Po and the Wandering Blade are coming back in Kung Fu Panda The Dragon Knight Season 2 to finish what they started. The sequel of the action comedy animated series will be releasing on Netflix on January 12, 2023. It has been developed by Mitch Watson and Peter Hastings, and produced by DreamWorks Animation Television. The first season of The Dragon Knight chapter premiered on July 14, 2022, and has 11 episodes with runtime of each episode as 24 minutes.

Overall, this instalment is the third series in the Kung Fu Panda franchise, which first began with the feature films in 2008. The voice cast involved in the project includes Jack Black as Po, Rita Ora as Luthera of Landreth or the Wandering Blade, Chris Gear as Klaus Dumont, Della Saba as Veruca Dumont, Rahnuma Panthaky as Rukmini, Ed Weeks as Colin the Stag, James Hong as Mr. Ping and others.

The official synopsis of the series on Netflix reads:

Legendary warrior Po teams up with an elite English knight on a global quest to rescue magical weapons, restore his reputation — and save the world!

Let’s recapitulate what the first season was all about!

Kung Fu Panda The Dragon Knight Season 1 Recap

Po, the Dragon Master, “Revered in all of China for his bodacious skills… He has defeated the most dangerous and cunning enemies of China. He risen to great levels of achievement and fame. He even has his own Happy Lunch toy and is loved by the Emperor himself, and on top of all that, he has won Employee of the Month at his dad’s noodle shop at his dad’s noodle shop seven years in a row”. Now, with inactivity ringing loud in his ears, after having restored peace in the land, he’s ready to embark on a new adventure of a lifetime, a food tour of China.

The first episode pits a new challenge for the Dragon Master. Ultimately, due to his clumsiness, the village has to forfeit an all-powerful, sacred and historical object, the WuGao Gauntlet to the new evils – Klaus and Veruca Dumont – on the scene. Po’s greatest fear comes alive following the destruction of the village as the Emperor strips him of the Dragon Master’s title. Along the way, he makes a new acquaintance with Luthera of Landreth, aka the Wandering Blade, Daughter of the Saxon Guard, Knight of England, as she’s out to catch the dangerous criminals as per the Queen’s order.

Having lost his title, Po follows the Wandering Blade’s lead, and together they set out in pursuit of the Gauntlet and the criminals. In the process, the former Dragon Master also attempts to earn Luthera’s trust and become her page in-training to be a knight. Earlier, during his tussle with the bad guys, the Gauntlet’s thumb was separated from the whole sacred relic and left behind with Po. Every time Klaus and Veruca put the antique to use, its remaining thumb in Po’s hand also comes alive.

Dumonts’ next target is the scroll holding information on the Tianshan Weapons, four in number – a helmet, WuGao Gauntlet, the Whip of Endless Fame (located in the Lost City), and the last one remains unknown. These elemental weapons’ preparation led to the breaking up of the world into continents, as opposed to its original existence as a continuous mass. Po and Luthera head out on the hunt for these relics to level the playing field and catch up with the villainous duo. Meanwhile, the Emperor assigns the lethal and venomous Forbidden Company a new mission, to bring in Po, while also putting out a bounty for his name.

The leading duo catch some hints about the Whip of Endless Fame’s whereabout through Po’s favourite comic book, and redirect their footsteps to the author’s home to find more answers. Unfortunately, with the author now dead, they have to come to an agreement with his grieving child and procure the information needed to complete the mission. After using the comic book’s map so achieved during their travels, they finally reach the desert, but a conspicuous stag tails them, who in turn strikes a deal with Klaus and Veruca, who are following Po and Blade to get to the Lost City themselves.

Also read: Shape Island Trailer: Peculiar Friendship of Three Different Shapes

Discovering a rocky monster in the desert, they tussle with it endlessly, only to realise that it’s the Lost City they’ve been on the lookout for all along. Dropping down into its put through the monster’s mouth, they end up meeting the last remaining Guardian of the whip, Rukhmini the Monkey. And though it takes a while to convince her that they’re not the bad guys in the situation, she eventually agrees with them only to stab in them in the back and wander off to the Emperor with her own agenda in mind.

During this course, Colin the Stag starts questioning the allegiance of the Dumont weasels, and they engage in an altercation of their own. In the mean time, Blade is plagued by the memories of her past shared with her brother, whose death she seeks to avenge by capturing the weasels responsible for the same. The stag’s identity isn’t cleared up until much later when they all unite at the Emperor’s mansion.

Rukhmini is the first one to reach there. She holds out a deal for the Emperor to own one of the most powerful relics in the world, the Whip of Endless Flame, in exchange for half his treasury. This too ends on a bad note with nearly his entire mansion destroyed, but he gets the upper hand in the end with the whip in his possession.

After much adieu, Blade and Po capture their nemesis duo as well, and this also reveals that Veruca used to be the Queen’s archmage with powers that got ignited in the presence of the moon. However, Blade doesn’t anticipate the attack coming and they flee again only to walk into the Emperor’s palace.

Once the main duo walk in after them, the Emperor is shocked yet pleased to see his target, Po, turn himself in. But they declare that they’re actually after the weasels, the real antagonists of the story. However, the Emperor holds them captive and is ready to incarcerate them when Colin, the real Knight of England waltzes in as well, revealing that Blade was never a knight, rather he’d received the order by the Queen to arrest her for this false impersonation.

On being held behind the bars, Po also finds his father there, as he’d been brought in earlier for interrogation by the Emperor, in addition to Rukhmini being yet another inmate. Colin, on the other hand, starts his journey back to England with Blade as his captive, but she defeats him while also informing him of the weasels’ role in it all.

Kung Fu Panda The Dragon Knight Season 1 Ending

The final match begins as Po, his father and Rukhmini too break out of prison. Blade speaks of her past, and how her brother died while protecting her. Having run off to the woods, following her brother, also a Knight back then, she witnessed the fight between the Dumont and him, which concluded with Veruca stabbing him with the aid of her powers. Although Po was shaken to learn that Blade to him, on hearing the truth, they team up again.

The Dumonts also open up about why they’re in search of the 4 relics. The scroll they stole from the Lotus village grants them the knowledge that these weapons were forged by the ancient warriors to trap the souls of their enemies, but once they put them all together, they can unleash the captives, resurrect the army of evil monsters and take over the world. Po uses the Whip against the Gauntlet acquired by Veruca during the final showdown.

Thinking they’ve lost the battle, as the Dumonts take away the Whip as away and set sail. Po and Blade, however, form a bond unlike before, and also get the small taste of victory as Rukhmini unveils the fact that she had the Whip all this time, and the weasels only took away the fake one she’d switched out earlier.

All three of them – Po, Blade and Rukhmini – form an alliance and agree to finish the matter against their foes, which requires them to leave China. Mr. Ping i.e. Poe’s dad also joins them on this epic adventure, which will pick up again in the upcoming season.

Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight Season 2 drops on Netflix on January 12, 2023.

Also read: Beau is Afraid Trailer: Joaquin Phoenix’s Pursuit to Meet His Mom Goes Mad Wild