New Poster Proves 'Rebuild of Evangelion' Fourth Film Is Still in the Works

The fourth film in the Rebuild of Evangelion series isn't dead yet.

The first key visual for Neon Genesis Evangelion 3.0+1.0 has finally appeared on the film's website, proving that work is still moving forward on the project. The visual's color scheme hints at the red-colored world created after the events of the previous film in the Rebuild of Evangelion series, Neon Genesis Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo.

The caption's translation reads, "after that, and the end. Not, and Anti," though no one is quite sure what that's supposed to mean.

No further information about the film's release was revealed, but if visuals are beginning to roll out then we should know something more by the end of the year.

Neon Genesis Evangelion 3.0+1.0 was first announced at the end of the theatrical release of Neon Genesis Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo in 2012. The film was given a winter 2015 release date at the time and when that release window came and went fans began to wonder about the status of the project.

Production only began on Neon Genesis Evangelion 3.0+1.0 in late 2016. It was later revealed that Hideaki Anno, the franchise's creator and director of the film, needed a break from the Rebuild of Evangelion project after the long and exhausting production cycle of Neon Genesis Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo. On top of that, Anno further cited a long delay in the production of Shin Godzilla, his 2016 Godzilla reboot, as another reason for the delay.

"After it was released, I was broken," Anno wrote in a post on the Neon Genesis Evangelion website. "I fell into what's called a depressive state, the natural result of having spent six years grinding down my soul making Eva again."

Rebuild of Evangelion is a reboot of the original Neon Genesis Evangelion saga, meant to offer something new to old fans by using newly available animation technology. It is also meant to be more accessible to new audiences.

Neon Genesis Evangelion is a pschological drama by way of giant monster versus mech anime. The franchise debuted as a television series in 1995-1996. Two films followed in 1997. Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth is one part drastically abridged retelling of the first 24 episodes of the television series, and one part new animation. The End of Evangelion, the second film, would incorporate some of Death & Rebirth's original animation and offer an alternate take on the original series' controversial final two episodes.

Via SBS