Samurai Jack Returns to Adult Swim in March 2017

Cult classic cartoon Samurai Jack will return to Adult Swim in March of this year, according to an announcement on the cartoon channel earlier this week. Samurai Jack will premiere on March 11th at 11:30pm ET, for the first of a ten-episode fifth season with legendary voice actor Phil LaMarr (MADtv, Justice League, Static Shock) back as the title character. A TV bump during a commercial break on Adult Swim brought the welcomed news, according to Comicbook.com, when the network responded to one fan's query with the following response: “March 11th, 11:30 p.m. is what’s going on.” Samurai Jack was created by Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter's Laboratory, Hotel Transylvania) and first premiered on Adult Swim back on August 10, 2001 with a TV movie called The Premiere Movie. The show follows the adventures of a samurai lost in a future time and his quest to defeat his arch nemesis, a demon named Aku. The series originally ran for four seasons and 52 episodes, officially ending on September 25, 2004. During its first run the show won four Primetime Emmy Awards, six Annie Awards, and an OIAF award. In the almost 15 years since the the series left the air, it has gained a significant cult following and diehard fans have been clamoring for new episodes and the series' return to Adult Swim. Creator Genndy Tartakovsky will return as executive producer for the new season, and in addition to Phil LaMarr, several other voice actors from the original series will also return. Samurai Jack is set to air during Adult Swim's later 'Toonami' programming block, clearing the way for more intense and gritty storylines during its second run. The fifth season is expected to be somewhat different from what fans of the show have seen before, and will also allow new Jack viewers to start fresh without having to watch past seasons. “When we start, we’re definitely a few years later," Tartakovsky explained in a video interview last summer. "You don’t have to watch episode 52 to start this season. So, what’s changed in Jack’s world is a lot. There’s a lot of drama that’s happened.”