Adult Swim 2027 "Banger Year" For Originals; Toonami "Important Part"

Posted in: Adult Swim, TV | Tagged: Adult Swim, Toonami

Adult Swim 2027 "Banger Year" For Originals; Toonami "Important Part"

Adult Swim president Michael Ouweleen had some very promising things to share regarding what the future holds for Adult Swim and "Toonami."

Published Fri, 26 Jun 2026 15:37:09 -0500
by Ray Flook
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As the Annecy International Animation Film Festival readies to wrap up its run for the year, no one can say that the annual global celebration and marketplace for animation disappointed. We're still sorting through all of the previews, announcements, updates, and behind-the-scenes looks. While Adult Swim did more than its fair share of headline-making, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, and Boomerang president Michael Ouweleen is already thinking ahead to 2027 – and beyond. Speaking with Collider, had some promising things to share regarding what the future holds for Adult Swim and "Toonami."

"In media, generally, people have been into reboots. I'm manifesting the conditions to start new things again. At Adult Swim, we're only doing new things. We have signals from the fan base, a research study we did in the last year, and they don't want us to do reboots. They're like, 'Keep going. Keep doing the things," Ouweleen explained, noting the late-night programming block's heavier emphasis on original programming as opposed to reboots or revivals. "2027 is going to be a banger year for Adult Swim originals. Maybe the most number of half-hour originals that we've done in the last decade. And then, I'm quickly rounding out '28 and '29 and thinking about '30, but that's the job. You gotta think that far out."

In terms of "Toonami," Ouweleen noted that the team behind the Saturday night anime block is the same familiar faces from 1997, Gill Austin, Kim Manning, and Jason DeMarco, and offered a quick overview of how the trio operates. "We try to do one or two interesting things a year. We have 'Ninja Kamui,' two more seasons of that coming out; 'Lazarus' did really well, but that was kind of standalone – [Shinichirō] Watanabe's like, 'That's all I got,' – and we've got some other things in development that I think people will be very surprised about in anime. It's a little too early, but Jason and I are conspiring a little bit."

In terms of the role it plays in the overall programming plan for Adult Swim and Cartoon Network, Ouweleen made it clear that "Toonami" plays a key role. "100% we realize it's an important part. We're trying to keep Toonami linear interesting when the acquisitions game is weird and fraught right now, and we can't compete monetarily with streamers. But we're doing our best to keep Toonami linear interesting, and then, originals-wise, we're doing the things that are custom and bespoke that other streamers aren't going to do. They're slightly riskier, more auteur. So, we're still doing that," he added. "Toonami is also this interesting home for things like 'My Adventures with Superman.' I think we tried 'Unicorn [Warriors Eternal]' there, and we'll put 'SuperMutant Magic Academy' there because Gill, one of the founding members of Toonami, is like, 'I want that for Toonami.' It's like, 'Okay, we'll put it there.' We'll put it elsewhere, but you know. So yeah, Toonami is allowing us to try different things."

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