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The Annecy Animation Festival welcomed a new visitor to the world of Black Panther with the premiere of the first episode of Eyes of Wakanda, the animated Marvel series arriving later this year. The new show, which is described as an “anthology adjacent” series, will journey through thousands of years of the nation’s history and even introduce a legendary hero that we’ve not seen since their time on Netflix.
The first episode was introduced on stage by director Todd Harris, who was also present for a Q&A for the debut instalment titled “Into the Lion’s Den.” The episode (according to Variety) takes us back to 1260 B.C, where a former Dora Milaje and Wakandan secret agent, Noni (voiced by Winnie Harlow) is tasked with tracking down a defector to the nation known as Lion (Cress Williams). This traitor to Noni’s homeland has snatched up Wakandan tech and used it to become a pirate and form a kingdom of his own. Unbeknownst to Lion, his actions will have a knock-on effect that will echo through the ages, changing the path of Wakanda forever. This pivotal event backs up the original reveal that Eyes of Wakanda will connect to the MCU more than any other animated show.
The show will span four episodes, with each chapter focusing on a different artefact taken from Wakanda, seeing where it ends up and how it impacts those who have it. The interesting nugget that Harris revealed was that along the way, “There will be an Iron Fist in here, and not the Iron Fist you expect.”
It sounds like Harris’s show will also handle topics that were present in the first Black Panther movie, regarding the nation and T’Challa’s (Chadwick Boseman) apprehension to expose itself to the world it has stayed secret from for so long. “Stillness is a difficult thing, and Wakanda by definition has remained the same. Staying still against the current takes energy – so what are they willing to do to remain that way, to not over-expand?”