Netflix has dropped the official trailer for Love Death + Robots Volume 3. The latest batch of short stories in the animated anthology series continues to vary in animation style and tone while promising "terror, imagination and beauty."
Volume 3 will consist of nine new episodes and Netflix has shared the synopsis for each one. From uncovering an ancient evil to a comedic apocalypse, each episode in Love Death + Robots Volume 3 continues to explore the themes of the three aforementioned subjects.
In a first for the series, Volume 3 will feature the first sequel as "Three Robots: Exit Strategies" takes us back to the post-apocalyptic future and catches us up with our three beloved robots. Producer David Fincher is also making his animation directing debut with "Bad Travelling," which is based on the short story by British sci-fi writer Neal Asher. The Jerome Chen-directed short "In Vaulted Halls" is fascinating because it's made using Epic's Unreal Engine, a suite of real-time production tools primarily used for video game development.
Here are the titles and synopsis for each of the nine animated short stories in Volume 3 of Love Death + Robots:
Three Robots: Exit Strategies
The first direct sequel in Love, Death + Robots history – from the mind of acclaimed sci-fi novelist John Scalzi. The titular trio of droll droids return to take a whirlwind tour studying post-apocalyptic human survival strategies before mankind was finally snuffed out.
Director: Patrick Osborne
Writer: John Scalzi
Studio: Blow Studio
Bad Travelling
A jable shark-hunting sailing vessel is attacked by a giant crustacean whose size and intelligence is matched only by its appetite. Mutiny, betrayal and ventriloquism with a corpse… welcome aboard the animation directing debut of David Fincher.
Director: David Fincher
Writer: Andrew Kevin Walker, based on the short story by Neal Asher
Studio: Blur Studio
The Very Pulse Of The Machine
When an exploratory expedition on the surface of the moon Io ends in disaster, an astronaut must trek to safety dragging the body of her co-pilot while using potentially mind-warping drugs to deal with the pain of her own injuries in this trippy tribute to comic book legend Moebius.
Director: Emily Dean
Writer: Philip Gelatt, from a short story by Michael Swanwick
Studio: Polygon Pictures
Night of the Mini Dead
The apocalypse is conceived – literally – in a graveyard in this biting zombie satire, which starts with some cheeky cemetery sex and accelerates into a walking dead invasion of everywhere – from downtown LA to the Vatican. It’s the end of the world as we gnaw it.
Director(s): Robert Bisi, Andy Lyon
Writer: Robert Bisi & Andy Lyon, from a short story by Jeff Fowler & Tim Miller
Studio: BUCK
Kill Team Kill
Young, dumb and full of… blood, lots and lots of blood, a ’roid-raging, adrenaline-fuelled force of US soldiers faces a foe unlike any they have faced before, the result of a CIA experiment that gets really [frick]ing Grizzly. From the director of Kung Fu Panda 2.
Director: Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Writer: Philip Gelatt, from a short story by Justin Coates
Studio: Titmouse, Inc.
Swarm
A story of fear, sex and philosophy on the farthest frontier, as two post-human scientists study an apparently mindless insectoid-race. Tim Miller writes and directs the first ever screen adaptation of the work from renowned Cyberpunk author Bruce Sterling.
Director: Tim Miller
Writer: Tim Miller, based on the short story by Bruce Sterling
Studio: Blur Studio
Mason’s Rats
You know you have a pest control problem when they start to shoot back. The ratpocalypse comes to Scotland, as a grumpy farmer takes drastic steps to deal with an invasion of hyper-evolved rodents. Exterminator: Judgment Day.
Director: Carlos Stevens
Writer: Joe Abercrombie, based on the short story by Neal Asher
Studio: Axis Studios
In Vaulted Halls Entombed
Deep in the mountains of Afghanistan, a squad of Special Forces soldiers (Joe Manganiello, Christian Serratos, Jai Courtney) has the dangerous job of recovering a hostage held by terrorists. But the real evil they must confront is an elder god of ancient and terrifying power.
Director: Jerome Chen
Writer: Philip Gelatt, based on a short story by Alan Baxter
Studio: Sony Pictures Imageworks
Jibaro
Fantasy and greed combine in this re-imagining of the traditional folktale of a siren whose song lures men to their doom. But her sorcery fails to work on the deaf knight, Jibaro, and the Golden Woman becomes fascinated by him. Thus begins a deadly dance of two predators.
Director: Alberto Mielgo
Writer: Alberto Mielgo
Studio: Pinkman.tv
Volume 3 of Love Death + Robots will premiere on Netflix on May 20. In the meantime, you can still go back and watch the first two volumes — a total of 26 animated shorts — on the streaming service. Netflix has not yet announced if there will be a fourth installment of episodes for the series.