Delightful panels fill WonderCon and my day got off to a great start with the panel for Trollhunters. The hit Netflix show brought key forces behind the show: Marc Guggenheim, Rodrigo Blaas, Chad Hammes, Dan & Kevin Hageman, to chat about all things troll!
On the Reaction to the Show
All of the panelists remarked about how excited they were to see that fans were enjoying the series, as initially they were worried the show wouldn’t find an audience. Marc Guggenheim spoke about how an animated show like this takes years and years to make, so when you finally put it out in the world it’s almost a sigh of relief. The show ended up being nominated for seven Daytime Emmys, so all of that work seemed to pay off.
On the Challenges of Making the Show
Trollhunters season 1 was originally supposed to be a 90 minute movie but by moving to Netflix they got 26 episodes of television, a welcome order because the show is so heavy in mythology and characters. There were over 40+ trolls that didn’t make the series and the technical aspects of delivering on the show were tough. Dan Haegeman said that writing the show was like being in a forest with a flashlight that can only see three episodes at a time. Luckily, everyone wanted to make the best version of the show possible. Marc said that the writing staff was always bringing something new to each character and that the large episode order allowed them to expand upon the deep mythology that del Toro created. Visually, the biggest challenge was living up to the expectations of Guillermo del Toro to deliver a visually complex world to compliment the story, a now two punch of ambition and complexity, making the show runners their own worst enemy. The Parklands, which we see in the season finale, was going to be low end because they didn’t have any money, but they designed it to be bigger than troll market to reflect the fact that 26 episodes later the characters have gone through changes, so the show should as well.
Bridging the Gap Between Kids and Adults
One of the coolest things about the panel was that the makeup of the room was so mixed across ages. Marc said that he had never written for kids before, so the room went in not trying to. Kids can handle more than we give them credit for, so they just wrote for an all ages audience. Rodrigo chimed in that they’re the first audience, so if they like it, others should.
Season 2 and Q&A
Season 2 hints were few and far between but the creators said they cried and that the stakes were much higher (LAWD!). Also, I got to ask a question about how the armor was designed and Rodrigo mentioned that del Toro didn’t want the armor to be symmetrical and mirror the way minerals grow! So. Cool. There’s also a fan art contest! Check out troll hunters.com to learn more and have your art featured!