Netflix shows are notorious for taking a while to make it from development to streaming screens across the globe, and it’s only getting worse. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the average wait between streaming show seasons was 10 months in 2016. A decade later, that’s doubled to 21 months. But for certain shows, 21 months is just the start. There were four years between Black Mirror Season 5 and Season 6, and three years between Stranger Things Season 3 and Season 4 and Seasons 4 and 5.
Unfortunately, the shows with long gaps are often the ones fans look forward to the most, like animated series Blue Eye Samurai. The gorgeously crafted historical epic introduced audiences to onna-musha Mizu back in 2023, and even though it was renewed for a Season 2 not long after, we won’t see it until January 2027. At least we have a trailer for the new series, which you can check out below.
In the trailer for Blue Eye Samurai Season 2, Mizu (Maya Erskine) leaves her home of Japan to head to London in order to get revenge on her enemies. But since this is 17th century, that travel isn’t easy, and much of this trailer actually focuses on the long and stormy ship ride to get there in the first place.
Netflix released this trailer and the January 2027 release date at Anime NYC, but that wasn’t the only big announcement: the streamer also announced a third and final season of the series. It may be bittersweet, but there is one irrefutable silver lining to this development: Season 3 is currently scheduled to premiere in 2028, so we won’t see another multi-year wait in between seasons.
Blue Eye Samurai may be coming to an end in a few years, but a renewal for Season 3 before Season 2 has even premiered shows the faith Netflix has in the series. That makes sense — Season 1 won four different Creative Arts Emmys back in 2023, including the coveted trophy for Outstanding Animated Program.
But if this series is so popular both with audiences and awards voters, then why bring it to an end? The answer isn’t Netflix being stingy with its resources. In fact, this was the showrunners’ plan, even if it wasn’t the plan from the beginning. “Currently, we’re planning for three seasons. We have a second season pick-up, one hopes the third season will exist because we certainly have plans for it,” co-creator Michael Green told Collider back in 2024. “We’re imagining three right now. I think we said four once in an interview, possibly with Collider, and it suddenly became 'the lore!' Things you say when you’re not used to being interviewed.”
So while Blue Eye Samurai may be coming to an end, fans should take comfort in the fact that they will, eventually, see the full story the creators set out to tell — and that’s something that’s increasingly rare for Netflix series.
