Going into SDCC 2026, Bandai Namco revealed that a new Gundam anime would be announced during the event. Now that San Diego Comic-Con is underway, we finally know the name of that anime, and it is much more ambitious than I expected.
Mobile Suit Gundam RG XARX-ZERO, pronounced “Alex Zero,” is a new anime series scheduled to debut in 2027. Surprisingly, it will share the same universe as Bandai Namco’s recently announced action game, Gundam Rogue Orbit. Both projects are part of the newly announced RG Project, a multimedia initiative that will tell different stories within the same continuous Gundam universe. The anime will take place roughly 100 years before the events of Gundam Rogue Orbit, laying the groundwork for the world that players will eventually experience in the game.
So, what happened to Earth? Humanity encountered a self-proliferating silicon-based lifeform that arrived from beyond the solar system aboard an autonomous interstellar object. Which at first, were helpful, but then tended up causing the downfall of humanity. After fighting these creatures, which became known as the Apocalypse, for three months, humanity was forced to abandon Earth and escape into space. That year became A.A. 1, marking the beginning of the After Apocalypse timeline.
In other words, humanity has effectively become a civilization of spacenoids. Zeon ultimately got what it wanted, or at least it would have if Zeon existed within this particular Gundam universe.
Honestly, this feels like the team is borrowing at least a little from Mobile Suit Gundam 00 the Movie: A Wakening of the Trailblazer. That film introduced the ELS, an extraterrestrial lifeform that arrived from beyond the solar system, assimilated nearly everything it encountered, and pushed humanity toward extinction. The circumstances are not exactly the same, but the idea of humanity facing an overwhelming alien threat that conventional mobile suits are barely equipped to fight feels very familiar.
The anime’s story begins during A.A. 45 and follows Ray Azumi, a war orphan who lost his parents during an Apocalypse attack. Ray serves as the designated pilot of Gundam Zero, an experimental next-generation mobile suit developed specifically to combat the Apocalypse.
So far, it’s being reported that Mobile Suit Gundam RG XARX-ZERO will have 13 episodes.
Another reason to keep an eye on Mobile Suit Gundam RG XARX-ZERO is the talent working behind the scenes. Kenji Kamiyama, best known for his work on Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, ULTRAMAN, and The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, will direct the anime and handle the series composition. SOLA ANIMATION will produce the series, while ULTRAMAN manga artist Eiichi Shimizu is responsible for the Gundam designs.
This is much bigger than Bandai Namco simply announcing another Gundam anime. The company is building an entirely new timeline across anime, video games, and potentially other forms of media, with the events of XARX-ZERO directly shaping the world of Gundam Rogue Orbit. After seeing the game announced during Summer Game Fest 2026, this connection has made me considerably more interested in seeing where the RG Project goes next.
