Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 3 Trailer

Voltron: Legendary Defender's series execs have opened up about who the show's leads will deal with Shiro's absence, just as a trailer for Legendary Defender season 3 arrives. The Netflix series is gearing up for its second outing in a single year, with a new threat looming in the shadows at a time when the Voltron forces have been scattered and left without a leader.

Back in January, Prince Lotor, who is determined to avenge his father and finish his mission for him. So just how the rest of the team will move forward knowing that they are without a leader?

EP Joaquim Dos Santos discusses the topic at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con - mentioning that among the remaining Voltron Forces, Keith seems to be the most shaken by Shiro's disappearance and is "dealing with it in very weird ways, very rage-y ways."

Co-executive producer Lauren Montgomery, on the other hand, has further divulged where we find the rest of the Voltron warriors at the start of season 3, given their current predicament:

"It's rough up front because you have this character who holds them together. Everyone knew they could depend on him so they all felt like a certain element of like safety in that team because he was there. And the second you take him out everyone feels vulnerable, they don't feel like there's any one person they can count on, so they're each going to step up in a way to fill that void and just move forward as characters and kind of leave a little bit of the goofy shenanigans behind and take things a little more seriously."

Luckily, it seems like not everything that will come from Shiro's disappearance is bad. In fact, Dos Santos has added that because of the vacant spot on the team, everyone is motivated to up their game and collectively fill the void, in order to still fulfill their heroic responsibilities:

"Things definitely take a turn. I think even in [the season 3 premiere] episode you see Hunk actually has fighting prowess now. He's doing things that old Hunk would have just vomited all over the inside of the lion cockpit before. So they're all taking a step up. For me, seeing a character like Lance do that is really cool. A lot of people will say "Lance is kind of like the goof ball and nobody really takes him seriously" but you'll start taking Lance seriously. You'll start seeing these characters in other lights."

Despite everyone working together to make the most of what they got, the leader mantle looks to remain unoccupied and will need to be filled at some point in Voltron season 3. Should this reimagining of Voltron follow the narrative arc of the original animated TV series, there is a good chance that we will see Keith taking over the role as the new head of the group. Promoting him opens up for another spot in the team - one that could possibly be taken over by Princess Allura, who could also pilot a Lion herself.