My book of cancelled stories

Voltron: Legendary Defender seasons 7 and 8 rewrite

So the final two seasons of DreamWorks and Netflix's critically-acclaimed Voltron: Legendary Defender were met with... mixed reception, mainly due to behind-the-scenes drama and a change among the writers among other things. after the incredibly divisive season 8 I had plans to take it upon myself to do a full season rewrite of Voltron's final two seasons with some significant changes to the story (while also keeping the basic plot the same) what changes would there be? here's the basic outline for the rewrite: seasons 1-6 would have happened as is, with one significant change:

When Allura pulls Shiro's consciousness out of the Black Lion and into his dead clone's body, instead of being disconnected from Black like in the actual show Shiro would have returned with an even STRONGER bond with Black than before, not only that but we would FINALLY get the answer to what the Black Bayard would become in the hands of Shiro: it becomes Shiro's new arm to replace the Galra tech arm he lost during the fight with Keith, symbolizing both his strengthened bond with Black and finally breaking free from his Galra programming. his new Black Bayard-arm would give him a slew of new abilities, such as the ability to charge his fist up for an energy blast kamehameha-style or use it for a suped-up energy punch attack. Shiro would have tested out his new abilities by participating in the Keith and Cosmo vs. the Druids fight from that one episode, helping Keith and his Doggo by getting some much-needed revenge on the ones that took his arm.

After the intergalactic road trip home, the paladins would return to their original lions upon landing on Earth. Shiro would return to Black, Keith would return to Red, and Lance would return to Blue. the scene pictured here of Lance and Allura saying there goodbyes would remain intact with one small change: Allura would hand the Blue Bayard back to Lance, cementing her retirement from being a Paladin and returning to her original Princess and Commander role.

With the paladins returning to their original lions, "what would happen to Allura?" you may ask, simple: Allura would become the captain and the pilot of the IGF Atlas, reclaiming her original position as a commander and princess in her brand-spanking-new castle-ship, Allura using the experience she gained from piloting the blue lion to pilot the Atlas mech to help Voltron take out that Altean mech from the end of Season 7. speaking of which....

While season 7's basic story would be basically left intact, season 8's storyline would be drastically reworked from the ground up starting with one MAJOR change: Lotor would have returned as himself. that's right, he's not dead in my rewrite. instead of dying after being sucked into the rift at the end of Season 6, he would have wound up stuck in the alternate universe with the evil Alteans from season 3 (remember that? DreamWorks sure didn't) where he would have been made their new ruler, Lotor finally achieving his dreams of building a new Altean empire. and with a new army by his side Lotor would come back with a vengeance as the big bad of season 8 setting to conquer the main universe with an army of evil Alteans including Merla as his new second-in-command (remember her?) oh and we would have paid off the whole "Altean Broadsword" thing with Lance that the actual series failed to pay off, by having Lance use the Altean Broadsword against Lotor in an epic man-on-man Swordfight in the penultimate episode (that would have ended with Lance delivering the killing blow to Lotor which would have sent Haggar/Honerva on a quest for vengeance against the paladins in the season finale)

Not only that, but we would have taken the time to build a relationship between Keith and Acxa with the two becoming a couple bonding over their kinship of being fellow Galra half-breeds along with Acxa joining the Blade of Marmora and working with Kolivan to atone for her past sins from her time serving under Lotor. oh and Adam would have lived in this rewrite allowing him and his boyfriend Shiro to work out their differences, reconcile, and have a happy reunion.

And as for the ending, instead of Allura it would have been the Lions to be the ultimate sacrifice to save the universe after Haggar nearly destroyed all of reality which would have cemented Voltron not being needed anymore. that way Allura would have lived and she and Lance would have gotten the happy ending they deserved, with Lance and Allura getting married (along with a bunch of minor character cameos as wedding guests, including the still-alive Adam catching Allura's bouquet and proposing to Shiro) followed by Lance and Allura becoming the King and Queen of New Altea (and with a baby on the way!) though the others would have kept their happy endings: Pidge and the rest of the Holt family training the next generation of Legendary Defenders setting up a possible Vehicle Voltron sequel series, Hunk achieving his dream of becoming a master chef (along with him and Shay getting together), and Keith and his mother working to transition the Blade of Marmora into becoming a humanitarian organization.

If this all sounded like a good idea, why did I scrap it?

Because while this story idea has been in the back of my brain for five years since the show ended, it just wasn't that big of a priority for me as a writer so I stuck it in the back of the ol' memory hole for the time being.