The Gundam universe spans multiple timelines, from the most used Universal Century (UC) era from 1979’s Mobile Suit Gundam and the Cosmic Era (CE) of the Gundam Seed series to various standalone continuities. Come next year, the list is set to expand with the After Apocalypse (AA) timeline, which will serve as the setting for Mobile Suit Gundam RG XARX-ZERO, the next instalment in the long-running franchise.
Helming this pivot into a fresh direction is sci-fi director and writer Kenji Kamiyama, whose credits include Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and The Lord of the Rings: The War of Rohirrim. Sola Animation is handling the production, with Toh Enjoe (The Ghost in the Shell, Godzilla Singular Point) contributing to the worldbuilding. Eiichi Shimizu, creator of the 2011 Ultraman manga, is designing the Gundam suits, joining Miyako Takasu as character designer and chief animation director, as well as Go Shiina (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, God Eater) as composer.
The upcoming series, pronounced “Alex Zero”, is part of the larger RG project, described as “a next-generation Gundam initiative that expands the franchise into a new universe” with no connection to the Real Grade line of model kits. It follows Gundam Zero pilot Ray Azami (voiced by Takeo Otsuka), a war orphan in his battle against an alien ecosystem, 45 years after humanity was almost wiped out by a threat called Apocalypse, unleashed by an artefact that had been discovered earlier.
Here’s the full synopsis:
“The three revelations delivered by the Autonomous Interstellar Object from another galaxy ushered in an age of unprecedented prosperity, allowing humanity to expand across the entire solar system.
Gravity Control. FTL Communication. Cognitive Materialization. Yet less than ten years after its discovery, the Object that had delivered these three revelations suddenly ran rampant, spawning an aggressive, self-proliferating ecosystem.
Humanity came to see this unknown ecosystem as the Apocalypse.
For three months, humanity fought the Apocalypse to a standstill in orbit above Earth. Forced to abandon the planet, humanity marked that year as A.A. 1—the first year After Apocalypse.
By A.A. 45, children born on the Moon and in space colonies have never known life without the Apocalypse.
And on the lunar surface, a boy named Ray Azumi awakens—”
Also included in the shared universe is the Gundam: Rogue Orbit video game, which is set 90 years after the events in Mobile Suit Gundam RG XARX-ZERO. First announced at Summer Game Fest 2026, it teases “high-mobility action” and will be released sometime in 2027 — the same window for the premiere of the anime.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Kevin Low
