For the first time in decades, Gundam is starting completely from scratch. At San Diego Comic-Con, Bandai Namco Filmworks unveiled Mobile Suit Gundam RG XARX-ZERO — a 2027 anime set in a brand-new timeline, with one of anime's most respected directors in charge.
The announcement
Kenji Kamiyama — the mind behind Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Eden of the East, and the Star Wars: Visions short "The Ninth Jedi", who most recently directed The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim — will direct and handle series composition. Sola Animation produces, and science fiction author Toh EnJoe is collaborating on the worldbuilding. The setting belongs to neither the Universal Century nor the Common Era, the two timelines that have anchored the franchise for decades.
Kamiyama admitted the brief initially left him wrestling with questions — until, as he put it in the announcement reported by Anime News Network in July 2026:
"a fresh and unexpected Gundam began to take shape."
The RG Project, in brief
RG XARX-ZERO anchors a wider multimedia initiative called the RG Project:
- The anime — Mobile Suit Gundam RG XARX-ZERO, launching in 2027 at Sola Animation.
- The game — Gundam Rogue Orbit, a high-mobility action title unveiled at Summer Game Fest on 5 June, coming to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Steam in 2027 — set some 90 years after the anime's events.
- The setting — humanity ventures beyond the solar system, unlocks a golden age of technology, then an unstoppable interstellar force dubbed the Apocalypse renders Earth uninhabitable, leaving survivors on the Moon and off-world colonies.
- The pilot — Takeo Ōtsuka voices Ray Azumi, a war orphan and the permanently assigned pilot of the Gundam Zero.
Why this is a big deal
Gundam rarely hands its keys to an outside auteur, and rarer still does it wipe the slate entirely. Kamiyama built his reputation on grounded, politically minded science fiction — exactly the register the franchise's best entries work in. A shared universe designed from day one to span anime, games, and more is also a first for the brand at this scale.
No premiere month, episode count, or broadcast details yet — 2027 is the whole timetable so far.
For the record: Bandai says the title is officially pronounced "Alex Zero", per Complex's July 2026 coverage. Nobody is going to get that right on the first try.