Ray Gunn : Brad Bird's Netflix animation epic revealed
Thirty years. That's how long Brad Bird's passion project has been circling Hollywood before finally landing somewhere. Ray Gunn, the sci-fi noir animated feature that Bird first scripted with Matthew Robbins back in 1996, is now officially heading to Netflix in late 2026. Fresh concept art dropped this week alongside a studio confirmation, and the project is set to feature at Annecy 2026 — one of the most prestigious animation festivals in the world. For those of us who track where films land on streaming platforms, this one has been on our radar for a while.
From a 1939 alternate future : what Ray Gunn is actually about
The premise alone is enough to make any animation fan pay attention. Set in Metropia, a colossal city imagined as an alternate future filtered through a 1939 lens, the film follows Raymond Gunn, a hardboiled private investigator pulled into a murder case involving aliens and a multimedia celebrity named Venus Nova. Humans and extraterrestrials share this sprawling retro-futuristic metropolis — not always comfortably.
Bird himself described it bluntly : "It's Maltese Falcon meets Buck Rogers." He's been drawn to both genres for decades, and blending them gave him room to push cinematic extremes — heightened characters, a noir atmosphere soaked in shadow, and world-building that feels genuinely original. The official synopsis teases a conspiracy at the center of the city's entertainment scene, with Gunn navigating a maze of lies surrounding Venus Nova's fame.
What makes the project tonally distinct is its commitment to a slightly more mature register than typical animation fare. This wasn't a story studios were rushing to greenlight. For years, Bird envisioned it as a 2D hand-drawn feature — a format he fiercely believes in — but backers were hard to find for something this ambitious in scope.
Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Waits : a voice cast that means business
The casting news had already quietly leaked from a test screening in late 2025, though it didn't get wide coverage at the time. NerdSpin was among the first to report it and even received confirmation from one of the project's animators. Netflix has now made it official.
| Actor | Character | Known for |
|---|---|---|
| Sam Rockwell | Raymond Gunn | Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Argylle |
| Scarlett Johansson | Venus Nova | Her, Black Widow |
| Tom Waits | Undisclosed role | The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Seven Psychopaths |
Johansson was candid about her enthusiasm : "Having the opportunity to collaborate with Brad Bird is a career milestone for me. This project is so uniquely special because it is a total realization of where Brad is currently on his artistic journey." That's not the kind of quote actors give lightly. Tom Waits bringing his signature gravel-and-smoke voice to a neo-noir animated world feels almost too fitting to be accidental. More cast announcements are expected before the film's release.
For those keeping an eye on new anime on Netflix in May 2026, this animated feature operates in a different register — live-action-adjacent in tone, CG in execution — but it signals how seriously Netflix is investing in premium animation this year.
The powerhouse team and the turbulent road to production
The creative roster behind Ray Gunn reads like a who's who of animation royalty. Brad Bird, a two-time Academy Award winner (The Incredibles, Ratatouille), directs and co-wrote the script with Matthew Robbins. The score comes from Michael Giacchino, who won the Oscar for Up and has collaborated with Bird before on The Incredibles. Costume design falls to Neysa Bove, whose credits include Moana and Encanto.
The production side is equally stacked :
- John Lasseter produces alongside Bird, Lisa Beroud, David Ellison, and Dana Goldberg for Skydance Animation
- Hannah Minghella, Alex Schwartz, and Karen Rupert Toliver are also among the producers
- Visual effects supervision involves Adel Abada, James Rothwell, Joshua Herrig, and Julia Spurek
- Additional directing credit goes to Yarrow Cheney (The Secret Life of Pets)
- Cinesite has been cited as contributing to the feature's technical pipeline
The budget reportedly exceeds $150 million — significant even by major studio standards. The film started life at Turner Animation back in the late 1990s, was later set up at Apple TV+, then transitioned to Netflix after Skydance Animation signed a multi-year overall deal with the streamer. That same partnership previously produced Spellbound (2024) and Swapped (2026). Ray Gunn is the third title from this arrangement, and clearly the most ambitious.
Bird has been direct about his broader goal with this film : "There's a big chunk of people who don't watch animation. That's a group I'm anxious to persuade because it's an amazing art form that is way too limited in people's minds." That's a filmmaker pushing against the ceiling of a medium, not just working within it.
What to expect from Ray Gunn's Netflix debut — and beyond
No specific release date has been locked in yet, but Netflix has confirmed a late 2026 window. The Annecy Festival showcase in June 2026 will likely be the first major public outing for the film, and given the caliber of the production, a wider festival circuit before the Netflix premiere seems plausible.
Awards conversation has already started. With Bird's track record, Giacchino's score, and a voice cast that includes two Oscar winners, this is the kind of animated feature that doesn't stay quietly on a platform — it generates noise. Whether Netflix positions it as an awards contender in the animation or broader film categories will be worth watching as the release approaches.
We'll keep tracking Ray Gunn's availability and release updates as new information surfaces — that's exactly what we do here, and this one is shaping up to be one of the most significant animation events of the year.