The sequel to Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway may not be released until 2024.
As reported by Mantan Web and translated by Crunchyroll, fans of the Universal Century might have to a few years to see the sequel to the latest Gundam movie. During a press event held to celebrate the release of Hathaway's first part on Blu-ray, Naoto Ogata, a producer from animation studio Sunrise, delivered some bad news about the sequel's premiere date. When asked when fans could expect Part 2, Ogata said, "The next Olympics... It may not even be around Paris," referring to the 2024 Paris Olympics. Ogata then added, "But it will be completed before the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. That's for sure."
According to Ogata, the next chapter of the planned Hathaway trilogy is set primarily in Australia. The team behind the movies wants to visit the continent to collect reference photographs and other resource materials, but the on-going COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on international travel have made that process difficult. Ogata joked, "Now the director is using a flight simulator to fly over Australia."
In September, Ogata revealed that the second movie in the series is tentatively carrying the subtitle "Son of Bright," a reference to the series' main character, Hathaway Noa, who is the son of Bright Noa, one of the heroes of the original 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam anime. Ogata also revealed that the sequel will feature the on-screen return of Bright, who will once again be voiced by Inuyasha's Ken Narita. Narita portrayed the character in 2010's Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, after Bright's original voice actor, Hirotaka Suzuoki, passed away in 2006.
Ogata has also said that the sequel movie will also diverge from its original source material, a 1989 novel entitled Hathaway's Flash, which was written by series creator Yoshiyuki Tomino. Hathaway's Flash deals directly with the aftermath of the beloved 1988 movie Char's Counterattack, including how the events of that movie affected the young Hathaway Noa. Still dealing with his trauma from Char and Amuro's final battle, Hathaway joins the terrorist organization MAFTY, where he rebels against the Earth Federation government that his father helped to save during the Zeonic wars.
Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway was released in Japan earlier this summer to the strongest box office performance of any Gundam movie since Char's Counterattack. The movie was released internationally on Netflix just three weeks after it premiered in Japanese theaters.
Source: Mantan Web, via Crunchyroll
