In This Week in Animation News I’ll take a look at the previous week in the world of animation in order to get you caught up on everything you might have missed. It’s your one-stop shop for news regarding cartoons, anime, and animated web series. We’re talking movies, TV shows, digital shorts, and everything in between!

It was another busy week in the world of Animation News! As the headline promised, Disney XD's Star Wars Rebels will be back for Season 4 this fall, and we've got a new clip from tonight's episode to celebrate that fact. In other renewal news, Nickelodeon is rebooting its existing computer-generated series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a 2D, traditionally animated series in 2018 and Disney XD has greenlit Season 2 of DuckTales ahead of the rebooted series' summer premiere.

Elsewhere, fans of the Tokyo Ghoul manga and anime series recently got some confusing news about future releases from Viz Media that we'll attempt to clarify. In more clear-cut news, FXX's Archer: Dreamland debuted a new poster; Oscar-winner J.K. Simmons takes a trip under the sea for SpongeBob SquarePants; details and artwork for Marvel Future Avengers anime debuts; DreamWorks Animation's Trolls 2 gets a release date; and Spark: A Space Tail gets a new trailer.

For the latest animation stories we’ve already covered on the site this week, take a look at the following links. Then, check out a selection of new stories below. Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments!

• ‘The Legend of Zelda’: Why It’s Time for a New Animated Series
• ‘Cars 3’: New Trailer Reveals the Upstart Race Cars Gunning for the Cup
• Oscar Winners 2017: ‘Moonlight’ Takes Best Picture; ‘La La Land’ Tops with 6 Wins Total

'Star Wars Rebels' Clip Reveals Mon Mothma

In this clip from the Star Wars Rebels episode "Secret Cargo," Mon Mothma seeks the Ghost crew's help in attending a meeting that could change the galaxy's struggle against the Empire.

 

Watch Star Wars Rebels every Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on Disney XD.

Disney XD also announced the Season 4 order for Star Wars Rebels through the following press release:

Production is underway on the fourth season of the acclaimed animated series "Star Wars Rebels" from Lucasfilm. The fourth season is scheduled to premiere on Disney XD later this year continuing the thrilling and inspiring galactic adventures of the Ghost crew.

 

Marc Buhaj, senior vice president, Programming and general manager, Disney XD, said, "The team behind 'Star Wars Rebels' delivers epic storytelling that has captivated fans of all ages across the globe. We're excited to continue sharing the journey of these fan-favorite Rebels with our audience in the fall."

 

Currently in its powerful third season, "Star Wars Rebels" continues to drive the Star Wars saga into new, unexplored realms of the galaxy and promises new surprises and action-packed adventures. Fans can look forward to more details and an announcement about the exciting fourth season of "Star Wars Rebels" during Star Wars Celebration in Orlando this April!

 

"Star Wars Rebels" is created by Dave Filoni ("Star Wars: The Clone Wars"), Simon Kinberg ("X-Men: Days of Future Past") and Carrie Beck. The Lucasfilm Animation production is executive produced by Filoni and Kinberg.

 

The Season Three voice cast includes Freddie Prinze Jr. as Kanan, Vanessa Marshall as Hera, Steve Blum as Zeb, Tiya Sircar as Sabine, Taylor Gray as Ezra, Dee Bradley Baker as Captain Rex, David Oyelowo as Agent Kallus, Forest Whitaker as Saw Gerrera, Sam Witwer as Maul, Tom Baker as Bendu and Lars Mikkelsen as Grand Admiral Thrawn.

 

In 2016, "Star Wars Rebels" was Disney XD's #1 series in Total Viewers and its #1 animated series across key kid and boy demographics, and generated more than 60 million consumer engagements across digital platforms.

Don't Expect 'Tokyo Ghoul' Season 3 Anytime Soon

In the last week, fans of the manga/anime series Tokyo Ghoul were treated to a bit of a news cycle whiplash. Luckily the Comicbook.com folks clarified things a bit. For the uninitiated, Tokyo Ghoul is a dark fantasy manga created by Sui Ishida that ran from 2011 to 2014; a sequel series picked up from there. An anime series, produced by Pierrot, ran for two seasons from 2014 to 2015, and a live-action movie has been announced.

Its story takes place in an alternate reality where human flesh-eating ghouls live in secret alongside normal folks. These aren't just any ghouls, but "super" ghouls who have heightened abilities and unique biological weapons. Tokyo Ghoul follows college student Ken Kaneki who survives an attack by a ghoul to find that he's become a half-ghoul himself. While the original run sees Kaneki acclimating to his new nature, the sequel finds him joining a team of federal investigators who deal with ghoul-related crimes.

Here's where the confusion came in: A sales director for Viz Media, who has the North American rights to the manga (Funimation has the anime rights), was misheard or misquoted as saying a third season of Tokyo Ghoul was on the way. (My Hero Academia was the series in question that's getting a new season next month.) However, Viz Media did secure the manga rights for the sequel series, which releases this fall, so perhaps the inevitable anime adaptation won't be too long in coming.

New 'Archer: Dreamland' Poster Is Noir-rific

Here’s the official synopsis for Archer: Dreamland, featuring the voice talents of H. Jon Benjamin, Judy Greer, Amber Nash, Chris Parnell, Aisha Tyler, Lucky Yates, and Jessica Walter:

Archer is an animated, half-hour comedy that revolves around the hardboiled private eye Sterling Archer and his quest to find his partner’s killer in 1947 Los Angeles. The case proves to be more difficult than expected after Archer quickly gets mixed up in a deadly game of tug of war between Los Angeles’ most powerful crime bosses. Every clue leads Archer further away from his goal and deeper into a mystery involving kidnapping, prostitution and drug addiction.

New 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' Toon Leads Nickelodeon's Upcoming Slate

Here's a look at some of the programming coming to the kid-friendly network:

• Amusement Park – Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures are moving forward together on a slate of films that will bring new and established properties to audiences, a strategy that will allow for the two Viacom divisions to work together on IP that can journey from the big screen to TV and beyond. The first project is the animated Amusement Park theatrical release, directed by Dylan Brown and in theaters July 2018. Nickelodeon will produce a TV series based on the movie for the following year.

• The Adventures of Kid Danger and Captain Man (working title, 10 episodes) – An animated series based on TV’s number-one kids’ show, the live-action Henry Danger. Created and executive produced by hitmaker Dan Schneider (Henry Danger, Game Shakers, iCarly), the series follows the heroic Kid Danger and Captain Man as they face new adventures–battling criminals and super villains with their sharp wit and amazing crime-fighting skills.

• 

  Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (working title, 26 episodes) – Nickelodeon will reimagine its iconic, global franchise Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with an all-new 2D-animated series. Launching fall 2018, the new show follows the band of brothers as they encounter new allies and villains and discover a magical world they never knew existed beneath the streets of New York City.

• Bunsen Is a Beast (20 episodes) –This just-launched original animated comedy, which premiered to 1.6 million total viewers, follows the adventures of Bunsen, the first beast to attend a human middle school, and his best friend Mikey. The series is created and executive produced by animation veteran Butch Hartman (The Fairly OddParents).

• Pinky Malinky (20 episodes) – A mockumentary-style series, Pinky Malinky follows the everyday life of an infectiously positive hot dog living in a human world. Pinky’s experiences will also be shared across social media and Nick’s digital platforms.

• Welcome to the Wayne (20 episodes) – Marking Nick’s first digital short-form content to be greenlit for television, the series follows the comedic adventures of three kids who live in a strange and fantastical apartment building, the Wayne in New York City, where nothing is what it seems.

• Kuu Kuu Harajuku (26 episodes) – Nickelodeon has picked up a second season of this animated series co-created and executive produced by Gwen Stefani. The new season will continue to follow the kuu kuu adventures of the band HJ5–Love, Angel, Music, Baby and G–through their super-cute world of music, fashion and style.

Oscar-Winner J.K. Simmons to Guest Star on 'SpongeBob SquarePants'

Oscar®-winner J.K. Simmons (Whiplash) makes his Bikini Bottom debut during a brand-new episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, “Snooze You Lose,” premiering Saturday, March 4, at 10:00 a.m. (ET/PT).  Simmons voices Maestro Mackerel, the middle-aged and impatient conductor of the Bikini Bottom Philharmonic. Beautiful music sends him into ecstasy, but bad playing is physically painful to him and he shows his displeasure by tying instruments into knots (usually around the unfortunate musician’s head).

In the episode, “Snooze You Lose,” Squidward is so tired that SpongeBob and Patrick can’t wake him up, but they won’t let him miss his big audition!

Immediately following is a special half-hour episode of Bunsen Is a Beast at 10:30 a.m. (ET/PT), featuring a crossover with longstanding series The Fairly OddParents. Both shows are created and executive produced by Butch Hartman and in “Beast of Friends,” it’s Bunsen and Cosmo’s Friend-iversary, so Bunsen excitedly takes Mikey to meet him in Dimmsdale, while Amanda secretly follows. The group has a great time, until Mr. Crocker and Amanda team up and decide to take them down!

Action-Packed 'DuckTales' Trailer Debuts

DUCKBURG – Disney XD has ordered a second season of the all-new animated comedy series "DuckTales" ahead of its highly anticipated summer premiere. Based on the Emmy Award-winning series treasured by a generation of viewers, the Disney Television Animation-produced series stars David Tennant as Scrooge McDuck; Danny Pudi, Ben Schwartz and Bobby Moynihan as the voices of Huey, Dewey and Louie, respectively; Kate Micucci as Webby Vanderquack; Beck Bennett as Launchpad McQuack and Toks Olagundoye as Mrs. Beakley.

Annie Award-nominee Matt Youngberg ("Ben 10: Omniverse") serves as executive producer of "DuckTales," with Francisco Angones (Disney XD's Emmy Award-nominated "Wander Over Yonder") as story editor and co-producer, and Sean Jimenez (Disney XD's Annie Award-winning "Gravity Falls") as art director.

The announcement was made today by Marc Buhaj, senior vice president, Programming and General Manager, Disney XD. Buhaj said, "Fans around the world are eager and we're looking forward to introducing viewers to the all-new 'DuckTales.' This early season two order is a testament to the quality work the creative team, led by Matt and Frank, and the cast are delivering."

The new family comedy-adventure series will once again take viewers along as Scrooge McDuck, his curious and mischief-making grandnephews Huey, Dewey and Louie, the temperamental Donald Duck and their trusty team, Webby Vanderquack, Launchpad McQuack and Mrs. Beakley, embark on high-flying adventures around the world.

In December, a video of the cast singing a rendition of the original "DuckTales" theme song was the #1 video on YouTube and trended on social media, with over eight million views across YouTube and Facebook to date.

'Marvel Future Avengers' Anime to Debut in Japan

Animate Times (via Anime News Network) brought us news of Marvel's newest Avengers-related animated series: The anime-style Marvel Future Avengers which will debut on the Japanese channel Dlife this summer. Aimed at a young male audience, the story will follow "Makoto, a young boy who gains superpowers due to an evil gene manipulation experiment. Makoto and other youths join the Avengers as apprentices named Future Avengers. The anime will show Makoto and others as they train, fight villains and grow, under Avengers members Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, and Wasp." There's also a manga tie-in on the way from Teruaki Mizuno that will debut in Shogakukan's Bessatsu Coro Coro Comics Special magazine's April issue.

DreamWorks Animation Sets 'Trolls 2' Release Date

First Trailer for 'Spark: A Space Tail'

Jace Norman, Jessica Biel, Susan Sarandon, Patrick Stewart, and Hilary Swank star in Spark: A Space Tail. Look for it in theaters April 14th!

Here's the official synopsis:

SPARK (Jace Norman) is a wisecracking teen living on an abandoned planet with his friends Chunk and Vix. Thirteen years ago the power-hungry General Zhong seized control of their planet Beta, wiping out Spark's family and sending him into hiding. But now they've learned of Zhong's plan to wipe out the entire universe using the deadly space Kraken, and no one but Spark can stop him. An action-packed space odyssey filled with humor and heart, SPARK is an epic adventure about becoming the hero you were born to become.