We’re a long way out from the days when a Netflix run was practically a guarantee of TV longevity; far more likely now to see the streamer pull the plug on a show after two or three seasons, as opposed to the “Hell, let’s give it a minute” approach that gave its early offerings so much time to thrive. So it’s a nice little throwback to learn—courtesy of IGN and the show’s Comic-Con@Home panel—that the service’s animated series The Dragon Prince has been renewed this week, not just for one more season, but for four.
That’s not wholly surprising, in that The Dragon Prince is the latest project from Aaron Ehasz, whose run as head writer on Avatar: The Last Airbender was all about playing that multi-season long game. The Dragon Prince is apparently operating on a seven-season (book, whatever) plan in its own right, and the massive Netflix renewal will allow the series to fully run its course.
It probably doesn’t hurt, of course, that Avatar has been such a hit for Netflix; the Nickelodeon show set all sorts of records for the streaming service when it returned to its library earlier this month, and the company is presumably still working on developing that live-action adaptation of the series. Dragon Prince shares plenty of DNA with Ehasz’s earlier show, meanwhile, including an overriding obsession with a very Captain Planet-esque take on the classical elements, and a sprawling story that examines the widespread consequences of aggression and war in a magical world.