Astartes is an animated series made by a fan who follows a squadron of space marines as they carry out one of their bloody missions in the Warhammer 40,000 franchise. The project was created by Syama Pedersen and has accumulated millions of views on YouTube. Games Workshop realized the success of the project and hired Pedersen for the team. Now, a wave of new official Warhammer animations is on the way, which is an exciting prospect for fans of Astartes‘carefully animated action.
There is a rich history of Warhammer fan projects that have become official as the Games Workshop notifies animators and filmmakers by posting their views on the longtime franchise on YouTube. Richard Boylan, a cinematographic designer at Electronic Arts, launched projects such as Helsreach and Guard on Youtube. This turned into death Angels, a next series after the Blood Angels Space Marines. This is Warhammer Storyforge’s debut show.
Pedersen is now working on follow-up to Astartes as part of the Warhammer animation team. There are other recently announced projects under this umbrella. Lost Legion Studios is working on The Exodite, a story about T’au, a rising empire in the service of a philosophy called Bem Maior. Paxel Art is working on Primaris: the last Templar, which follows the Black Templars. About that, Iron inside comes from the Codex Film, showing the Iron Warriors in action against the Drukthari, also known as Dark Eldar.
There is certainly a demand for all this Warhammer 40K media, with boxed sets like the limited edition Indomitus selling immediately. Big Light Productions, the team behind Amazon The Man from the High Castle, is developing a live-action show based on Dan Abnett’s Eisnhorn novels.