What do you get when you combine medieval Camelot with time travel, trolls, and an all-star cast? An epic chapter of the Tales of Arcadia trilogy by Guillermo del Toro!
Wizards, the third chapter in the trilogy, is now streaming on Netflix! And whether you’re a new viewer like I am or if you’ve been a fan since the beginning of Trollhunters, I’ve got 6 reasons why you should watch the series this weekend.
Colin O’Donoghue (Douxie) and Executive Producer Marc Guggenheim’s Take on Wizards
This week I had the opportunity to interview Colin O’Donoghue (who plays Captain Hook in Once Upon a Time) and Executive Producer Marc Guggenheim on their latest project, Wizards.
Colin and Marc shared their perspective on Douxie’s relationship with Merlin (and how it changes over 900 years), Guillermo del Toro Easter eggs that can be found in the first episode, how each episode in the season feels “finale-worthy”, and more!
How Does Douxie and Merlin’s Relationship Progress in Wizards?
As Merlin’s apprentice, wizard-in-training Douxie has been studying to become a wizard and earn his own staff for over nine centuries! Any relationship that old is bound to be a little complex, but Colin shared that at the heart of everything, Douxie really saw Merlin as a father figure.
“When I was recording […], it was actually quite emotional since Merlin is like a father figure for Douxie. Douxie was constantly trying to just prove himself to Merlin. To show that he was a good wizard.” — Colin O’Donoghue, voice of Douxie
Are There Any Easter Eggs in Wizards That Fans Can Look For?
Yes! In fact, Marc confirmed there are four in the first episode that fans can spot. Make sure to watch closely when Douxie and the Arcadians visit GDT Arcane Books — and if you need a little help, I’ve listed them all out here.
“The GDT Bookstore is itself an Easter egg because if you go back to the3Below show that predates Wizards, you’ll actually see the GDT Bookstore in the background of Arcadia. We were very intentionally planting that seed, knowing that we then go to see the inside of the store.” – Marc Guggenheim, Executive Producer of Wizards: Tales of Arcadia
What Does Colin Think of Being Part of the Tales of Arcadia Fandom?
You likely know Colin as Captain Hook from Once Upon a Time, and it’s no secret that the OUAT fandom is super passionate! But did Colin know what to expect with the Tales of Arcadia fans?
“It will be interesting to see [the reactions of fans] especially since Douxie was such a smaller role [previously in Tales of Arcadia]. It was amazing to see on my Twitter and stuff that people started to go, ‘Why are you only doing a couple scenes? That’s crazy. There’s something going on!’ And obviously you can’t say anything! But it was great that the character had an impact for such small amount of screen time in Trollhunters.” – Colin O’Donoghue, voice of Douxie
How Did the Tales of Arcadia Team Make Such an Epic Story for Wizards?
As I binge-watched Wizards, I had to check the episode list multiple times because many episodes felt “finale-worthy”! But did the team initially set out to make Wizards such a big, action-packed series with multiple large-scale battles and character face-offs? Marc shared his perspective on how the series came together.
“We knew we only had ten episodes and we had a sense of how much story we had to tell — and it was more than ten episodes worth. So one of the biggest challenges was figuring out how to tell all the story that we wanted to tell in the screen time that we had.” – Marc Guggenheim, Executive Producer of Wizards: Tales of Arcadia
Interested in watching the full interview with all questions from the panel? Check it out below!
DreamWorks Animation’s Wizards is now streaming on Netflix.
