Adult Swim debuted the first trailer for Unicorn Warriors Eternal, the upcoming animated fantasy anthology series from Samurai Jack and Primal creator Genndy Tartakovsky, on Wednesday. The series, which premiered at the 2022 Annecy International Animation Film Festival and was previewed at New York Comic Con last October, will premiere on May 4th at midnight on Adult Swim.
A 10-episode mini-series in the vein of 2014’s Over the Garden Wall, the supernatural steampunk animated action series’ premise sounds reminiscent of Tartakovsky’s own Sym Bionic Titan by way of the 2003 Samurai Jack episode “The Birth of Evil.” It centers on a team of primordial heroes who repeatedly reincarnate throughout history in order to fight an ancient evil. The trailer describes Unicorn Warriors Eternal as an animated series that’s “a lifetime in the making,” which isn’t too far off from the truth. According to a press release, the origins of Tartakovsky’s new show date as far back as the beginning of his career with Cartoon Network.
“This show was created in my early days at Cartoon Network Studios more than 20 years ago,” Tartakovsky said in the press release. “All the projects we worked on — Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack, and Sym-Bionic Titan — were like a training ground getting us ready for this series. It took all of that time to finally be able to tackle a show like Unicorn Warriors Eternal.”
An audacious statement, especially coming from a director commonly cited as one of the most prolific creators in American animation, whose aforementioned series — particularly Dexter’s Laboratory and Samurai Jack — have been considered by many to be some of the best animated TV series to ever air on Cartoon Network. Framing those series as a “training ground” for Unicorn Warriors Eternal sets a high bar, but if anyone has proven they can deliver on that claim, it’s Tartakovsky.
