Every Season Of The Dragon Prince, Ranked Worst To Best

Warning! This post contains spoilers for The Dragon Prince.

Netflix’s animated fantasy show The Dragon Prince has just concluded with season 7—here’s every season of the show ranked worst to best. The Dragon Prince is arguably one of Netflix’s most underrated shows. Incredibly, the show has a 100% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, indicating how brilliant it is. Indeed, with its fantasy elements, The Dragon Prince is the perfect show for fans of The Lord of the Rings, even if it is not nearly as prominent as many other popular fantasy shows, given it captured many of the same themes and conventions of the fantasy genre.

The show focuses primarily on Ezra and Callum, two princes of the human kingdom of Katolis, and Rayla, a Moonshadow Elf from the magical realm of Xadia. For generations, the human world and magical world have been at war with each other, yet when Rayla, Callum, and Ezran come together to save the egg of the Dragon Prince, that begins to change. The show is truly epic from start to finish, but some seasons have been much better than others. Here are all seven seasons of The Dragon Prince, ranked worst to best.

7

Season 5

Season 5 Lacked The Action The Dragon Prince’s Other Seasons Have

Season 5 of The Dragon Prince, which was released July 22, 2023, was the weakest of all seven seasons. Although the acting, animation, and characters all remained brilliant in the season, the story simply didn’t compare with the other seasons of the show. In part, this comes down to the change in direction the show had experienced in the prior season.

Season 5 of The Dragon Prince, which was released July 22, 2023, was the weakest of all seven seasons.

Seasons 1 to 3 of The Dragon Prince had all followed a very specific arc, wherein Rayla, Callum, and Ezran tried to save the egg of the Dragon Prince and unify the human and magical realms. That came to a head at the end of The Dragon Prince season 3, which saw a massive war break out between (most of) the humans and the magical beings of Xadia. The finale of season 3 was therefore action-packed, culminating in a brilliant final showdown.

In some ways, it felt as though the show had perfectly concluded, which is no doubt why season 4 took a significantly different direction. Beginning with season 4, The Dragon Prince had the subtitle The Mystery of Aaravos. This provided the show with a brand-new arc, focusing on the terrifying Startouch Elf, Aaravos, who seemed bent on destroying the human world and was evidently invincible.

While season 4 was able to focus on that background and build that story, though, season 5 felt a bit more lost in terms of direction. It was clear that season 5 was meant to act as a bridge between the first season of The Mystery of Aaravos and the epic stories that were to come, but that made season 5 itself feel a bit like a throwaway. It wasn’t a terrible season, but in a show that was so perfectly crafted and captivating before, having a somewhat boring season narratively was a major disappointment.

6

Season 4

The Dragon Prince Slowed Down After The Epic Season 3 Battle

As mentioned, season 4 was the first season of The Dragon Prince to have The Mystery of Aaravos as a subtitle, and it therefore had quite a bit of ground to cover in terms of establishing a brand-new narrative arc. While that was undoubtedly a challenge, that did at least make the season feel new and give the show somewhere to go. This was particularly important following the conclusion of season 3, which felt like such a perfect finale.

There were some choices made in this season that were a bit disappointing.

There were some choices made in this season that were a bit disappointing, though. For one, after Rayla and Callum had finally acknowledged their feelings for one another at the end of season 3, the beginning of season 4 revealed that Rayla had struck out on their own, and a distance (both figurative and literal) had grown between them. After three seasons of their relationship slowly and intentionally developing, it was a letdown to see this turn. It felt as though all that had been developed before was just cast aside.

On the other hand, some changes in The Dragon Prince season 4 were rather exciting. Claudia, perhaps one of the most dynamic, complex characters in the show, had a particularly interesting arc during this season, as she had used dark magic to resurrect her father, Viren, and then became obsessed with keeping him alive. This was really the beginning of the end for her in terms of becoming more genuinely evil, so this aspect of the season was quite compelling.

5

Season 7

The Saga’s Conclusion Sadly Felt Rushed

Unfortunately, season 7 of The Dragon Prince was not as brilliant an end as it could have been. As many had expressed concerns about, the conclusion of the show felt rushed. It’s unclear exactly why the show came to a close with season 7, although suspicions that the show was canceled for whatever reason have only grown, especially because, as of season 6, there didn’t seem to be an end coming any time soon.

So many new facets of this story had been built up during season 6, and it seemed impossible that one season could effectively and satisfyingly wrap everything up. Sadly, that proved to be partially true based on the choices made in season 7. Several aspects of season 6 that had seemed to only just be beginning were effectively dropped or glossed over in the final season, most disappointingly, Callum’s temptation with dark magic. In previous seasons, this arc would have run for multiple seasons, which is what season 6 suggested could be coming.

Instead, this arc fell to the background. There were hints of this inner turmoil for Callum, particularly when it seemed Aaravos was going to win the day and Callum had to make some tough calls, but it was not nearly the in-depth, complex narrative arc many were expecting. The heroes defeating Aaravos felt similarly rushed. There was little doubt Callum, Rayla, and Ezran were ultimately going to be victorious, but season 6 had placed so many obstacles in their way, it seemed it would be whole seasons before they won.

In the grand scheme of things, Aaravos was actually defeated surprisingly quickly, and although he vowed to return in seven years, that threat carried little weight because the show was ending. A host of other odd choices also contributed to the disappointment of this season, including Ezran’s character entirely changing. The hopeful, kindhearted boy had become a ruthless king who turned against his own brother, and rather than complex character development, it felt like a betrayal. Smaller choices, such as revealing Zym’s voice as a throwaway joke at the end of the show, also didn’t go over well.

4

Season 6

The Dragon Prince’s Aaravos Plot Picked Up Steam In Season 6

Although season 6 was unknowingly the penultimate season of the show, and the conclusion was fairly disappointing, the season was a fairly strong one. During this season, the threat of Aaravos became so much more apparent, but his character was also fleshed out in interesting ways. Most notably, it was revealed that Aaravos’ daughter had been killed because she gave magic to a human, which was truly brutal. While it certainly didn’t excuse all the evil he had enacted upon the world since then, it did make him a more fascinating character.

There were also major developments in the story, including the death of the original major villain, Viren. He, too, was fleshed out in more interesting ways before his death, revealing that he had fallen deeper and deeper into the use of dark magic because he had been trying to save the life of his son, Soren, who had become incredibly sick. While the family did not exactly get the closure they deserved, this did allow the audience to have more sympathy for Viren, and he had a hero’s death in the end.

3

Season 2

The Dragon Prince Season 2 Proved A Sequel Season Could Work

Season 2 was the third-best season of The Dragon Prince, which is particularly impressive because sequels, whether seasons of shows or movies, are notoriously difficult. With The Dragon Prince, however, season 2 managed to maintain the heart and tone of the first season while doing right by the characters and their season 1 stories. In fact, as any good sequel should, season 2 of The Dragon Prince perfectly built upon the characterization and stories that had been developed in season 1.

Season 2 managed to maintain the heart and tone of the first season while doing right by the characters and their season 1 stories.

Season 2 also could have suffered as the middle of the three seasons before The Dragon Prince became The Mystery of Aaravos, but it avoided that fate too. Rather, it served as a bridge, adding brand-new characters and plot twists without derailing the larger narrative or acting as merely an in-between for seasons 1 and 3. Season 2 truly stands on its own two feet, and, even in light of the five seasons that followed, it remains one of the best in the show.

2

Season 1

The Season That Started It All Was One Of The Very Best

As the season that started it all and contributed significantly to The Dragon Prince’s world-building, season 1 is the second-best season of the entire show. It can be very difficult to hook audiences in the first season of a show, especially in the fantasy genre, where so many characters, realms, magic abilities, etc. must be established. However, The Dragon Prince proved to be immediately compelling, introducing main characters Ezran, Callum, and Rayla in a way that made viewers want to see more.

The Dragon Prince season 1 also wasted no time making the stakes clear and getting viewers invested in the larger conflicts between Katolis/the human realms and Xadia. Even upon a re-watch, compared to all the seasons that have followed it, season 1 of The Dragon Prince holds up. In fact, season 1 set the tone for the entire show, and that was clearly quite effective, given the show’s six renewals and its staggering Rotten Tomatoes score.

1

Season 3

The Dragon Prince’s Best Season Ended In The Ultimate Showdown

The single best season of The Dragon Prince is season 3, the final season before the show became The Mystery of Aaravos, and the season that concluded with the epic showdown between the magical beings and the humans. In addition to that final incredible war, this season incorporated a number of compelling new characters and explored the truth of what had transpired between the humans and the dragons long ago. Season 3 was always the season to beat, and even at the end, no season ever topped it.

Sadly, season 7 of The Dragon Prince marked the epic fantasy show’s end, and it remains unclear if there will be any future for the show. Interestingly, season 7 concluded with multiple characters referencing Aaravos’ (and Claudia’s) inevitable return. That seems to have left the door open for the story to continue if the show was picked up again in the future, but whether that will happen entirely remains to be seen. At present, there’s no real evidence that The Dragon Prince will ever be back.