Samurai Jack Comes Back; Rambo TV Series in Development

It’s been 11 years, but Samurai Jack is coming back to television in 2016. Cartoon Network has announced that the 4-time Emmy winning series is set to air an all-new series on Adult Swim’s Toonami block later next year. Genndy Tartakovsky, the series creator, is also coming back as the show’s executive producer too.

Samurai Jack is the story of a magic-sword-wielding samurai prince named Jack who’s flung into the future by a demon named Aku just before he can deliver the final blow and prevent the demon from taking over the world. It premiered on Cartoon Network back in 2011 and aired for four seasons before ratings started to dip and the network decided to pull the plug. During it’s time on air, Samurai Jack won 4 Primetime Emmy Awards, 6 Annie Awards, 1 OIAF Award and held eight other nominations – most of which were for Best Television Series, Outstanding Achievement in Animation or Outstanding _______ in an Animated Television Program.

Over the last decade Samurai Jackhas achieved a cult following. In 2013, Cartoon Network partnered with IDW Publishing to create a Samurai Jack comic series that ran from October 2013 to May 2015. The comic picked up where the television series ended and received wide-spread critical acclaim, with some reviewers saying, “This series deserved to stay on the stands far longer than it actually did. In that sense it’s no different form its source material.” Whether or not the series’ television revival is due to the comic’s popularity is unknown, but the timing does seem to be a bit more than mere coincidence.

There isn’t any set premiere date for the series at the moment. While it’ll probably recap the past events before picking up where the last season left off, those wishing to catch up on the series or rewatch the first four seasons should have at least a few months before the new season begins.

Rambo TV Series in Development

Fox is working with Silvester Stallone, Millennium Films and Entertainment One to create a TV series currently being called Rambo: New Blood. While the series is set to center around John Rambo’s son, his relationship with his father is expected to be extremely relevant, causing Stallone to step onto the small screen more than Brad Cooper has been appearing on the currently airing Limitless TV series.

This isn’t the first time a Rambo TV series has been attempted. A different small screen idea for the project was announced back in 2013, but it quickly fell into development hell and never saw the light of day.

The next feature film installment of the franchise, titled Rambo: Last Blood, has been put on hold pending Fox’s interest in the television series. It’s been almost 8 years since the franchise’s last feature film, the simplistically titledRambo, premiered on the big screen.

Although with Stallone’s stellar performance in Creed creating a fair amount of buzz for the flick, it seems only a matter of time before John Rambo makes his grand return.