Arcadia, rounding out the ensemble cast.[21]
In 2017,Marc Guggenheim and Rodrigo Blaas continued their role as showrunners and executive producers for3Below, with A.C. Bradley serving as story editor and head writer until her departure to work onWhat If...?.[22]
In 2018,Aaron Waltke and Chad Quandt returned as co-executive producers and co-showrunners withMarc Guggenheim forWizards: Tales of Arcadia, before departing to write and produce the forthcoming television series,Star Trek: Prodigy.[23]
Dan and Kevin Hageman and Marc Guggenheim wrote the screenplay for the finale film,Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans, released on July 21, 2021.
Tales of Arcadia follows the inhabitants of the small suburban town of Arcadia Oaks (a fictionalized version ofArcadia, California), which is secretly home to various supernatural creatures and the young heroes who fight against the forces of evil that lurk in the shadows.
InTrollhunters, a boy named James Lake Jr, becomes the first human to be a Trollhunter, carrying the duty of protecting both the trolls living in a secret realm known as Trollmarket and humans living in the surface world from an invasion of flesh-eating trolls known as Gumm-Gumms led by the vicious warlord, Gunmar the Skullcrusher.
In3Below, two royal siblings named Princess Aja and Crown Prince Krel Tarron, who live on the alien planet Akiridion-5, must escape to Earth when their home is taken over by an evil general named Val Morando.
InWizards, a sorcerer-in-training named Douxie Casperan must embark on a time-bending adventure to medievalCamelot in a battle with the Arcane Order to save the future of Arcadia Oaks and the world at large.
Finally, inTrollhunters: Rise of the Titans, all of the Guardians of Arcadia unite when the world is on the brink of an apocalyptic battle for the control of magic that will determine the fate of these supernatural worlds that have now converged as the Arcane Order reawakens the Titans.
| Series | Season | Episodes | Originally released | Showrunner(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||||
| Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia | 1 | 26 | December 23, 2016 (2016-12-23) | Rodrigo Blaas,Guillermo del Toro,Marc Guggenheim,Dan and Kevin Hageman | ||
| 2 | 13 | December 15, 2017 (2017-12-15) | ||||
| 3 | 13 | May 25, 2018 (2018-05-25) | ||||
| 3Below: Tales of Arcadia | 1 | 13 | December 21, 2018 (2018-12-21) | Rodrigo Blaas, Guillermo del Toro, Marc Guggenheim, and Chad Hammes | ||
| 2 | 13 | July 12, 2019 (2019-07-12) | ||||
| Wizards: Tales of Arcadia | 1 | 10 | August 7, 2020 (2020-08-07) | Aaron Waltke, Guillermo del Toro, Marc Guggenheim, Chad Quandt and Chad Hammes | ||
| Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans | Film | July 21, 2021 (2021-07-21)[13] | Directed by : Johane Matte, Francisco Ruiz Velasco, Andrew Schmidt Story by : Guillermo del Toro, Marc Guggenheim, Dan and Kevin Hageman | |||
Trollhunters: Defenders of Arcadia is a video game based onTrollhunters.[24] It was released forPlayStation 4,Xbox One,Nintendo Switch and PC on September 25, 2020.[25]
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Annie Awards[26] | Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production | Mike Chaffe for character Blinky in "Becoming, Part 1" | Won |
| Outstanding Achievement, Character Design in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production | Victor Maldonado, Alfredo Torres and Jules Rigolle, "Win, Lose or Draal" | Won | ||
| Outstanding Achievement, Music in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production | Alexandre Desplat andTim Davies, "Becoming, Part 1" | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Achievement, Storyboarding in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production | Hyunjoo Song, "Win, Lose or Draal" | Won | ||
| Saturn Awards[27] | Best Animated Series or Film on Television | Trollhunters | Nominated | |
| Behind the Voice Actors Awards[28] | Best Male Lead Vocal Performance in a Television Series | Anton Yelchin, for Jim Lake Jr. | Won | |
| Best Female Lead Vocal Performance in a Television Series | Lexi Medrano, for Claire Nuñez | Nominated | ||
| Best Female Vocal Performance in a Television Series in a Supporting Role | Laraine Newman, for Miss Janeth | Nominated | ||
| Best Female Vocal Performance in a Television Series in a Guest Role | Anjelica Huston, for Queen Usurna | Nominated | ||
| Daytime Emmy Awards[29][30] | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Character Animation | Mike Chaffe, "Becoming, Part 1" | Won | |
| Outstanding Individual Achievement in Character Design | Victor Maldonado, "Win, Lose Or Draal" | Won | ||
| Outstanding Special Class Animated Program | Guillermo del Toro, Rodrigo Blaas, Marc Guggenheim, Chad Hammes, Christina Steinberg, Dan Hageman, Kevin Hageman, Lawrence Jonas | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program | Kelsey Grammer, for Blinky | Won | ||
| Outstanding Casting for an Animated Series or Special | Mary Hidalgo, Ania O'Hare, CSA | Won | ||
| Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program | Marc Guggenheim | Won | ||
| Outstanding Directing in an Animated Program | Rodrigo Blaas,Guillermo del Toro | Won | ||
| Outstanding Main Title and Graphic Design | Rodrigo Blaas, Andy Erekson, Jonathan Catalan, Dai Weier, John Laus, David M.V. Jones | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Sound Mixing – Animation | Matthew Thomas Hall and Carlos Sanches, CAS | Nominated | ||
| 2018 | Annie Awards[31] | Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production | Bruno Chiou, Yi-Fan Cho, Kevin Jong, Chun-Jung Chu, "Homecoming" | Won |
| Outstanding Achievement, Character Design in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production | Jules Rigolle, Alfredo Torres, Linda Chen, Rustam Hasanov, Alfonso Blaas, "Escape from the Darklands" | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Achievement, Directing in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production | Andrew Schmidt, "Unbecoming" | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Achievement, Storyboarding in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production | David Woo, "Hero with a Thousand Faces" | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Achievement, Storyboarding in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production | Hyunjoo Song, "In the Hall of the Gumm-Gumm King" | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Achievement, Writing in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production | A.C. Bradley, Kevin Hageman, Dan Hageman,Aaron Waltke, Chad Quandt, "Escape from the Darklands" | Nominated | ||
| Kidscreen Awards[32] | Best New Series, Kids Category | Trollhunters | Won | |
| Best Writing | Trollhunters | Won | ||
| Best Animation | Trollhunters | Won | ||
| Golden Reel Award[33] | Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing, Animation Short Form | Matthew Hall, Jason Oliver, Goeun Lee, MPSE, James Miller, Carlos Sanches, Aran Tanchum, Vincent Guisetti | Nominated | |
| Daytime Emmy Awards[34][35] | Outstanding Children's Animated Series | Guillermo del Toro, Marc Guggenheim, Chad Hammes, Rodrigo Blaas, Christina Steinberg, Dan Hageman, Kevin Hageman, Lawrence Jonas | Nominated | |
| Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program | Dan Hageman, Kevin Hageman,Aaron Waltke, Chad Quandt, AC Bradley | Won | ||
| Outstanding Sound Editing – Animation | Matt Hall, Goeun Lee, James Miller, James Oliver, Aran Tanchum, Stacey Michaels, Vincent Guilsetti, Alex Ulrich | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Main Title and Graphic Design | Rodrigo Blaas, Andy Erekson, Jonathan Catalan, Dai Weier, David M.V. Jones, John Laus | Nominated | ||
| BAFTA[36] | International Animation | Rodrigo Blaas, Marc Guggenheim, Chad Hammes | Nominated | |
| 2019 | Annie Awards[37] | Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production For Children | "Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia" | Nominated |
| Animated Effects in an Animated Production | "Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia" | Won | ||
| Daytime Emmy Awards[38] | Outstanding Writing for an Animated Program | Marc Guggenheim, Dan Hageman, Kevin Hageman, AC Bradley, Chad Quandt, Lila Scott andAaron Waltke | Nominated | |
| Outstanding Directing for an Animated Program | Rodrigo Blaas, Elaine Bogan,Guillermo del Toro, Johane Matte, Andrew Schmidt | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Sound Mixing for an Animated Program | Carlos Sanches | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Sound Editing for an Animated Program | Matt Hall, Otis Van Osten, Jason Oliver, Aran Tanchum, Vincent Guisetti | Nominated | ||
| 2020 | Annie Awards | Outstanding Achievement for Animated Effects in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production | Greg Lev, Igor Lodeiro, Chen Ling, Brandon Tyra | Nominated |
| Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production for Children | Guillermo del Toro, Rodrigo Blaas, Chad Hammes, Marc Guggenheim | Nominated | ||
| Golden Reel Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing - Animation Short Form | Supervising Sound Editor: Otis Van Osten, Foley Editor: Tommy Sarioglou, Dialogue Editors: Carlos Sanches, Jason Oliver, Foley Artist: Aran Tanchum, Vincent Guisetti, "3Below: Tales of Arcadia" | Won | |
| Daytime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Sound Editing for an Animated Program | Otis Van Osten, Jason Oliver, Carlos Sanchez, Tommy Sarioglou, Aran Tanchum, Vincent Guisetti, James Miller | Nominated | |
| 2021 | Kidscreen Awards | Best New Series | Guillermo del Toro,Marc Guggenheim,Aaron Waltke, Chad Quandt, Chad Hammes. "Wizards: Tales of Arcadia" | Won |
| Golden Reel Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing - Animation Short Form | Supervising Sound Editors: James Miller, Otis Van Osten Foley Editor: Tommy Sarioglou, Aran Tanchum Dialogue Editors: Carlos Sanches, Jason Oliver Foley Artist: Vincent Guisetti, "Spellbound" | Nominated | |
| Annie Awards[39] | Best Voice Acting, TV/Media | David Bradley for the character of Merlin, "Wizards: Tales of Arcadia", Episode: "Our Final Act" | Won | |
| Best FX for TV/Media | "Wizards: Tales of Arcadia", Episode: "Killahead, Part Two", DreamWorks Animation; Greg Lev, Igor Lodeiro, Brandon Tyra, Cui Wei, Ma Xiao | Nominated | ||
| Daytime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Children's Animated Series | Guillermo del Toro, Marc Guggenheim, Chad Hammes, Chad Quandt, Aaron Waltke, Lauren Prince | Nominated | |
| Outstanding Main Title for a Daytime Animated Program | Francisco Ruiz Velasco, Alfonso Blaas, Yingjue Linda Chen, Brandon Tyra, Greg Lev, Igor Lodeiro, Jonatan Catalan Navarrete | Won | ||
| Outstanding Editing for a Daytime Animated Program | John Laus, Jay Fox, Andrew Ramstedt | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Sound Mixing and Sound Editing for an Animated Program | Otis Van Osten, Carlos Sanches, James Miller, Jason Oliver, Vincent Guisetti, Aran Tanchum | Nominated | ||
| 2022 | Annie Awards[40] | Best FX - TV/Media | Greg Lev, Brandon Tyra, Prakash Dcunha, Vincent Chou, Chen Ling | Nominated |
| Best Voice Acting - TV/Media | Charlie Saxton as the voice of Toby Domzalski | Nominated | ||
| Children's and Family Emmy Awards[41] | Outstanding Special Class Animated Program | Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans | Nominated | |
| Outstanding Sound Editing and Sound Mixing for an Animated Program | Nominated |
Following the release ofTrollhunters: Rise of the Titans, writer Marc Guggenheim said the film is meant to "wrap up the trilogy and for this really to be the final chapter in the story", but that it simultaneously "also opens the door for a whole host of new storytelling possibilities", and that it was "designed to be a cap, and [he suspects] it will remain that way for at least a little bit".[42]
| TV series |
|
|---|---|
| TV film | |
| Game | |
| Related | |
