Netflix has revealed an official teaser trailer and cast list for its upcoming animated superhero film Ultraman: Rising.
As announced during Netflix’s Geeked Week, Ultraman: Rising stars the voices of Christopher Sean (You, Warner Bros. Games’ Gotham Knights), Gedde Watanabe (Sixteen Candles, Parental Guidance), Tamlyn Tomita (The Karate Kid Part II, Cobra Kai, Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender), Keone Young (Men in Black 3, Star Wars Rebels), and Julia Harriman. The teaser trailer finds the new Ultraman, Ken Sato, coming to terms with his new responsibilities — both as a superhero and a surrogate father. The film itself is slated to debut sometime next year.
Check out the teaser trailer for Ultraman: Rising below:
What is Ultraman: Rising about?
Shannon Tindle and John Aoshima direct Ultraman: Rising from a script Tindle co-wrote with Marc Haimes. The film’s official synopsis reads as follows: “When baseball superstar Ken Sato returns home to Japan to pick up the mantle of Earth-defending superhero Ultraman, he quickly finds more than he bargained for as he’s forced to raise the offspring of his greatest foe.”
Ultraman is an incredibly popular Japanese superhero who has gone through numerous iterations across various mediums since his debut in the 1960s. Tindle began developing Ultraman: Rising back in 2001. However, it wasn’t always going to be an Ultraman movie. Tindle initially conceived the project as a wholly original film simply inspired by the Ultraman mythos. He sold the movie to an unnamed studio in 2015, though that version ultimately went unproduced.
Once Netflix got involved in the project, it floated the idea of actually acquiring the Ultraman license. The streaming giant flew Tindle out to Tokyo, where he pitched his movie to Tsuburaya — which owns the Ultraman IP. The company loved the pitch and gave Tindle and Netflix the green light. Netflix officially announced Ultraman: Rising in 2021.
Ultraman: Rising premieres on Netflix in 2024.
