Samurai Jack gets with the times in the fifth and final season. The samurai was thrown into the far-flung future by a demon named Aku, who conquered the world in his absence. Now the man out time finally embraces technology including weapons like a motorcycle sporting guns.
This new Samurai Jack is not necessarily a good thing. Creator Genndy Tartakovsky describes him as “lost” in the first episode, which was previewed at Comic-Con.
“He’s almost become Aku in a way with the horns,” Tartakovsky said in reference to Samurai Jack’s armor.
How Samurai Jack got to this point will be addressed promised writer Bryan Andrews. And there’s apparently a lot of backstory to cover.
Samurai Jack goes back to the future!?
The new season picks up 50 years further into the future though our hero doesn’t seem to have aged accordingly. The one notable change is that he has a long beard. Samurai Jack also had a beard in the prophetic episode “Jack and the Traveling Creatures.” He finds a time portal capable of sending him home but his path is blocked by a guardian. Only one man is allowed though and that’s not him…at least not yet. The guardian knocks the samurai unconscious and the time portal reveals an image of the future Samurai Jack.
The samurai’s relatively youthful appearance could be the result of being thrown even further into the future by Aku, who will return with a new voice actor said to do a “pretty good imitation” of the late Mako Iwamatsu. There will also be cameos by former allies such as The Scotsman. “He back in big way,” Tartakovsky teased. The Scotsman already has machine gun leg so further cyborg enhancements may have prolonged his life. The forever young Phil Lamarr will return as the voice of Samurai Jack.
Samurai Jack season 5 premieres late 2016 on Adult Swim.
