Games Workshop just released an official teaser trailer for Astartes II and the 40k fans are hyped! And they should be—this announcement is a huge win for fans of the series.
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The creator of the original Astartes fan animation, Syama Pedersen (now known on YouTube as Digital Bones) has been working with GW’s animation team to create Astartes II. The series will air on Warhammer+, the official Warhammer streaming site, in 2026.
“We know, it’s still a little way off,” GW said in its website announcement, “but it’ll be worth it.”
Tyrith Shiva Kyrus in The Tithes Episode 2 (2024), Games Workshop
To be honest, though, many fans weren’t sure it would happen at all. Games Workshop has repeatedly made bad decisions regarding their IPs, the most recent and notable being the lore-breaking female Adeptus Custodes. Their poor choices can also be found in tabletop codices as well as their own animations.
Games Workshop Cracks Down on Fan Animations
In the past, Games Workshop has notoriously taken down fan-made animations from YouTube, supposedly for copyright and trademark restrictions. Warhammer fans, however, have speculated that GW was actually trying to eliminate competition and round up fan animators beneath its banner.
The fan animations were usually much better than what GW produced, and it’s more than likely they were aware of this fact.
A screenshot of the Dark Angels Bulwark cosmetic for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (2024), Saber Interactive
The best example would be the hilarious fan series “If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device” by Bruva Alfabusa.
The silly antics of the characters and easy-to-understand lore explanations made the series a go-to for many 40k fans. The animations received millions of views and is still rewatched to this day. However, Alfabusa must have seen the writing on the wall, because his series’ popularity put him on GW’s radar.
A screenshot of a Hierophant Bio-Titan Tyranid in Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (2024), Saber Interactive
In the end, he was forced to quit the series before the story officially ended, for fear of GW’s legal wrath.
Many Astartes fans believed the same had happened to Syama, though in truth he appears to have made a deal with the Warhammer team.
The Warhammer Website’s Statement Tries Appealing to the Fans
GW’s official statement on the Warhammer Community website gives fans a quick rundown of what to look forward to:
“The Warhammer Studio and the creator of the original Astartes animation, Syama, have been working closely together, blending his incredible flair for action and storytelling with decades of Warhammer 40,000 lore to unleash a compellingly grimdark story.”
As for the trailer itself, they had this to say:
“This teaser trailer is not actually clips from the new animation, instead showing a compilation of shots that represent the former lives of the characters that will appear in the show. There’s a pretty unsubtle hint at the end as to the nature of the final story… We’ll leave you to speculate and start putting the pieces together yourselves.”
From this, it would seem that Games Workshop and the Warhammer Team are trying to win back the consumers’ favor. Including the fact that they’ve been working with Syama and haven’t just outright stolen his work is a good sign. However, there’s no telling how much of the story will still be his by the time it releases.
Key art for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (2024), Saber Interactive
As usual, the fans should hope for the best and expect the worst.
But, at least for now, the Emperor still protects.
Are you hyped for Astartes II? Sound off in the comments!
The big problem is that Games Workshop has fallen to the Slaanesh Heresy.
Some, yes. Not all. I still read new books that are very based. With the number of writers working for them, you have a generous choice. For the moment, Guy Haley is my favourite and believe me, in all 5 or 6 recent books he wrote there is nothing woke in them. Pity that some of the series he started are then butchered by the likes of Nick Kyme, very much the opposite of the spectrum.
The point is: it is a vast web of writers that work for GW / BL and many are well worth reading and not corrupted by this crap at all. At least for now.
People forget that Games Workshop is still involved, and they are Woke.
A few days before Space Marine 2 came out, a “nonbinary” figurine was released of a new Character.
This series will either be Woke from the start, or a Rug Pull soon after…….
Only those who don’t know the history of Astartes cheer for this. Games Workshop took down the original Astartes series and then released them on Warhammer+, but they ruined Pedersen’s creation. Then he left the company (likely due to the incompetent management). This trailer is just a commercial for what he’s worked on while over there.
It is a bit simplistic to react “GW woke now” and all that jazz. Leaving aside for the moment the whole femstodes farce, the thing is, there are 40k authors like Mike Brooks and Nick Kyme (who is also Black Library editor) who are 100% woke and to be avoided, while there also are numerous skilled writers that have nothing to do with that crap (at least not yet). With the scale of 40k (500+ books AFAIK) and its publishing arm, you can easily go with authors that are very based and have nothing to do with the woke corruption.
But to get back on topic: Astartes is by far the biggest and best 40k animation ever made. Without having too much experience with other IPs, I have not seen anything anywhere even close to approaching its level. It is beyond insane that such a thing was created by 1 guy. And I am talking about everything from modelling, animation, lighting, sound design, music – the whole lot. What this guy created in his free time is simply mindboggling.
GW has a long history of trying to shut down artists that are more skilled than theirs or that compete with their streaming platform. They recruited the Astartes creator for this follow-up and it was the best choice they could have made. Now the question is does he get a complete creative freedom or does GW interfere? From what I understand, this is his (Syama’s) show and GW are wary of shooting the golden goose. So there is hope, as long as Syama is in full control.