Tales of Arcadia
An animated trilogy of supernatural heroes defending a hidden world.
Tucked away in the fictional town of Arcadia Oaks—a stand-in for Arcadia, California—lies a hidden world of trolls, aliens, and wizards. This secret realm is the heart of *Tales of Arcadia*, a trilogy of animated science fantasy series created by Guillermo del Toro for Netflix. Produced by DreamWorks Animation and Double Dare You, the franchise follows the town’s ordinary residents and the young heroes who protect them from the supernatural threats lurking just out of sight.
The trilogy unfolds across three interconnected shows: *Trollhunters*, *3Below*, and *Wizards*, with a concluding feature film, *Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans*, serving as the finale. All installments have been released worldwide. Critics have praised the series as ambitious and groundbreaking, with Filmink’s Travis Johnson calling it the finest children’s animation since *Avatar: The Last Airbender*. *Trollhunters* earned nine Daytime Emmy nominations in 2017, winning more than any other program that year, and the trilogy has twice been nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program. It has also received or been nominated for a BAFTA, multiple Annie Awards, Golden Reel Awards, a Saturn Award, and twice won the Kidscreen Award for Best New Series—for its first and final chapters, *Trollhunters* and *Wizards*. The franchise is acclaimed for its high-quality CGI animation, dark emotional tone, complex writing, voice acting, representation of Latin Americans and immigrants, themes of prejudice, music, humor, and characters.
Beyond the screen, the series has inspired original children’s books, a series of graphic novels by Marc Guggenheim and Richard Hamilton published by Dark Horse, and a video game, *Trollhunters: Defenders of Arcadia*, released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows. In August 2020, it was announced that the trilogy would end with the feature film *Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans*, which debuted on Netflix on July 21, 2021.
**Production**
Guillermo del Toro originally conceived *Trollhunters* as a live-action TV series, but the cost of computer-generated monsters as main characters made it impractical. He instead co-wrote a book with Daniel Kraus, published by Disney-Hyperion. DreamWorks Animation then optioned the book for an animated feature film, to be directed by Pixar veteran Rodrigo Blaas.
Quick Facts
- Title
- Tales of Arcadia
- Creator
- Guillermo del Toro
- Origin
- Trollhunters (2015 novel)
- Owner
- Netflix · DreamWorks Animation (Universal Pictures)
- Comics
- Trollhunters: The Secret History of Trollkind (2018) / Trollhunters: The Felled (2018) / The Art of Trollhunters (2019)
- Atv
- Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia (2016–2018) / 3Below: Tales of Arcadia (2018–2019) / Wizards: Tales of Arcadia (2020)
- Films
- Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans (2021)
- Vgs
- Trollhunters: Defenders of Arcadia (2020)
- Years
- 2015–2021
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
In November 2017, del Toro announced the expansion into a trilogy under the name Tales of Arcadia, with sequel series 3Below and Wizards exploring extraterrestrials and wizards in the same town. Marc Guggenheim and Rodrigo Blaas served as showrunners for 3Below, while Aaron Waltke and Chad Quandt co-showran Wizards. The finale film, Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans, was written by Dan and Kevin Hageman and Marc Guggenheim, released on July 21, 2021. Writer Marc Guggenheim stated the film was meant to wrap up the trilogy but also opened the door for new storytelling possibilities.
Reader's Guide
Tales of Arcadia has been widely praised as an ambitious and boundary-pushing animated series, with Filmink's Travis Johnson calling it 'the best children's animation to come along since Avatar: The Last Airbender.' Trollhunters was nominated for nine Daytime Emmy Awards in 2017, winning more than any other animated or live-action program that year. The trilogy received two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Children's Animated Series, along with a BAFTA Award nomination, several Annie Awards, Golden Reel Awards, a Saturn Award, and twice won the Kidscreen Award of 'Best New Series' for Trollhunters and Wizards. The franchise has been critically acclaimed for its high-quality CGI animation, dark emotional and mature tone, complex writing, voice acting, representation of Latin Americans and immigrants, themes of prejudice, music, humor, and characters. It spawned original children's books, graphic novels by Marc Guggenheim and Richard Hamilton published by Dark Horse, and a video game titled Trollhunters: Defenders of Arcadia released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows.
Did You Know?
- Trollhunters won more Daytime Emmy Awards in 2017 than any other animated or live-action television program that year.
- The role of Jim Lake Jr. incorporated both the voices of Anton Yelchin and Emile Hirsch after Yelchin's passing.
- Characters Steve Palchuk and Toby Domzalski were the first to appear across all three series of the trilogy.
- The franchise was twice nominated for the Emmy for Outstanding Children's Animated Series.
More in Urban fantasy television series 1-24
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced