Blade Runner Anime Series on the Way from Crunchyroll and Adult Swim

Crunchyroll and Adult Swim are producing Blade Runner — Black Lotus, a new anime series inspired by Blade Runner 2049, the two companies announced Thursday.

While plot details are still being kept under wraps, producers confirm that the forthcoming series is set in the year 2032, between the events of the two Blade Runner films, and will feature some familiar characters from the Blade Runner universe.

Animation studio Sola Digital Arts will produce, while Shinji Aramaki (Appleseed) and Kenji Kamiyama (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) will direct the entire 13-episode first season. Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo director Shinichiro Watanabe, who wrote and directed the Blade Runner 2049 prologue short film Black Out 2022, will serve as creative producer on Black Lotus.

Black Lotus comes from Alcon Television and anime streaming outlet Crunchyroll, which will handle worldwide streaming, while Adult Swim handles worldwide distribution, excluding Asia. English-dubbed episodes will air in the U.S. in Adult Swim’s Toonami anime block.

Alcon’s Andrew Kosove, Broderick Johnson, Laura Lancaster, Al-Francis Cuenca and Sola Digital Art’s Joseph Chou will executive produce, with Alcon exec Ben Roberts serving as co-executive producer. Production IG’s Mitsuhisa Ishikawa is participating as production advisor.

Blade Runner — Black Lotus’ premiere date has not yet been announced.