''3Below: Tales of Arcadia'' (or simply ''3Below'') is an American computer-animated

science fantasy Science fantasy is a hybrid genre within speculative fiction that simultaneously draws upon or combines tropes and elements from both science fiction and fantasy. In a conventional science fiction story, the world is presented as being scientif ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

produced by

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios and simply known as DreamWorks) is an American animation studio that produces animated films and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division ...

, and is the second installment of

Guillermo del Toro Guillermo del Toro Gómez (; born October 9, 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and actor. He directed the Academy Award–winning fantasy films ''Pan's Labyrinth'' (2006) and ''The Shape of Water'' (2017), winning the Academy Awards for Be ...

's ''

Tales of Arcadia ''Tales of Arcadia'' is a trilogy of computer-animated science fantasy television series created for Netflix by Guillermo del Toro and produced by DreamWorks Animation and Double Dare You. The series comprising the trilogy follows the inhabit ...

'' trilogy. The series was announced on December 12, 2017 by Netflix and DreamWorks. On October 5, 2018, the premiere date was announced and the first teaser was released. The 13-episode first season was released on December 21, 2018 on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

. The series concluded with the release of the second season on July 12, 2019. A third and final installment of ''Tales of Arcadia'', titled '' Wizards'', was released on August 7, 2020. The full-length feature film, '' Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans'' was released on

on July 21, 2021.

Plot

Two royal

extraterrestrial Extraterrestrial refers to any object or being beyond ( extra-) the planet Earth ( terrestrial). It is derived from the Latin words ''extra'' ("outside", "outwards") and ''terrestris'' ("earthly", "of or relating to the Earth"). It may be abbrevia ...

siblings, Crown Princess Aja and

Crown Prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wif ...

Krel of House Tarron, their

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

like pet named Luug, and their

bodyguard A bodyguard (or close protection officer/operative) is a type of security guard, government law enforcement officer, or servicemember who protects a person or a group of people — usually witnesses, high-ranking public officials or officers, w ...

, Varvatos Vex, escape from their home planet of Akiridion-5 after a coup and crash-land on

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

, specifically in the city of Arcadia Oaks,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. There, the aliens adjust to

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

culture and try to fix their spaceship (as well as to restore their nearly-dead parents King Fialkov and Queen Coranda) to return and take back Akiridion-5, which is being taken over by an evil

dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in times ...

known as General Val Morando, who has already sent out a team of intergalactic bounty hunters, called the Zeron Brotherhood, to find and catch the alien prince and princess. After investigating a way to stop Val Morando and find the hiding place of Aja and Krel, Zadra, one of the noble protectors of the royals from Akiridion-5, arrives on Earth. Meanwhile, after learning of his involvement in Morando's coup, Aja and Krel decide to exile Vex. During his exile, Vex is captured by the Zeron Brotherhood and imprisoned at a bounty hunter outpost located on Earth's

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

. In Season 2, Aja and Krel learn of his capture and launch a rescue mission. Soon after the rescue, however the gang discovers that Morando is heading for Earth. After successfully defeating him, Aja (now Queen), Vex, Zadra, Luug and the rest finally return home, joined by Eli, who has volunteered to be Earth's ambassador on Akiridion 5. Crown Prince Krel decides that Earth has become his home, and decides to stay with his new human best friends.

Voice cast

* Tatiana Maslany as Queen Coranda Akrium-Tarron and Crown Princess Aja Tarron * Diego Luna as Crown Prince Krel Tarron *

Nick Offerman Nicholas David Offerman (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor, writer, comedian, producer, and carpenter. He is best known for his role as Ron Swanson in the NBC sitcom ''Parks and Recreation'', for which he received the Television Critics A ...

as Varvatos Vex *

Glenn Close Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress. Throughout her career spanning over four decades, Close has garnered numerous accolades, including two Screen Actors Guild Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards ...

as the Mothership *

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American voice actor. He began his career in the 1960s, and holds over 860 film, television, and video game credits as of 2022, making him one of the most prolific voice actors of all time. With ...

as Luug *

Alon Aboutboul Alon Moni Abutbul (or Aboutboul, he, אלון מוני אבוטבול; born 28 May 1965) is an Israeli actor. He won the IFFI Best Actor Award (Male) at the 44th International Film Festival of India. Early life Abutbul was born in Kiryat Ata, ...

as Val Morando * Uzo Aduba as Colonel Kubritz *

Oscar Nuñez Oscar Nunez (born November 18, 1958), sometimes credited as Oscar Nuñez, is a Cuban-American actor. He is best known for his role as the Dunder Mifflin accountant Oscar Martinez on NBC's ''The Office''. He was a member of The Groundlings and l ...

as Sergeant Costas * Andy Garcia as King Fialkov Ventus-Tarron * Tom Kenny as Dadblank * Cheryl Hines as Momblank *

Nick Frost Nicholas Jonathan Frost (born 28 March 1972) is a British actor, author, comedian, painter, producer and screenwriter. He has appeared in the ''Three Flavours Cornetto'' trilogy of films, consisting of ''Shaun of the Dead'' (2004), ''Hot Fuzz ...

as Stuart *

Darin De Paul Darin De Paul is an American voice actor known for his video game performances as Dr. Samuel Hayden / Seraphim in ''Doom'' and '' Doom Eternal'', Reinhardt in ''Overwatch'', Ardyn Izunia in ''Final Fantasy XV is an action role-playing game ...

as Zeron Alpha * Ann Dowd as Zeron Omega * Hayley Atwell as Zadra * Jennifer Hale as Izita *

Chris Obi Christopher Obi Ogugua (born September 24, 1970) is an English actor and filmmaker who trained at Drama Centre London and graduated in 2001. He has done a season at the Royal Shakespeare Company where he was directed by Sir Antony Sher in th ...

as Loth Saborian *

Danny Trejo Danny Trejo ( ; born May 16, 1944) is an American actor. He has appeared in films including ''Desperado'', ''Heat'', and the ''From Dusk Till Dawn'' film series. With frequent collaborator and his second cousin Robert Rodriguez, he portrayed ...

as Tronos *

Cole Sand Cole Sand (born May 24, 2003) is an American actor. He played Nelson in the Disney Channel show ''Austin & Ally'' and Jensen in the NBC comedy-drama '' Parenthood'' and is the voice of Eli Pepperjack in DreamWorks' ''Tales of Arcadia''. His two ...

as Eli Pepperjack *

Steven Yeun Yeun Sang-yeop ( ko, 연상엽; born December 21, 1983), known professionally as Steven Yeun (), is a South Korean-born American actor. Yeun initially rose to prominence for his roles as Glenn Rhee in the television series '' The Walking Dead ...

as Steve Palchuk *

J.B. Smoove Jerry Angelo Brooks (born December 16, 1965), commonly known by his stage name J. B. Smoove, is an American actor, comedian and writer. After beginning his career in 1995 on ''Def Comedy Jam'', he was a writer and performer on NBC's ''Saturday N ...

as Phil * Tom Wilson as Coach Lawrence *

Charlie Saxton Charles Saxton (born November 7, 1989, in Bristol, Pennsylvania) is an American film, television and voice actor. He had a supporting role as Bug, one of the band members, in ''Bandslam''. He was featured in ''Hung'', an HBO comedy-drama seri ...

as Toby *

Fred Tatasciore Fred Tatasciore (; ) is an American voice actor who has provided voices in animated and live-action films, television shows, and video games. He is known for voicing the Hulk and Beast (comics), Beast in various Marvel media and Solomon Grundy ( ...

as AAARRRGGHH!!!, Senior Uhl, Neb, Magmatron * Matthew Waterson as Mr. Johnson *

Emile Hirsch Emile Davenport Hirsch (born March 13, 1985) is an American actor. He played Chris McCandless in '' Into the Wild'' (2007). Other notable film roles include '' The Girl Next Door'' (2004), ''Lords of Dogtown'' (2005), '' Alpha Dog'' (2006), ''Sp ...

as Jim Lake Jr. * Lexi Medrano as Claire Nuñez * Kelsey Grammer as Blinky * Jonathan Hyde as Stricklander * Alfred Molina as Archie * Yara Shahidi as Darci Scott * Colin O'Donoghue as Douxie "Big D" Princess Aja and Crown Prince Krel also appeared in the ''

Trollhunters Trollhunters may refer to: *Trollhunters, an installment of the Tales of Arcadia trilogy ** Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia, 2016-2018 animated series ** Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans, 2021 film finale **Trollhunters: The Adventure Begins, (2017 ...

'' episodes "In Good Hands", and "The Eternal Knight Pt. 1" in their borrowed human forms.

Episodes

Season 1 (2018)

Season 2 (2019)

Reception

Critical response

The series currently holds a 100% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

. It has been praised for its depiction of

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

through a sci-fi lens, with Dave Trumbore of '' Collider'' writing, "... the subtext here, which is hard to miss even for younger viewers, is that Aja, Krel, and Vex are stand-ins for immigrants, refugees, and "illegal aliens" ... the show is re-examining the actions of the anti-immigrant government agents and the aliens' allies alike."

Accolades

References

External links

* *
3Below: Tales of Arcadia
' at

* {{Netflix original animated series and films 2010s American animated television series 2018 American television series debuts 2019 American television series endings American children's animated adventure television series American children's animated science fantasy television series American computer-animated television series Animated television series about extraterrestrial life 2010s American LGBT-related animated television series Netflix children's programming Tales of Arcadia Television series by DreamWorks Animation Television series by Universal Television Television series about royalty Fictional extraterrestrial–human hybrids Fictional shapeshifters Works by Guillermo del Toro Animated television series about teenagers English-language Netflix original programming