13 Years Later, Samurai Jack is still a Badass
In 2001, Cartoon Network aired the first episode of Samurai Jack, a trippy, time-traveling epic animated series created by cartoon veteran, Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter's Laboratory).
The series followed a young samurai (Phil LaMaar) who is sent into the future by the evil shape-shifting demon Aku (Mako Iwamatsu) mere moments before defeating him with his father’s magical katana. Stuck in a dystopian future ruled by Aku with an iron fist, the samurai takes the name Jack and continues the fight against evil all the while trying to find a portal back to the past.
Though the original run only lasted 4 seasons, Samurai Jack has continued to garner a cult following. So much so, in fact, that 11 years after it's "final episode" aired, in December of 2015, it was announced that the show was green-lit for a fifth (and final) season. In the year since the initial revival announcement, rumors have swirled, hints have been dropped, but now we have a legit trailer. And let me tell you, it's dark AF.
"Looks like I'm not seeing Avatar 2 in 3D..."
The original series wasn't exactly kid-friendly, but now Jack is going all-out Rambo and we see a female assassin stab someone in their fucking eye with an arrow.
Here's a synopsis for the fifth season: "It's been 50 years since we saw Samurai Jack and time has not been kind to him. Aku has destroyed every time portal and Jack has stopped aging, a side effect of time travel. It seems he is cursed to just roam the land for all eternity."
Watch the full trailer below, and let us know what you think. Samurai Jack premieres Saturday, March 11th at 11pm ET/PT on the Toonami Block of Adult Swim. You can watch Seasons 1-4 on Hulu now!
Jack jump good & do other things good, too.
Side note: Maybe they'll bring back some characters from the original run (here's to hoping for the tribe of fat, albino monkeys that can jump like 100 feet. They were awesome.)
