Adult Swim surprised anime fans by dropping a new extended trailer for their upcoming Lazarus anime on their Youtube and socials this morning, allowing fans for the first time to hear its English dub, produced by Sentai Filmworks, and confirming it will premiere on Toonami on the night of Saturday, April 5th at midnight EDT (or rather, 12:00am EDT on April 6th). New episodes will premiere weekly every Saturday on Toonami and available Sunday morning on MAX. Reruns will also air on Adult Swim on Thursday nights every week starting April 10th, and episodes in Japanese with English-subtitled will premiere on the network and on MAX at least 30 days after their English-language premieres. Whether or not that means the subtitled episodes will air on Toonami or on Mondays, which would be the day if they stick to airing them exactly 30 days after the English dub premieres, remains to be seen. In addition to showcasing the dub in this trailer, the English voice cast for the main characters were announced and are listed below:
Dr. Skinner – David Matranga
Hersch – Jade Kelly
Axel – Jack Stansbury
Chris – Luci Christian
Leland – Bryson Baugus
Doug – Jovan Jackson
Elaina – Annie Wild
Abel – Sean Patrick Judge
It’s been a nearly two-year road from the show’s announcement to its global debut. In July 2023, on the starting day of that year’s San Diego Comic-Con, Adult Swim revealed on their socials that they were producing a new anime series directed by the revered Shinichiro Watanabe, responsible for creating some of the most critically beloved and popular anime in the west, in particularly series that prominently aired and were featured on Adult Swim including Samurai Champloo, Space Dandy, and of course, Cowboy Bebop. But unlike Space Dandy, executive producer and Senior Vice President and head of anime and action for Warner Bros. Discovery Jason DeMarco confirmed that Watanabe would be directing EVERY episode himself. What’s more, they revealed the animated would be produced by MAPPA, the powerhouse animation studio known for their action-anime hits including Jujutsu Kaisen, whose first season director Sung Hoo Park Adult Swim recruited to direct their original anime Ninja Kamui, and the final season of Attack on Titan, another series that was a popular feature of Adult Swim’s Toonami lineup for a better part of a decade. Sola Entertainment, who Adult Swim seems to have de facto recruited to help produce most of their recent original anime productions, is also involved as a producer on Lazarus.
Lazarus is Shinichiro Watanabe’s first major project with Mappa since Kids on the Slope in 2012, which also happened to be the first tv series Mappa produced (albeit as a co-production with Tezuka Productions). Additionally, Chad Stahelski, the director of the John Wick franchise and veteran stuntman, was revealed to be directing action sequences for the show. Plus, as expected of a Watanabe joint, the show was poised to feature a musically eclectic score featuring tracks by jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington plus DJs and producers Floating Points and Bonobo. So right from the jump, there was a lot of anticipation around the series.
Then, during the Toonami on the Green event during the Adult Swim Festival that Saturday, fans were given their first look at Lazarus with Shinichiro Watanabe himself in attendance. I was there, sitting near the front of the stage, my eyes blown away by the thrilling action and beautiful animation of that initial teaser trailer. Watanabe then proceed to discuss and show artwork from the show, showing off storyboard, artboards, imageboards, concept art, character design, scene concepts, and so much more that really captured my interest in the imaginative world and setting he was building out. Out of all the announcements made that SDCC, it was safe to say Lazarus was the one I was left the most excited for and was the most eager to see more of.
Over the following year, we got a few more teases of the show, culminating in it having a surprise premiere last fall at New York Comic Con, followed by another panel discussion with Shinichiro Watanabe. Not only did I get to see the show there, but I even managed to see it again at its west coast premiere at Anime Los Angeles earlier this year. You can read my review of the first episode and full reports of both the NYCC and ALA panels for more information about the show and what you can expect from it ahead of its April premiere, and can expect more coverage of the show from us in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, you can learn more about Lazarus and its rollout from Adult Swim’s official press release below:
BURBANK (February 27, 2025) – From anime legend Shinichirō Watanabe (“Cowboy Bebop”), the highly anticipated new series “Lazarus” follows secret agents hunting for a vaccine to save humanity. The new anime will premiere Saturday, April 5 at midnight on Adult Swim during the network’s Toonami action/anime block. The official trailer was just released HERE.
Marking Watanabe’s return to the sci-fi genre, “Lazarus” is a pulse-pounding thriller about a miracle drug, Hapna, that presumably frees anyone who takes it from all pain. However, it is later revealed that Hapna has a fatal consequence: all who have taken the drug will perish. With only thirty days to save humanity, a group of agents must find a vaccine before all is lost.
“We’re talking Watanabe here – this show is an amazing mix of great characters, super fun high-stakes, brilliant directing, and of course, some pretty great music,” said Adult Swim president Michael Ouweleen. “We are all so lucky to be able to watch this genius do his thing.”
“Lazarus” features action sequences designed by director Chad Stahelski (“John Wick”) and a captivating score by renowned jazz and electronic artists including jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington (West Coast Get Down); producer, DJ, and musician Floating Points (Floating Points Ensemble); and producer, DJ, and musician Bonobo.
The series will air on Adult Swim in English, with new episodes available the next day on Max. English-language encore airings will debut every Thursday at midnight beginning April 10. Episodes in Japanese with English subtitles will debut in the U.S. on Adult Swim and Max 30 days after their English-language premiere.
“Lazarus” is produced by Sola Entertainment and animated by Studio MAPPA.
The full series description is below:
The year is 2052.
The world seemed to be on the verge of unprecedented peace and stability, and the painkiller drug “Hapna” developed by a lauded neuroscientist Dr. Skinner has had a lot to do with it. Pervasive throughout the world with no known side effects, Hapna is said to have freed humanity from pain.
But then, Skinner suddenly disappeared off the face of the earth.
Three years later, he re-emerges as a prophet who brings countless deaths and the end of civilization. Hapna is designed with a fatal, retroactive effect, which manifests three years after ingestion, even by those who have only taken it once. Just thirty days remain until humanity is doomed to extinction. The only way to save the world is to get the cure that only Skinner knows. For that we must first find him.
“Lazarus” is a team of five agents gathered from various corners of the world to do just that. Can they save humanity? And what is Skinner’s true purpose?
English Voice Cast:
- Dr. Skinner – David Matranga
- Hersch – Jade Kelly
- Axel – Jack Stansbury
- Chris – Luci Christian
- Leland – Bryson Baugus
- Doug – Jovan Jackson
- Elaina – Annie Wild
- Abel – Sean Patrick Judge
Japanese Voice Cast:
- Dr. Skinner – Koichi Yamadera
- Hersch – Megumi Hayashibara
- Axel – Mamoru Miyano
- Chris – Maaya Uchida
- Leland – Yuma Uchida
- Doug – Makoto Furukawa
- Elaina – Manaka Iwami
- Abel – Akio Otsuka
Additionally, other key staff involved in the production include:
Character Designer: Akemi Hayashi
Concept Designer: Stanislas Brunet
Art Director: Miho Sugiura
Color Designer: Kana Tanabe
Cinematographer: Takuma Sakamoto
Compositing Director: Mitsuhiro Sato
Sound Effect Supervisor: Lauren Stephens, on behalf of the Formosa Group
Animation Producer: Masato Matsunaga
Kamasi Washington performs the opening theme song, “Vortex.” The ending theme song, aptly named “Lazarus,” is performed by The Boo Radleys.
