'Voltron: Legendary Defender' Showrunners Explain Keith's Big Change in Season 6

The sixth season of Netflix's Voltron: Legendary Defender brought about big changes for all members of the Voltron Force, but perhaps no one faced as big a change as Keith.

SPOILERS for Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 6 follow.

As the sixth season of Voltron: Legendary Defender began, Keith had just met his mother, the Galra soldier named Krolia. In the second episode of the season, "Razor's Edge," Keith and Krolia together continued their mission to investigate the quantum abyss in search of the Galra Empire's source of quintessence.

Because of the strange gravity in the quantum abyss, time passed faster as Keith and Krolia journey on the back of giant space creature towards their destination. By the time they arrived at the Altean colony that Prince Lotor has kept hidden in the quantum abyss, two years had passed for Keith and Krolia, meaning that Keith appeared significantly older by the time he reunited with the rest of the Paladins in the Voltron Force.

ComicBook.com spoke to Voltron: Legendary Defender showrunners Lauren Montgomery and Joaquim Dos Santos about why they decided to age Keith this way.

"I think more so than aging Keith, it was more giving him the time to really bond with his mother," Dos Santos explains.

During the episode, as Keith and Krolia traveled through the quantum abyss, bursts of light from the quintessence at the abyss's source allowed Keith to see Krolia's story play out in front of his own eyes, including how she kept the Blue Lion hidden from Emperor Zarkon and fell in love with Keith's father, but ultimately had to leave Earth. The two years on the back of the giant space creature allowed him time to get to know his mother personally.

"It wasn't about making him older or younger," Dos Santos continues. "You know, anything like that. It wasn't about his age. It was about giving him proper reconnection time with his mother."

Montgomery notes that this also wasn't about a certain fan-ship that pairs Keith up with his older mentor, Shiro.

"Yeah, it wasn't to solve the 'Sheith' problem," Montgomery says. "That was not our intention. Yeah, it was literally just, 'How can we make it feel like Keith and his mother have really bonded over a long period of time, without losing that time with our other characters.'

What do you think of Keith's development in Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 6? Let us know in the comments!

Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 6 is now available to stream on Netflix.