Samurai Jack is closer to being back!

After four seasons of pure entertainment and spectacular storytelling in animated form, Samurai Jack will be returning to Toonami/Adult Swim for a fifth season to conclude the unfinished story of the time leaping warrior. At San Diego Comic Con, series creator Genndy Tartakovsky graced the press room with his presence to discuss a few of everyone’s burning questions about the series return after 12 years.

When asked why he wanted to return to the series, Tartakovsky admitted he had hoped to create a film for years but the idea came to him while in the bathroom of all places, which led him to send a few emails about the new tales. “I got the email right back” adding, “and after two weeks we started.” Of course one thing everyone can’t help but ponder is if we will be seeing the last of Samurai Jack after the upcoming fifth season, and Tartakovsky proved he already has something final in mind. “It’s the final journey – whatever happens at the end is the end.”

We additionally learned that the season will be compacted into 10 episodes to tell the story he intended on with the same duration of the proposed films from years prior. When asked about the budget for Samurai Jack season 5 Tartakovsky made it known that they stepped up their game. “I think it’s better!” Tartakovsky continues, “They’ve [Cartoon Network] been really great, they gave us everything we could really want.” Of course, knowing that the series is now coming to an end after years of ambiguity, the ultimate conclusion is something fans of the franchise can’t help but question – and according to the creator himself, it’s going to be a rough one that he knew about awhile back. “It’s something that I’ve wanted to do in animation for a long time and it’s super challenging but if we get it right it’s going to leave people in tears.”

Tartakovsky made it known that he isn’t sure of a certain release date but suggested we could be seeing our favorite time traveling samurai in early 2017. After learning the end is coming and it may be a tearjerker, I’m going to be anxiously awaiting the final bow next year. If you haven’t seen the series in awhile or just never got around to it, now’s the perfect time to binge watch the first four seasons before Samurai Jack returns for his final battles!