Trollhunters Has The Perfect Anton Yelchin Tribute In Rise Of The Titans
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans
Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans marked the end of Guillermo del Toro's Tales of Arcadia franchise on Netflix with the perfect tribute to Anton Yelchin, the original voice actor for the Trollhunter, Jim Lake. Yelchin recorded enough dialogue for them to use his voice partway into the third season of Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia before his tragic death in 2016 forced the show to finish with someone else playing the main character.
Yelchin was replaced by Emil Hirsch for the final season as well as the spin-off shows Wizards: Tales of Arcadia and 3Below: Tales of Arcadia (and the concluding movie, Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans) but they still managed to make a story-driven transition away from Yelchin's voice and make his presence felt in the show's final season. In the final episode of Trollhunters, a speech he delivered in the first season while trying out for the school play, Romeo and Juliet, was repurposed as a touching closing monologue followed by a dedication to Yelchin before the credits.
The respect for Yelchin is maintained as the whole series is wrapped up in Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans, as that same monologue is delivered in parts by each of the show's main characters during the movie's climax: "Never forget that fear is but the precursor to valor, that to strive and triumph in the face of fear, is what it means to be a hero. Don't think … Become!" While Yelchin's actual voice wasn't utilized this time, the clear callback will be familiar to anyone who remembers the previous uses of the monologue, and making it the climax of the movie (and thus the entire franchise) is a touching and respectful way to honor Yelchin's legacy.
Beyond this small tribute, the movie embraced its callback to the first season of Trollhunters even more by sending Jim back in time to the very first episode as a sort of guardian of the timeline as he supervises his best friend, Toby, who's become the new Trollhunter as he tries to relive (an alternate version of) the many trials they already faced while preventing some of the more catastrophic consequences from coming to fruition. While the dialogue here was new and didn't return to Yelchin's voice, it's still a reminder of where the show started, which is fitting after the tribute in the climax.
While the franchise went on after Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia to do two additional series (which had a fair amount of crossover with Trollhunters, including major appearances by Jim Lake), there were plenty of new characters to get attached to, but Yelchin's time as Jim was always a strong point. Using the movie's final story to take all the new and old characters together to give a send-up to the late actor is a touching moment for both fans of the show and Yelchin.