Netflix’s Anime Slate Undersold Its Biggest Swing

The Netflix anime slate got its biggest update of 2026 at Anime NYC on Thursday, with trailers, premiere dates, and first-look images for eight animated titles, led by an October 20 launch for Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 and a January 2027 return for Blue Eye Samurai.

The title with the deepest Black creative bench on the entire slate got seven words. Netflix’s announcement listed Bass X Machina as an “Official Teaser Trailer Debut” and stopped there, without naming the creator, the cast, or what the show is about. The series stars Brian Tyree Henry as Bass Reeves, one of the first Black deputy U.S. marshals west of the Mississippi, rebuilt as a steampunk Western hero. Netflix posted that framing on its own X account the same day, so the detail was public everywhere except the release sent to reporters.

Inside ‘Bass X Machina’ and the team Netflix left off the page

Bass X Machina comes from LeSean Thomas, the Black American showrunner behind Cannon Busters and Yasuke. This is his third anime co-production for Netflix, which makes him one of the only Black creators with a standing relationship at a Japanese and Korean animation pipeline. Studio Mir, the South Korean house behind The Legend of Korra, is animating.

• Brian Tyree Henry as Bass
• Janelle Monáe as Glory
• Tati Gabrielle as Dana
• Cree Summer as Ahni
• Chaske Spencer as Lighthorse
• Starletta DuPois as Etta
• Currie Graham as Rivenbark

Henry and Thomas executive produce alongside Jennifer Wiley-Moxley and Chad Handley. Roman GianArthur and Nate Wonder of Wondaland are scoring it, which puts Monáe in the cast and her longtime collaborators on the music. Casting Cree Summer and Starletta DuPois in the same ensemble also puts two generations of Black voice work in one room.

The premise is a lawless steampunk West overrun by outlaws, machines, and supernatural terrors, where a father becomes judge, jury, and executioner and risks losing the family he is protecting. It premieres November 3 after moving off an original October 6 date.

‘Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2’ returns to Night City on October 20

The Edgerunners sequel is a standalone 10-episode story, not a continuation. Studio TRIGGER returns with CD Projekt Red, Kai Ikarashi directs, and the story comes from Bartosz Sztybor and Masahiko Otsuka. The new lead is Weak, a washed-up cyberpunk legend forced to live without chrome in a city that moved on without him.

It was also the clear winner of the night in raw attention. The Edgerunners 2 teaser cleared 128,000 views within hours of posting, while the Bass X Machina teaser sat under 13,000.

‘Blue Eye Samurai’ sets January 2027 and an ending

Blue Eye Samurai season two sends Mizu to London and arrives in January 2027. Netflix also confirmed that season three, already in production for 2028, is the last one, per Deadline.

That reframes the whole wait. A story about a mixed-race outsider rejected by both halves of her heritage now has a fixed endpoint, and season two is the beginning of the end rather than the middle.

Every Date on the Netflix Anime Slate

• LEGO ONE PIECE, September 29, 2026. A two-part special from Atomic Cartoons, narrated by Usopp, with the live-action cast voicing their roles
• Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2, October 20, 2026
• Bass X Machina, November 3, 2026
• Fool Night, November 26, 2026. A Sunrise and Shaft co-production, with Adam McArthur and Olivia Liang on the English dub
• Blue Eye Samurai season two, January 2027
• SAKAMOTO DAYS season two, January 2027
• THE ONE PIECE, February 2027. Seven episodes from Wit Studio, covering the East Blue Saga up to the Baratie and Sanji
• Blue Eye Samurai season three, 2028. Final season

GOC has followed this corner before, including an interview with Nick Jones Jr. on being a Black creator in anime around Yasuke. Bass X Machina premieres November 3 on Netflix. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 lands first, on October 20.