‘Voltron’: Is SPOILER Really Dead?

Voltron: Legendary Defender Season Five featured a major character death, but is it a death that’s going to stick?

SPOILERS for Voltron: Legendary Defender Season Five follow.

The second episode of Voltron: Legendary Defender Season Five, “Blood Duel”, sees the exiled Prince Lotor finally come face-to-face with his recently resurrected father, Emperor Zarkon, ruler of the Galra Empire.

Though it takes a little assistance from Voltron, Lotor not only defeats his father but kills Zarkon in battle. But will he stay dead? This wouldn’t be the first time that Zarkon was believed defeated only to be revived by Haggar’s magic.

ComicBook.com spoke to Voltron: Legendary Defender‘s executive producers, Lauren Montgomery and Joaquim Dos Santos, and they at first played coy on the subject of Zarkon’s possible return.

“Who knows?” Montgomery said.

“Yeah, who knows?” Dos Santos echoed. “But I would say that a giant chunk of shrapnel through the body is a pretty sure sign of death.”

“His eyes definitely went out,” Montgomery continued. “They weren’t lit up anymore. So who knows? But really, if you were on questionable grounds and you needed to prove to a group of people that you’re on their side, really there’s no better way to do it than to take out the guy that he’s been having problems with the whole time.”

“That’s right,” Dos Santos added. “It’s also incredibly powerful that it was Lotor that had to be the one to strike the final blow. You know, from a pathos perspective I think, no matter what the relationship was at the end of the day, Zarkon was his father, so…”

The last time Zarkon appeared defeated it was at the hands of Shiro, the leader of Voltron. Shiro and Zarkon battled over control of the Black Paladin bayard and the Black Lion. Shiro defeated Zarkon, but also vanished in the process, though the Voltron paladins later found Shiro. Haggar at first summoned Lotor to lead the Galra Empire in his father’s place, but soon questioned his motives and used dark magic to return Zarkon to “life”, more monstrous than he was before.

Voltron: Legendary Defender Season Five is now streaming on Netflix.