5 highlights from Netflix’s 3 Below: Tales of Arcadia season 2

3 Below is one of those hidden gems on Netflix with outstanding visuals and an extraordinary story about being brave, true, and kind to each other. Here are five details we fell in love with while watching the second season.

With rescue missions to the moon, Akiridions meeting trolls, and bad guys turning into gods, 3 Below’s latest season is jam-packed with exciting adventures and heroic acts. It gradually builds up to the treacherous Morando and his forces descending upon Arcadia, forcing the young Akiridion royals, Aja and Krel, to make tough and life-altering decisions.

Along the way, they discover more about themselves and what they’re capable of accomplishing when they work together to save their people and the mudball planet they’ve grown to love.

We picked out some of our favorite things about this season, so let’s dive in.

Message of acceptance

Whether you like to admit it or not, we live in a troubling time of intolerance and division. Aja and Krel represent those looking for sanctuary, but instead of being turned away, the people of Arcadia accept them. Not only that, but when the military is hot on their tracks, their fellow peers step in to protect them. They pull out their cellphones, ready to capture any proof of mistreatment or abuse of authority.

It’s a powerful moment because it’s the younger generation saying enough is enough and putting a collective foot down on what the military is doing to refugees.

“Guillermo [del Toro] really empowered us to push diversity and to push the immigration front,” said 3 Below head writer A.C. Bradley in an interview with SYFY WIRE. “He felt that with, and I don’t want to put words in his mouth, but with Trollhunters, we told an amazing story… but our lead was a young white guy. Now we had the opportunity to tell other stories, to focus on heroes who are Latino, who are female, or an old man, and show the world through their eyes. That was the mandate above all.”

The story of Seklos and Gaylen

One of our questions coming away from season one earlier this year was whether we were going to learn more about Seklos and Gaylen. After all, Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia introduced us to Merlin — the name that appears in the Trollhunter amulet incantation — and gave fans a better idea of the history between him and Morgana. Thankfully, 3 Below also follows through and fleshes out the origin of these two god-like beings.

According to the legend, Gaylen created Akiridion-5, but his power grew too strong. Seklos was the only one capable of taking him down and removing Gaylen‘s core from his body. Aja and Krel’s parents originally kept Gaylen’s core hidden on Akiridion-5, but after they deemed it too unsafe, they decided to take the core to Earth.

Now that is one impressive story reveal, and we appreciate how this information wasn’t given to us at first. The little hints dropped here and there throughout the first season just kept us guessing and eagerly wanting to know more.

Connection to Trollhunters

After Aja and Krel’s parents arrive on Earth, they meet Kanjigar, the Trollhunter who preceded Jim Lake, Jr. They hand over Gaylen’s core to him for protection. At this point, we’re losing our minds because Akiridions had been on Earth before. Not only that, but the series establishes a major connection between extraterrestrials and trolls, bringing those two distinct worlds even closer than before.

The connection to the Trollhunters series doesn’t stop there though. In order to get to Gaylen’s core before Morando, Aja and Krel contact Blinky and Jim for help. We have absolutely no idea what kind of trouble they’re in when they show up, but it made our hearts soar to see these two characters again.

We also love how we got to revisit Trollmarket. Granted, it’s no longer the colorful and thriving underground location it used to be, but it was a nice walk down memory lane.

Roles reversed

Entering the second season, we were beyond certain both Krel and Aja would return home to Akiridion-5 together. Sure, Aja has more visible connections, like her relationship with Steve Palchuk (voiced by Steve Yeun), to keep her on Earth, but she ultimately has a responsibility to fulfill as a royal. And while he loves Earth’s music and acting in amateur films, Krel felt strongly about getting back home to Akiridion-5 because Earth was not home to him. Right? Wrong.

After all was said and done with Morando, Aja accepts her role as queen, while Krel decides to stay on Earth. The ending completely caught us by surprise. It’s sad to see the siblings separated after enduring this journey together, but they each have their own path to follow.

“Early on we kind of had decided that Krel was gonna be the one who stayed on Earth, and Aja was gonna be the one to leave,” said Bradley. “Knowing that, we made sure early on that it was the opposite, that Aja’s the one seen running away from home, and Krel is the one going through our version of a coronation ceremony. That way, it gave us a place to go with both characters.”

Follow the black cat

When the second season dropped, some of the writers told fans on social media to keep an eye out for anything hinting at the upcoming chapter in the Tales of Arcadia trilogy: Wizards.

One of the biggest hints happens at the end. A black cat with glasses known as Archie (voiced by Alfred Molina) warns Toby Domzalski and his friends of the dangers to come, making us more curious about the wizarding world and how things will ultimately wrap up in the next series.

The only thing we know is that trolls, aliens, and wizards living in Arcadia will come together to take part in an apocalyptic battle for control of their magical world. The characters we’ve come to know and love over the years will be back for one last adventure in an “Avengers Assemble!” sort of way — at least, that’s how we imagine it.

Until then, keep a close eye on New York Comic Con in October for any announcements from Netflix and DreamWorks Animation because the Tales of Arcadia are far from over.

What did you think of this second and final part to 3 Below: Tales of Arcadia? What details stood out to you? The next chapter in Tales of Arcadia, Wizards, will premiere later in 2019.