Lazarus anime confirms 2025 release date at San Diego Comic-Con

Modified Jul 31, 2024 10:01 GMT

Lazarus anime confirms 2025 release date at San Diego Comic-Con (Image via MAPPA Studios)

Friday, July 26, 2024, saw the San Diego Comic-Con panel for Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty anime series confirm that the original television Lazarus anime series will premiere in 2025. Unfortunately, not much other information on the series was provided at the panel beyond this general release window for the 2025 calendar year.

This info on the Lazarus anime provides an update to the initially estimated release window given at the time of the series’ announcement, which saw staff aiming to complete the project by 2024. This was unattainable given the latest news on the anime’s release window, but is an encouraging sign that the series isn’t being unnecessarily rushed in any capacity.

Lazarus anime confirms 2025 release window, but offers no new information, promotional material otherwise

Expand Tweet

While the lack of promotional material to pair with the announcement of the Lazarus anime’s 2025 release window is disappointing, fans can expect additional material to come as 2024 ends. Likewise, the next round of promotional material will likely narrow down the release date to at least a specific anime season in 2025, if not a formal month and date.

However, as of this article’s writing, fans only have the series’ logo visual and a roughly 90-second announcement trailer in terms of currently available promotional material. Fans do at least have a brief story description from Adult Swim on the series, which confirms the anime will take place in the year 2052 and have a sci-fi influenced story and physical setting.

Expand Tweet

Fans also have some confirmed staff information for Lazarus anime, which includes MAPPA Studios animating and Shinichiro Watanabe of Cowboy Bebop fame directing. Chad Stahleski, best known for his work on the John Wick movie franchise, is also confirmed as the action director. The series was also previously confirmed as running for 13 episodes in total, taking a similar one-season approach to Watanabe’s Cowboy Bebop anime.

At the time of the Lazarus anime's announcement, Adult Swim described its story as follows:

“The year is 2052 - an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity prevails across the globe. The reason for this: mankind has been freed from sickness and pain. Nobel Prize winning neuroscientist Dr. Skinner has developed a miracle cure-all drug with no apparent drawbacks called Hapuna. Hapuna soon becomes ubiquitous… and essential. However, soon after Hapuna is officially introduced, Dr. Skinner vanishes."

It continues:

"Three years later, the world has moved on. But Dr. Skinner has returned - this time, as a harbinger of doom. Skinner announces that Hapuna has a short half-life. Everyone who has taken it will die approximately three years later. Death is coming for this sinful world - and coming soon."

The description concludes:

"As a response to this threat, a special task force of 5 agents is gathered from across the world to save humanity from Skinner's plan. This group is called 'Lazarus.' Can they find Skinner and develop a vaccine before time runs out?”