Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth) and Marc Guggenheim's (Arrow) final entry in the Tales of Arcadia franchise, Wizards, is here. Dreamworks released the latest show on Netflix on Friday, August 7th, closing out the last chapter in the Trollhunters series.
To support the release of the show, we spoke with writing duo Chad Quandt and Aaron Waltke (Teen Titans Go!, Unikitty) about the differences between Wizards and its predecessors. We also talk exclusively about how they look to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for inspiration regarding story cohesion in addition to what franchise they hope to have a hand in one day!
Check out what the guys have to say, and if you're interested in hearing the audio component of our interview with Aaron and Chad, simply click the podcast player below!
Literary Joe: I want to start by asking you guys how long the two of you have been working together. I know you've done a lot of projects together, and not just the Tales of Arcadia series.
Aaron Waltke: I'd say we've worked on various projects together in addition to our personal projects for the past at least ten years. I think we both kind of started our careers in Los Angeles around 2007 - 2009, so I'd say we've been collaborating on various stuff for at least a decade.
Chad Quandt: And it's all been building towards doing comedy/adventure in a fantasy/horror world. So Trollhunters was the perfect project for us, and Wizards is likewise. It's kind of like what we like to write.
Literary Joe: Did you guys have the same amount of involvement in Trollhunters and 3Below as you do with Wizards?
Chad Quandt: That's actually one worth clarifying. We stepped away from Tollhunters to be co-head writers over on Unikitty at Warner Bros. and Cartoon Network, while 3Below continued with a lot of the same writers we had worked with previously. And then we came back for Wizards. So, 3Below was kind of a sabbatical for us. To be able to come back and wrap up the series on Wizards is pretty rad.
Aaron Waltke: In addition to having been writers on Trollhunters and then being brought back as co-executive producers, there was still a continuity there for us. Because Chad and I, in addition to being creators of the show, are also fans of the show. We made a show that we ourselves wanted to watch, so it felt more like a homecoming than anything.
Literary Joe: Nice, and I think that's important. I'm curious since you guys stepped away to work on Unikitty during 3Below, do you feel like your experience with that show had any influence on your work with Wizards?
Chad Quandt: That's a good question. I'm trying to think if there's any direct influence. It's a very different show, and Unikitty was a very different comedy muscle to get to exercise, just because of the nature of that series. How much sillier and absurd it is. But if anything, probably just getting to be in that LEGO Dungeon for a while. And I mean more positive, like RPG dungeons, not grueling dungeons. (Laughs)
But getting to be in that Unikitty world for a while, it definitely let Aaron and I get even stronger as writers, and we got to explore a bunch of different cool stories and genres and character types. I don't think there was a direct influence on Wizards. Aaron, you might have something you can think of, but it at least made us feel in charge to come back.
Aaron Waltke: If anything, I think it's the other way around. (Laughs) I think our insistence on emotional character arcs and adventure and stakes and action and thrills wound up pushing Unikitty more in that direction than I think anybody anticipated.
But it eventually became a staple of that. Pushing the emotion and the thrills as far as they could. I think Tales of Arcadia has an absurdist streak to it that was even there present in Trollhunters, where we smashed that kind of high fantasy into the low comedy. I think that translates with all series in the Tales of Arcadia franchise.
Chad Quandt: At the very least, Unikitty helped us write talking animal companions. That was very helpful. (Laughs)
Literary Joe: Since you guys were gone for the second chapter, it's probably easier for you guys to realize the differences between Trollhunters and Wizards. So I'm curious, other than the time period, what other big differences do you think there are between the two series?
Aaron Waltke: I think the biggest obvious difference is that Trollhunters was about the magical world sort of leaking into a sleepy suburban town, right? Whereas, Wizards is sort of the opposite. (Laughs) Our suburbanites are suddenly being thrown into this world of high fantasy. So suddenly they are the outsiders.
Just the same way that in 3Below the Akaridians were sort of immigrants to this strange new world. Now our hapless heroes who had previously gotten a little taste of that magical world that's underneath our feet. Suddenly it's out in the open, and that's the norm.
The other thing I would say, I think that we're approaching sort of the endgame now, right? In many ways, I think Wizards is embracing the epicness that Trollhunters has built to. But I think everybody involved, the artists, and the writers, and the directors, and Guillermo, we all were like, "let's see how far we can really push the limits and make this feel like one long, non-stop movie because we didn't have the time or the luxury to kind of meander through the story. We had to intricately plot it like a novel, whereas Trollhunters was more of a picaresque.
Chad Quandt: I think there was definitely an intentional effort in our mind and being helped by having amazing writers like Ann Ricket and Lila Scott. They had been a part of the entire series through 3Below so that we could cultivate that Wizards had its own story to it. That Douxie and Claire and Steve and Jim are going through adventures that stand up on the own merits for this series, but that it doesn't feel like it's not a part of the collective whole.
It feels thematically tied into, and the way that Aaron mentioned the endgame, we kind of talked about how the Marvel movies nailed this really great thing of cohesiveness, but the best ones were their own unique story itself and is a part of that world, right? We did the same thing with Wizards.
And in terms of themes, probably more where Trollhunters, to summarize four seasons of story, is about the burden of responsibility and what you do for your friends and overcoming the barrier between the two worlds. Wizards is a little bit more of a relationship story on the relationship between mentors and mentees. You know, Douxie and Merlin, Claire and Morgana, even Steve with Lancelot, letting us use this past setting with Camelot to let the characters kind of explore deeper relationships with their parental roles, whether they're good or bad.
Aaron Waltke: Absolutely. Such a big part of Wizards was the exploration of generations. And how the old vanguard tries to teach the new vanguard, but perhaps the new vanguard decides to go their own path. And that was, in many ways, reflected in Douxie, Claire, Steve, and Jim reacting to Merlin, and Morgana, and Arthur, and Lancelot, and how they decide not to try to save the world the way that their predecessors did.
Literary Joe: Very nice. Can you guys give me a little bit of detail on what your guys' contributions are to the Tales of Arcadia franchise?
Chad Quandt: I think our most important one is writing the Creepslayerz rap for Steve and Eli. We share all of the credit with all of our writing staff that we've been with.
But yeah, we were present there from the origins of Trollhunters, staring with episode three or four, which was the first one with our names on it. Then just through the entire show all the way until the end, being able to do the finale of Eternal Night with the rest of our room and then coming back to do the rest of Wizards with our team.
Aaron Waltke: Yeah, on Trollhunters, we were staff writers, and then they asked us to come back as co-executive producers and head writers and co-showrunners along with Marc Guggenheim and Chad Hammes to oversee the story in the writers' room. So we were there for every meeting with Guillermo and hammering out the plot to Wizards, and pitching ideas, and working with him. It was a very intimate collaborative process. I think that's the biggest thing.
As Chad was alluding to, it's very hard for any one of us to take sole credit on what makes Tales of Arcadia great, because every single talented artist that we worked with from the writing to the producing, to the editing, to the design work, to the modeling, to the animating, the sound and design, everybody was at the top of their game. So we were just there trying to give a blueprint and a guide of what we think the story of Wizards is. Guillermo, thankfully, embraced that and loved it. It was this cool back and forth all the way until the end.
Literary Joe: Awesome, I've read something about a Trollhunters video game coming out later this year. Can you guys tell me anything about that?
Chad Quandt: Ooh, I'm not sure what we're allowed to say about the details of it. We've definitely gotten to see some stuff; it's been announced, so it's a game. It's definitely a thing that's happening. (Laughs) I can say that I'm very excited to play it. I will be there, max all achievements if there are achievements, 100%. I'm very excited to play that game.
Aaron Waltke: I think that fans of Tales of Arcadia, I believe that it's been announced that it spans the storylines from all three chapters of the show. So there's a little bit in there for everybody, and if you enjoy video games and Tales of Arcadia, you'll probably enjoy that game.
Literary Joe: Now, I know one of you mentioned Marvel movies. I know you guys have worked on Teen Titans Go! in the past, but I'm curious if you have your sights set on any particular Marvel franchise?
Chad Quandt: Oh, that's a cool question. Also, we would never dare jinx ourselves, I don't think, but maybe we can fan-pitch. Aaron, you got anything?
Aaron Waltke: (Laughs) I mean, Chad and I have both always liked Power Pack. We always thought that was a crazy franchise that we'd like to explore—basically kids with superpowers.
Literary Joe: And I think I heard a rumor about that. Maybe it was last year, that they were tossing that idea around over at Marvel. And you never know what's true or not true, but that's definitely an interesting one. Power Pack, nice.
Aaron Waltke: I mean, any opportunity to work in the Marvel Universe, Chad and I would both jump at the chance. And our collab artist on Tales of Arcadia, Ashley, is doing it. She's over working and show running, and executive producing What If? So I think there is a lot of shared storytelling DNA.
Literary Joe: Very nice! Now, I'm curious, before I let you guys go, is there anything about Tales of Arcadia or any of your other projects I didn't cover that you'd like to share with our audience?
Aaron Waltke: Yeah, I mean, I think just that it's been a tremendous pleasure, and a challenge, and an honor, and deeply rewarding to help bring this final chapter to a close. This series has meant a lot to a lot of people, both fans and the crew who worked on it.
I think that Wizards, in particular, I'm especially proud of how our story team, we were able to make it so that it could stand on its own two feet and tell a story that I feel is deeply relevant to today's society and how the next generation can move forward, and find some way to save the world in their own fashion.
Chad Quandt: That's well said. Just adding on that I'm very excited to see fans finally get to watch the whole series because we have definitely put a lot of great love to reward people who have watched the whole series but also still give them plenty of new surprises. The character turns, and big moments that hopefully they'll really, really dig because we had a blast going down these stories.
Aaron Waltke: It's perhaps not the story they're expecting, but hopefully, it will be the story they needed all along.
*This interview has been edited for clarity.*
Join our favorite supernatural heroes on a time-bending adventure to medieval Camelot. The magic continues the final chapter of the Tales of Arcadia saga, Wizards.
Tales of Arcadia: Wizards is now on Netflix.