The Michael B. Jordan-starring animated series “Gen:Lock” has increased representation and inclusion in its writers room for the show’s upcoming second season, producers Rooster Teeth and Outlier Society have announced.
Daniel Dominguez, Maasai Singleton, Evan Narcisse, Kristle Peluso and Gavin Hignight make up the writers room for the second season of the series, which will premiere on HBO Max. The animated series takes place 50 years in the future amid an oppressive authoritarian regime that threatens to conquer the world; Jordan voices the series’ lead character Julian Chase and also serves as an executive producer.
“When I was a teenager I fell in love with anime because my imagination was always strange and hyperbolic, the way cartoons are,” said Dominguez, who serves as head writer on the new season, said in a statement. “I could not be more honored, and excited to have been given this opportunity to work with Rooster Teeth because they embrace that same spirit of expanding the boundaries of storytelling that is doing its small part to make the world a better and more empathetic place.”
The writers collectively increase the show’s behind the scenes representation across Black, Latinx, and LGBTQIA+ communities.
“Inclusivity and amplifying Black and Brown stories has always been at the forefront of Outlier Society and our productions,” Jordan said. “I am proud to work alongside HBO Max and Rooster Teeth to #ChangeHollywood and ensure our writers room for ‘Gen:Lock’ is a reflection of the world we live in.”
#ChangeHollywood is the latest initiative launched by Jordan’s Outlier Society to help promote inclusivity in the industry. Jordan founded the production company in 2016, which has gone on to become one of the first to publicly adopt an inclusion rider. Alongside Jordan, “Gen:Lock” is executive produced by Alana Mayo of Outlier Society, along with Rooster Teeth’s Matt Hullum and Ryan P. Hall. The series is produced by Rooster Teeth.
The “Gen: Lock” writing team will be featured on a “Meet the Writers of Gen:Lock Season 2” panel at Rooster Teeth’s RTX at Home virtual event, with its Animation Festival programming sponsored by HBO Max. The panel will stream live Sept. 21 at 2 p.m. ET.
Dakota Fanning, Maisie Williams, Golshifteh Farahani, and David Tennant are all set to return for the series’ second season, which is currently in production.
Read a synopsis of “Gen:Lock” Season 2 below:
On a dying Earth in the midst of a now unstoppable climate collapse, two utterly distinct visions for the future of the human race have come to dominate: The Polity and the Union. The future of humanity, if it is to have one, rests in some form of mechanization or digitization. On opposing sides of this fundamental debate, the Polity and the Union remained locked in a brutal and unforgiving war…
A war the Polity is losing, despite the heroic efforts of their greatest soldiers, the Gen:Lock team – Chase, Cammie, Yaz, Kazu and Val, who continue to upload their minds to their Holon units and fight for their vision of a better future on the front lines.
As we meet the figurehead of the Union — Brother Tate — and the citizens for whom he spills Polity blood, the nature of the conflict between the two sides will be seen in a whole new light. A light that, for Chase, will test his loyalty to the Polity… as he digs deeper into the nature of the war and realizes nothing he thought is what it seems…