Sentinel 6, an Afro-futurist sci-fi adventure anime, is in development with NBA and NFL Pros Michael Carter-Williams and Jamaal Williams, respectively, boarding as executive producers.

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Created in 2019 by Jamaican-American writer Pat Stout and the late Bronx native Asa Palmer through their production company Sable Kudzu, Sentinel 6 is set in the year 2429, around 400 years after a near extinction-level event on Earth known as the Great Phoenix War.

Sparked by xenophobic tensions and fears around sentinels — humans and other intergalactic beings imbued with powers in order to defend their planet — the violence leaves a now post-apocalyptic, class-stratified Earth vulnerable to those eager for power and revenge. That includes an intergalactic terrorist who, upon activating that power, unintentionally awakens the Sentinel Six — three young men and three young women who act as various parts and defenders — including the mind, heart, sword and shield — of a shared sentinel power.

A mix of Afro-Futurism, TV-MA new adult, and sci-fi action-adventure, the series will be comprised of 11 to 12 thirty-minute episodes. LeSean Thomas (Bass x Machina, Yasuke, The Boondocks) wrote the pilot and serves as a consulting producer on the project, with both Carter-Williams and Williams serving as executive producers, alongside independent talent manager Sam Goff, who also reps Stout via Animated Perspectives. Carter-Williams and Williams have also invested in the indie series, which, in 2024, ran a successful Kickstarter campaign raising nearly $20,000 that was used to create a trailer produced by the Bulgarian and German Chase A Cloud Studio.

In late 2025, after Palmer died unexpectedly earlier in the year, ESPN Analyst, NBA Rookie of the Year, and former 76er and Chicago Bulls player Carter-Williams, as well as veteran NFL running back and former Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints player Williams, fully funded the pilot. This year, the project was taken out to two dozen animation production studios, with Creative Freaks winning the bid.

According to Stout, he and Palmer “wanted to create a world that our audience could feel really connected to, like it represents them in some way, but still was escapist.” But the concept was, in part, sparked by the underrepresentation of Black characters and stories in the medium for its creators, whose Western influences include Static Shock, Samurai Jack and Batman Beyond. “When Asa and I grew up, Black people watching anime wasn’t cool, or we were constantly reminded about how you can’t be this character because they don’t look like you,” Stout told The Hollywood Reporter. “Around 2020, the Blerd community boomed. The Black community can be a torchbearer of coolness, but there were all these people who we knew loved anime and we’re still not represented.”

“I’m excited to be part of Sentinel 6 because I believe in the power of seeing yourself in the stories you watch. Black fans have been part of the anime community for a long time, and there’s room for more stories that put us at the center — as heroes with depth, complexity, and experiences we can connect with,” said Carter-Williams. “What excites me is the opportunity to build something that reflects our culture while creating a world anyone can get invested in. I want Black kids to see these characters and feel that they belong in these worlds, too. With Sentinel 6, we have an opportunity to bring a fresh perspective to the medium and create something that inspires so many people.”

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Added Williams: “It’s been one of my dreams growing up as a nerd who watched Naruto. It really is something that’s going to connect to a lot of people of color, especially Black people — to be able to show a different side of anime and be full of characters. We really don’t have a lot of people that we can connect to in anime and [the] animation world. Now that people like me — other athletes and people who have a higher profile — are showing their love for nerd stuff, we’re finding more and more people that love Black characters, anime and animation. I’m so grateful to be part of the Sentinel 6 team and to keep pushing out more Black excellence.”

According to the project’s team, the series will be one of the first known anime produced by a Japanese studio in the English-language first, with Burbank-based voice-over studio Bang Zoom! set to lead the reverse localization into Japanese. Creative Freaks, an international animation and background art studio founded in July 2014 and headquartered in Kyoto, Japan, is leading production.

“We were deeply drawn to the passion of the creators and the unique world they have created. We felt strongly that this was a project that deserved to reach a wider audience, and we were excited to accept the opportunity to be involved,” said a spokesperson for Creative Freaks. “This project also deeply resonates with our own belief in the power of animation to move people’s hearts. We will put our hearts into the production and do our very best to bring out the full potential of what can be expressed through animation, so that this work can be enjoyed by as many people as possible.”

“Pat and Asa’s vision for Sentinel 6… feels fresh and unexpected, with a distinct visual identity and characters that we are excited to help bring to life,” Boom Studios said in its own statement. “[Pat’s] passion is truly infectious, and he has a clear vision for the story he wants to tell and the ideas he wants to explore through this project. We are looking forward to bringing our experience in VO production to Sentinel 6 and helping find the voices that will give these characters their personality, energy, and humanity. It’s also incredibly meaningful for us to be working alongside a Black creative team, and we’re proud to play a part in bringing this story to life.”

The current cast includes influencer King Vader (Dominique Barrett), who has amassed over 6 million followers across platforms, EP Jamaal Williams, and veteran animation and anime dub voice talent Cedric Williams (Demon Slayer franchise, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, My Dad the Bounty Hunter).

Sentinel 6 comes amid an expanding creator market around anime, which was showcased as part of Crunchyroll’s Anime Future Forum this week through panels l. Athletes are also increasingly openly expressing their love for anime, with Olympic figure skater Amber Glenn appearing at the inaugural Crunchyroll industry Wednesday — a year after the company previously collaborated with fellow Olympian, track and field star Noah Lyles, on an Adidas-powered capsule collection. The MLB has also partnered with franchises like Demon Slayer, creating a short film to celebrate the Tokyo Series. Individual L.A. teams like the MLB’s Dodgers and the NBA’s Lakers have both hosted One Piece nights while the San Diego Chargers announced their season schedule in anime-style videos.

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