Created by Michael Green (Logan, Blade Runner 2049) and Amber Noizumi, the new animated series Blue Eye Samurai is set to premiere on Netflix on November 3rd. According to The Hollywood Reporter, in anticipation of the upcoming premiere date, Netflix has released a trailer. The trailer depicts mixed-race samurai Mizu, voiced by Maya Erskine (PEN15, Man Seeking Woman), thirsty for revenge after a white man took her mother.
The trailer, filled with blood and action, can be viewed below.
As The Hollywood Reporter notes, both Green and Noizumi spoke about the series during Netflix’s Tudum event in June. Green explained, “We want people to sink into it and be taken by the story and the level of artistry and forget they’re watching animation.”
He continued to state how the series has something for everyone: “We would love this to cross over into every interest — that if you like The Witcher, if you like animation, if you like Game of Thrones, if you like The Crown, if you like historical drama, if you like Shakespeare in Love, if you like Tarantino movies, there’s something in Blue Eye Samurai for you.”
Noizumi spoke about the voice cast of the series, stating, “We weren’t looking for people who had a ton of voice-over work experience. I think most of them did, but we wanted to make sure that everybody was actually Asian. We didn’t want to cast anybody who wasn’t.”
In addition to Erskine, the voice cast includes Darren Barnet (Never Have I Ever, Love Hard) as Taigen, Masi Oka (Heroes Reborn, Hawaii Five-0) as Ringo, Brenda Song (The Suite Life on Deck, Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior) as Akemi, Randall Park (Always Be My Maybe, Fresh Off the Boat) as Heiji, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Showdown in Little Tokyo, Mortal Kombat) as The Swordmaker, and more.