Guillermo del Toro's animated series, "Trollhunters", has secured a second season on Netflix. The news was announced by Entertainment Weekly which, along with the exclusive announcement, also had a chance to sit down with the legendary director to discuss the series, including how he went about proceeding with the project following the tragic loss of Anton Yelchin last year, and what he has planned for the forthcoming second season.
RELATED: Marc Guggenheim: From Del Toro’s Trollhunters to Marvel’s X-Men
While also expressing his excitement over getting the chance to bring back "Trollhunters" for another thirteen episodes later this year, del Toro took a moment to talk about losing the show's star suddenly when Yelchin passed away from a freak accident last year. As initially reported, del Toro and company had been long at work on the series for some time before it was announced, and because of this, a lot of the recording for planned storylines was already in the bag by the time the pilot episode was finished and ready to go. Because of this, fans don't have to worry about saying goodbye to Yelchin's character going into season two. Per del Toro, "we’re not only going to second season, but we’re going to be able to preserve a really large part of it with Anton’s voice."
As for what fans can expect from the second season, del Toro promises something special. For him, it was vital that he delivered something worthwhile with "Trollhunters." Not only is he working two of the "best producers" in Animation in Chad Hammes and Christina Steinberg, but the director has made it a point ti really study the first twenty-six episodes to see what they can do better with the second season. "As we were going through the first season — which really is two seasons because it’s 26 — I started watching the animatics, three or four in a row. I would cancel my flight and stay," he explained, noting how the ability to binge-watch the first season have influenced the forthcoming 13 episodes. "I would take three episodes with me. And I started naturally finding how much, at the end of every episode, I wanted to watch the next."
RELATED: Guillermo Del Toro’s Trollhunters Unleashes a New Trailer
"Trollhunters" tells the story of Jim, "a teenager-turned-warrior called upon by an underground civilization of trolls to defend their way of life from both humans and evil trolls alike." The cast includes Anton Yelchin, Kelsey Grammer, Steven Yeun, Ron Perlman, and Amy Landecker.
The first season of "Trollhunters" is available to stream exclusively on Netflix, with 13 episode second season to follow later this year.