The animated series, created by LeSean Thomas and inspired by real-life lawman Bass Reeves, premieres Nov. 3 on Netflix.
Netflix has dropped the first teaser for Bass X Machina, an animated steampunk sci-fi Western coming to the platform this fall, with a voice cast led by Brian Tyree Henry and a premiere date.
The teaser, released Aug. 21, opens with Henry’s protagonist drawing a line in the sand: “Out here, you do whatever you have to do to survive. I’m Bass Reeves, bounty hunter.” The clip packs in gunfights, a train chase, and clashes with enormous machines against wide-open frontier backdrops, with one standout exchange landing as a dry, Western-flavored ultimatum: “If we disarm peaceably, you might live.” / “What happens if we don’t?” / “That happens.”
The series draws from the life of Bass Reeves, the legendary real-life Deputy U.S. Marshal who worked the post-Civil War American West. LeSean Thomas, who previously created Netflix animated series Yasuke and Cannon Busters, built a world around that history and pushed it into steampunk and supernatural territory. The official logline describes a father who becomes “judge, jury, and executioner” while knowing that every act of justice could cost him the family he’s protecting.
Henry, who holds Oscar, Emmy, and Tony nominations, voices Bass and serves as an executive producer alongside Thomas, Jennifer Wiley-Moxley, and Chad Handley.
Bass X Machina hits Netflix globally on November 3.
