Genndy Tartakovsky's next big cartoon, Unicorn: Warriors Eternal, finally has an official trailer and release date.
Adult Swim released the video to YouTube, offering a first look at Unicorn's characters, locations and action scenes before confirming its May 4 release. After showcasing three ancient beings -- Melinda the powerful sorceress, Eldred the warrior elf and Seng the cosmic monk -- Unicorn reveals that the trio's souls reincarnate into different bodies per generation, a process aided by a top hat-wearing robot guardian named Copernicus. It then teases new heroes obtaining the warriors' powers, including a bride transforming into Melinda and a young boy conversing with Seng, though Eldred's reincarnation remains a mystery.
Unicorn: Warriors Eternal was announced back in 2020 for Cartoon Network and HBO Max, with episodes dropping on the streaming platform following the show's Adult Swim premiere. It follows on the heel of Tartakovsky's award-winning Adult Swim cartoon Primal, which concluded its ten-episode second season in 2022. Focusing on a Neanderthal and T-Rex as they survive a sprawling prehistoric world, the series frequently conveyed plot and dark themes without any dialogue, similar to Tartakovsky's acclaimed action cartoon Samurai Jack. Tartakovsky first collaborated with Adult Swim in 2017 on a final Samurai Jack season, concluding its titular character's story after its abrupt cancelation in 2004. A 2020 video game, Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time, would later serve as a companion piece to the cartoon's finale.
Tartakovsky's Storied Career
A veteran Cartoon Network animator, Tartakovsky's previous work includes shows like Dexter's Laboratory, the Star Wars: Clone Wars micro-series, and the short-lived Sym-Bionic Titan. His theatrical credits include directing 2012's Hotel Transylvania and its first two sequels, retaining only a writing and producing credit on the franchise's latest entry, Hotel Transylvania: Transformania. Additionally, Tartakovsky revealed in 2020 that his formally-canceled Popeye movie will be made in partnership with King Features Syndicate. A release date for the film has not been announced yet.
Tartakovsky's next major films include Fixed and Black Knight, the former of which he described as an R-rated story about a dog's final day before getting neutered. Tonally, he described Fixed as "raunchy but it's got character and it's cartoony. And it's got heart," before insisting that none of the movie's comedy will derive from "Kardashian jokes" or other pop culture references. "It's all character humor. That's what makes it much more unique and stand out. It feels like nothing else," he continued.
Unicorn: Warriors Eternal premieres May 4 at midnight on Adult Swim.
Source: YouTube