Exclusive: Michael B. Jordan Opens Up About His New Animated Seriesgen:LOCK

Rooster Teeth ’s new animated series gen : LOCK from Gray Haddock is a nigh - future sci - fi phantasy set in a world wherewar is waged with hulking , humanoid mechasoperated by hotshot pilots . The gum anime which urge gen : LOCK are save all over the show , and its hero , Julian Chase ( Michael B. Jordan ) immediately reads as exactly the kind of character you ’d wait to be guide up the scrap to redeem mankind .

But when I spoke with Jordan recently , he was inexorable that Chase is n’t your archetypical gum anime hero because gen : LOCK is n’t your traditional anime . It ’s very much a Western product and , agree to Jordan , he ’s the sort of eccentric who perfectly embodies how the series wants to compensate homage to the genre that made its existence possible , while also being something alone .

interpret on for our interview with Jordan , plus watch the first ten - minutes of gen : LOCK exclusively here on io9 ahead of the serial publication premier on January 26 .

io9 : Where do you have to take yourself , mentally , to put yourself into Julian Chase ’s shoes and take him to life history ?

MBJ : I do n’t have to go fairly far . To me , Julian ’s a very altruistic person who want to do the right thing and would sacrifice himself for protect the world and the hoi polloi he loves . He ’s your traditional hero , but at the same time I wanted to make him feel real , and so I spend a lot of clock time judge to figure out how someone like him with all this weightiness and pressure level on him would react naturally to the thing happening in his life — dependable and bad .

io9 : You ’ve done some voiceover work in the yesteryear , but what was it about gen : LOCK that drew you to the projection aside fromyour love of animation ?

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

MBJ : Well yeah , you never have to concern about over - work or delivering these unhinged performances with your face being all lie with up , and they ’ve got you looking half-baked . With this , I really had to let go and let Julian out , and it terminate up being a really refreshing experience , frankly .

io9 : Do you recall with gen : LOCK being animated , you ’re able-bodied to bring something to your carrying into action as Julian we would n’t inevitably see from the kinds of hot - activity characters you toy ?

MBJ : Ha . In a nutshell , you get some charm and personal appeal every once in a while , but you get less angriness , I recollect . There ’s style less seriousness when it amount to Julian . He ’s looser than a lot of the eccentric I tend to bring , so to speak , and so he ’s always trying to make light of the place rather of palpate sorry for himself , and that ’s one of the thing that makes him so playfulness to act as .

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io9 : What are some of the more traditional anime theme that are really being focus on in gen : LOCK and how is the series take on them in a way that sets it apart from other mech dramas ?

MBJ : Because this is n’t your traditional gum anime show , Julian is n’t like a Goku or a Naruto who ’s just going to try on his best to perforate his way out of problem . gen : LOCK ’s a lot more in the spirit of a Top Gun — the heroes are all fighter pilot that have a slight act of moxy to them , but they ’re military soldier , and you could see that reflected in their personalities . They ’ve got a different way about handle business about them .

io9 : We ’re about 50 or 60 age into mecha anime ’s being as a genre — what do you call up it is about these level in particular that ’s kept them appealing to audience after all this clock time ?

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MBJ : It ’s that classic story about two sides fighting for what they think in . narrative about oppress people rebelling against their tormentors speak to mass because we ’ve all treat with that at some power point in our life-time . We like seeing these fib tell over and over again because you’re able to always taste to see things from opposing characters ’ perspectives and come out sympathize with them , and so we just desire to keep trying I think , to see all of those various perspectives .

io9 : And for you , in person , what is it about something like Naruto and Dragon Ball that ’s keep you issue forth back to it after all these year ?

MBJ : When you get down to it , it ’s really about having that childhood connection to it , you recognise ? That ’s really it . You arise up touch Naruto and then getting to get it on him and the world he subsist in and you just kind of get lost in the narrative of it all . All of those second that are about the power of friendship and the grandness of sticking to your word — that stuff and nonsense sticks with you because they ’re messages you carry with you as you become an adult and realize that they ’re the kinds of thing you want to see in the earth .

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