For mecha fans, the promise of a new Code Geass series is ever alluring. But without any major releases since 2019, fans of the series have begun to wonder what’s going to happen in Brittania. Here’s everything you need to know about the next season of Code Geass.
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion was an original anime from Sunrise, the studio behind classics like Cowboy Bebop, Gundam, and Inuyasha. Created by director Gorō Taniguchi and writer Ichirō Ōkouchi, the series is set in the mechanized sci-fi future of an alternative history where the Holy Britannian Empire, an imperial superpower, controls much of the world.
The all-female mangaka collective Clamp (Cardcaptor Sakura) developed the series’ original character designs for Sunrise. The success of the series led to the sequel season Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 in 2008, as well as two spin-off OVAs, Code Geass: Akito the Exiled and Code Geass: Nunnally in Wonderland.
Sunrise then revisited the original series with a compilation trilogy of films released from 2017 to 2018. Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion I – Initiation, II – Transgression, and III – Glorification do more than retread the show, however ⏤ they establish a new continuity (an alternative timeline within this alternative history) that ultimately sets up the 2019 film Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion.
Taniguchi and Ōkouchi returned to create Lelouch of the Rebellion, which follows the aftermath of the Zero Requiem. The most substantial addition to the series since R2, the film was met with much anticipation that has been sustained since movie producer Kōjirō Taniguchi said that Lelouch of the Rebellion was just the beginning of a 10-year plan for new Code Geass projects.
That plan does include a new anime series, but it might not be a third season. In Dec. 2020, Sunrise announced that the next installment in the series would be Code Geass: Z of the Recapture alongside the mobile game Code Geass: Genesic Re;CODE. There were scant plot details or release dates and we haven’t gotten any updates since.
Series creators Taniguchi and Ōkouchi are not returning, either. Rather, Z of the Recapture will be directed by Yoshimitsu Ohash (Witchblade, Sacred Seven), who served as an episode director on the original series. Noboru Kimura (Mobile Suit Gundam AGE, Persona 5 The Animation) is writing the original script while series veteran Takahiro Kimura (GUNxSWORD) will again serve as character designer.
That’s all we know about the third season of Code Geass so far, which may or may not be a serial release and isn’t necessarily a sequel to R2.