Wizards has long been touted as the conclusion of the Tales of Arcadia saga. The installment was supposed to bring together all the magical characters we’d grown to love in the first two series: Trollhunters and 3Below. The truth is a little murkier than that. Wizards is a lot more like the fourth chapter of Trollhunters, which focused on teenager Jim Lake Jr.’s adventures as the first human trollhunter, than a culmination of both that series and the alien-centric 3Below.
As a result, the show brings back the heavy mythology built over Trollhunters’ three seasons (something fans may find they need a bit of a refresher on after several years away). That mythology ultimately included the resurrection of the ancient wizard Merlin, who becomes an important figure here too, but Wizards begins by shifting focus to Douxie (Once Upon a Time’s Colin O’Donoghue), a character who’s appeared in bit parts on the other series, usually as a waiter at a local restaurant. It turns out Douxie is a lot more than what he seems, though. He’s been Merlin’s apprentice since the days of King Arthur and he’s still trying to prove himself worthy of gaining the designation of Master Wizard and the magical staff that goes with it.
His latest directive from Merlin (David Bradley) is to gather all the guardians of Arcadia, which leads directly to the coda seen in 3Below in which Douxie’s familiar Archie, a shapeshifting cat, and sometimes dragon (Alfred Molina), recruits Toby (Charlie Saxton), Steve (Steven Yuen) and AAARRRGGHH!!! (Fred Tatasciore). Soon they’re whisked off to a floating castle in the sky -- the last remains of Camelot -- where they reunite with Blinky (Kelsey Grammer), Claire (Lexi Medrano) and an ailing Jim (Emile Hirsch) to take on a new ancient evil.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long for things to go wrong. Jim, Claire, Steve and Douxie fall through a time portal into the real medieval Camelot, which is where the show spends over half of the season. The less said about the major plot points of their adventures there, the better, but suffice it to say the story fills in a number of blanks about the origins of many things that have been of touched on throughout Trollhunters. And luckily, given the lengthy lives of the trolls and wizards, the story is still able to include characters we’re already familiar with, just in much earlier incarnations. Meanwhile, Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Stephanie Beatriz shows up to voice an outcast troll who allies with Jim and Steve is trained to be a knight by Lancelot (Rupert Penry-Jones), who rocks an even better hair game than Steve. Yet, of the many important developments throughout this part of the series, the most touching may be witnessing the beginnings of Blinky and AAARRRGGHH!!!’s friendship.
And really it’s the characters and their relationships that’s always been the key to the appeal of the Tales of Arcadia series. Whether human, troll, alien or otherwise, the characters are incredibly endearing and their desire to be there for one another through any circumstances gives the shows a great deal of heart. Basically this is a fun group to hang out with, and that doesn’t change in Wizards. Douxie fits into the group well, and given the limited number of characters who make it to Camelot, he quickly becomes a key member. That said, it’s a shame we don’t get to spend quite as much time with some of the characters left in the future, Toby in particular gets short shrift.
Also, at only 10 episodes -- less than the seasons of the other Tales of Arcadia shows -- Wizards feels rushed, especially once the group returns to the present. As a result of everything the it's trying to cram in, it’s not entirely surprising that Krel (Diego Luna) is the only character to show up from 3Below, or that it’s only for a couple of episodes toward the end.
Of course, even with those flaws, if you’ve watched the other Tales of Arcadia series, Wizards is not to be missed. You’ll want to catch up with the characters and see how they fare on their new adventure. And there are some excellent action sequences in the new show as well, including one fans have waited quite awhile to see. Plus, the newest characters are all welcome additions to the show’s mythology, especially Beatriz's conflicted troll. All this makes Wizards an instant must-watch.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t parts that may leave fans scratching their heads. The biggest instance of this will be the ending. While the company line is Wizards is the conclusion of Tales of Arcadia, the show ends on a big cliffhanger that leaves the door wide open for more stories. In fact, the dangling plot threads are so tantalizing it’s hard to imagine a more definitive conclusion won’t come out at some point. At the minimum, fans will certainly be clamoring for more after this magically charming, but not completely satisfying, conclusion.
DreamWorks' Wizards: Tales of Arcadia is available now on Netflix.