March 11th, 2017 is a day that many fans of Cartoon Network and Adult Swim have been looking forward to for years. In a brief teaser, the showrunners told fans everything they need to know about the upcoming return of one of America’s favorite cult cartoons.
Jack is back.
If you listen closely, you can hear the sound of millions of painfully optimistic fans (including yours truly) squealing “I told you so!” with joy. Samurai Jack, the story of a time-displaced samurai’s journey to defeat a terrible demon and return to his own era, was a series that many viewers thought was axed long before its time. Samurai Jack featured an immersive world with incredibly fleshed out characters. A unique animation style and the series’ well developed, near dialogue free, action sequences gave viewers a glimpse into the potential of serialized cartoon storytelling.
It’s been 13 years since the Genndy Tatakovsky masterpiece was on air, but that hasn’t diminished the love for a series that won three Primetime Emmy Award while receiving monstrous critical acclaim. Season 5 will be the final entry in the story, having been greenlit for a 10-episode arc. The teaser trailer is the first real footage fans have seen in relation to the new season, but even an 11 second short sells the basic principles.
As for what we know about the final season? Well, to put it simply, we know Jack. As in Jack will be returning and we know next to nothing. According to Entertainment Weekly and behind the scenes feature on YouTube, Tatakovsky doesn’t want to ruin anything.
“The finale of the last episode, 52, and the beginning of this one have no connection. So, what’s changed in Jack’s world is a lot. There’s a lot of drama that’s happened and until the first episode airs I don’t want to give it away because I think it’s such a cool reveal of everything that I’m not gonna say anything.”
Luckily, writer Darrick Bachman did give viewers a brief glimpse into Jack’s current situation.
“In the original series, he was a very heroic person on a very rigid quest. Now we pick up with him and 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.”
For fans who have been just as lost without Jack as he has without them, March 11th can’t come soon enough.