Overwatch announces animated mini-series & teases potential new hero

Blizzard Entertainment has announced a three-part animated mini-series called Genesis, which potentially teases a new Omnic hero.

Overwatch fans have begged Blizzard Entertainment to release a TV show or movie set in the game’s universe, thanks to the studio’s beautifully rendered shorts.

Unfortunately, Overwatch has never received any long-form media outside of its character shorts — that is, until recently.

Blizzard has announced a brand new animated mini-series called Genesis, which seems to be a prequel series centered around the Omnic Crisis and the heroes who helped put an end to it.

Overwatch to get three-part animated mini-series

The official Overwatch Twitter account revealed the news on June 30, 2023, and said, “It was a technological golden age. Until it wasn’t. Introducing GENESIS, an Overwatch mini-series.”

PlayOverwatch’s YouTube channel also released the trailer with a countdown to part one of the three-part mini-series premiere, set on July 6, 2023, at 9 AM PST / 12 PM EST / 5 PM BST.

Unfortunately for fans who wanted long-form content, the teaser trailer’s description noted that part one is a little over five minutes long.

The trailer showed scenes from the Omnic Crisis, which would make it a prequel to the events of Overwatch and Overwatch 2 fans are familiar with.

Throughout the trailer, we saw Mina Liao, who is one of the leading experts in robotics and artificial intelligence in the game’s lore. While many Overwatch fans will know Liao as the creator of Echo, she was also a key figure in developing the Omnics.

The teaser also showed Liao creating what appears to be a never-before-seen Omnic or omnic progenitor and ends with this mysterious robot walking towards the Nepal monastery dropped in tattered orange and red garb.

While this character’s outfit and setting certainly give shades of the Omnic monk Zenyatta that players are familiar with, this new Omnic’s design is quite different. Though this may be a look at Zenyatta’s origin story, it could also be a tease for a future Hero.

For now, Overwatch fans will just have to wait until Genesis premieres in early July to get more details about the Omnic War as well as this mysterious new robot character.