Samurai Jack is a series that brings joy and sadness to many. Not because of what is in the series per se, but because of what happened to it. The original series lasted 52 episodes, then abruptly ended. It had no conclusion, or true conclusion to be fair. There was rumors of a movie, but it never happened. There was a comic book series, but it ended after 20 issues. To make things even more sad, the iconic voice of Aku, Mako, passed away, leaving fans to wonder if Samurai Jack would ever return.
Fans got their answer when a sequel series was announced to be coming this year to Adult Swim. In anticipation of fan questions, Adult Swim has released a behind-the-scenes video with series creator creator and director Genndy Tartakovsky, Samurai Jack himself Phil Lamarr, and the various cast to talk about the series.
One thing that becomes immediately clear is that this series is set years after the “ending” of the original series. The story will reflect that:
“I think we’re going to see [Jack] in a new light because we’re going to see him from a different standpoint,” writer Darrick Bachman said. “In the original series he was very heroic person on a very rigid quest. Now we pick up with him an it’s many years after the fact and he’s a little bit lost. So it’s a story of redemption and him trying to find who he is again.”
Though the series will be “darker” and “more intense”, the team promises that it won’t lose what made Samurai Jack accessible to all ages:
“People watch [Samurai Jack] with their kids. You know, through the generations,” Tartakovsky said. “I didn’t want to go full on heads getting chopped off and blood spurting everywhere, but at the same time I also wanted it to be newer and exciting and take advantage of some of those things.””
You can see the full behind-the-scenes video below.
