The story of Bass Reeves, the first Black U.S. Marshal, is being brought to life in Netflix’s upcoming anime Bass X Machina. Or at least a fantastical steampunk version of Bass Reeves life.
Starring Brian Tyree Henry (Eternals), this anime tells the story of a father who must serve as judge, jury, and executioner to protect his family or risk losing those he loves the most. And instead of the Wild West that is known to us, Reeves adventures are set in an altered Steampunk West filled with outlaws, machines, and supernatural threats.
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Henry made an appearance at Anime NYC to talk about Bass X Machina, share a teaser trailer, and screen the first couple minutes of the anime. He also talked about why Bass Reeves, honoring the Black experience in this anime, and how proud he is to bring this to life as the voice of Reeves but also as an executive producer of the upcoming anime.
“I wasn’t interested in doing a historical show. But I did want to honor the history of who Bass Reeves is. Bass Reeves is the first Black marshal in this country,” Henry said, “The history of him has been buried. […] But I was interested in the story of what it takes to make a man that is on a quest to save his family and be a good man.”
Henry also talked about playing a man “in a land that doesn’t see you as a man.” And this comes with the added caveat that something is different about Reeves in this steampunk world. His arm isn’t just a regular human arm. It’s altered, mechanical, and a weapon of it’s own. And he didn’t choose this. “We have this character who basically has become an experiment. […] He was a Buffalo soldier and he went through all these different trials and tribulations in his life.”
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But at the end of the day, what matters most to Reeves isn’t the criminals he’s capturing, the steampunk weapons they use, or the entities in his way. “The main thing that’s important to him is family. Truly, at the end of the day, family is what matters. And I also just thought he was so badass. I was like, we should just like…I need a hero.”
Helping to create something from the Black experience, about a Black man, with a Black voice actor at the helm, it’s the representation Henry has wanted to see in anime. But also the representation he’s wanted to see in westerns.
Henry said, “You know, I’m interested in the punk rock western. Because most times in westerns, our visibility is excluded. And I was like, there are a lot of Black and brown cowboys. There are a lot of people who have found the frontier, Indigenous-wise. We never get to see that. So what I wanted to do in the show is to give an homage to them and celebrate them. And also it in an incredibly crazy punk rock melee. So it was really a labor of love.”
Watch the teaser trailer for Bass X Machina below:
Bass X Machina premieres November 3rd on Netflix.
