Love, Death & Robots

Love, Death & Robots
File:Love, Death + Robots logo.png
Genre	Anthology Science fantasy Adult animation
Created by	Tim Miller
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	26 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	David Fincher Tim Miller Jennifer Miller Joshua Donen
Running time	6–18 minutes
Production companies	Blur Studio Netflix Studios
Original release
Network	Netflix
Release	March 15, 2019 (2019-03-15) – present (present)

Love, Death & Robots (stylized as LOVE DEATH + R⬮BOTS, and represented in emoji form as ❤️❌🤖) is an American adult animated anthology streaming television series on Netflix. The 18-episode first season was released on March 15, 2019. The series is produced by Tim Miller, Joshua Donen, David Fincher and Jennifer Miller. Each episode was animated by different crews from a range of countries. The series is a re-imagining of Fincher and Miller's long in-development reboot of the 1981 animated science fiction film Heavy Metal.

In June 2019, Netflix renewed the series for an eight-episode second season, that was released on May 14, 2021, with an eight-episode third season scheduled for release in 2022.

Premise

The animated series consists of stand-alone episodes, all under 20 minutes long, and produced by different casts and crews, though some episodes may share certain crew members. The series title refers to each episode's thematic connection to the three aforementioned subjects, though not every episode contains all three elements.

Episodes

Volume	Episodes		Originally released
1	18		March 15, 2019 (2019-03-15)
2	8		May 14, 2021 (2021-05-14)

Volume I (2019)

Episode numbers reflect Netflix's original ordering. This ordering has since been changed by Netflix.

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Adapted script by	Based on the story by	Animation studio(s)	Original release date	Duration
1	1	"Sonnie's Edge"	Dave Wilson	Philip Gelatt	Peter F. Hamilton	Blur Studio	March 15, 2019 (2019-03-15)	17 minutes
In dystopian London, a young woman named Sonnie participates in underground "Beastie" fights — remotely controlled bio-engineered gladiator beast battles. The ringmaster, Dicko, attempts to bribe Sonnie to throw the match, but she declines. Her teammates Wes and Ivrina explain that Sonnie was sexually assaulted and mutilated in the past; her desire for revenge eventually becomes her "edge". Sonnie enters the arena piloting her beast Khanivore, to fight the opponent, Turboraptor. After a brutal match, Khanivore wins. Later, Dicko's mistress visits Sonnie and seduces her, only to impale Sonnie's head with a concealed weapon. Dicko then reveals himself and taunts Sonnie, asking if she is scared now. The mistress then stomps at Sonnie's head, crushing it. However, Sonnie's laughter is heard, revealing that her human body is only a 'bioware processor spliced to a spine' and that her consciousness was always inside Khanivore, the fear of death in combat being her real "edge". Sonnie as Khanivore breaks out of her holding tank and kills the mistress, then prepares to kill Dicko. The screen fades to black as she asks: "Are you scared now?" mirroring Dicko's question. Cast : Helen Sadler, Hayley McLaughlin, Time Winters, Omid Abtahi, Christine Adams, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, Braden Lynch
2	2	"Three Robots"	Victor Maldonado & Alfredo Torres	Philip Gelatt	John Scalzi	Blow Studio	March 15, 2019 (2019-03-15)	12 minutes
Long after the fall of humanity, three robots (K-VRC, XBOT 4000, and 11-45-G) wander through a post-apocalyptic city, trying to understand how humans lived based on their limited knowledge of them and the things they left behind. They learn the concept of human sports, consumption, and eventually pets when they encounter a living cat, which proceeds to follow them. The three robots learn about their origins and later arrive at what appears to be a nuclear missile base. 11-45-G explains that humans died out from environmental disasters caused by their own actions. K-VRC states that at one point, humans genetically engineered their cats. The cat then proves this by showing it can speak, demanding to be petted, while many other cats in the base corner the three robots. Cast : Josh Brener, Gary Anthony Williams, Chris Parnell
3	3	"The Witness"	Alberto Mielgo	Alberto Mielgo	N/A	Pinkman.TV	March 15, 2019 (2019-03-15)	12 minutes
A man murders a woman in an apartment in Hong Kong. He then realizes that a woman in the hotel across the street, identical to his victim, has witnessed the murder. He starts to chase her. The woman flees to a sex club where she works as a dancer under the alias Zawora. The man enters the club, guided by the host. During her dance, the woman notices the man in the audience and he chases her through the city streets. The woman steals a gun and hides in an apartment, but the man finds and corners her. They proceed to fight over the gun, with the woman ending up shooting the man dead. She then realizes that a man in the hotel across the street, identical to her victim, has witnessed the murder. Cast : Emily O'Brien, Ben Sullivan, Matt Yang King, Nolan North, Anastasia Foster
4	4	"Suits"	Franck Balson	Philip Gelatt	Steven Lewis	Blur Studio	March 15, 2019 (2019-03-15)	17 minutes
A small community of farmers pilot mech suits to defend their land from an invading swarm of insectoids which they call "DeeBees". When the defense field fails, DeeBees pour in faster than they can be repelled, so the community heads for underground shelters. All arms are called in and one neighbor, Jake, sacrifices himself to kill a large portion of the swarm. A giant insectoid breaks through, but with a well-aimed shot from a turret gun, one of the farmers' wives destroy it. Come dawn, the barriers are back to normal and the town has returned to a sense of safety. The camera zooms out to show that the whole planet is populated by DeeBees, and the farmers are the invading force, having set up domed colonies across the planet. Cast : Neil Kaplan, G. K. Bowes, Scott Whyte, Courtenay Taylor, Tudi Roche
5	5	"Sucker of Souls"	Owen Sullivan	Philip Gelatt	Kirsten Cross	Studio La Cachette	March 15, 2019 (2019-03-15)	13 minutes
Flynn, a mercenary, and Dr. Wehunt, an archaeologist, escape through a tunnel, fleeing an unknown assailant. Moments before, Dr. Wehunt's intern, Simon, discovers a cave with inscriptions describing an "eater of souls". A demon suddenly appears and devours Simon, then mutates into a larger, more bestial form. Flynn flees with Dr. Wehunt and informs his two employees Micky and Gary of the situation by radio. On their way, they are confronted by the demon, which is revealed to be Dracula. Dracula attempts to kill Flynn, although it stops and retreats after seeing a cat. Dr. Wehunt explains that Dracula fears and hates cats. The two reunite with Micky and Gary in a chamber, but they are cut off from the main exit. When Dracula follows them, Dr. Wehunt finds another exit through a secret tunnel while the mercenaries set up explosives. The team escapes, and when Dracula re-enters the chamber he is killed in the explosion. However, the tunnel leads the team to another chamber filled with similar vampires. Cast : Michael Benyaer, Fred Tatasciore, Laura Waddell, Jonathan Cahill, Scott Whyte
6	6	"When the Yogurt Took Over"	Victor Maldonado & Alfredo Torres	Janis Robertson	John Scalzi	Blow Studio	March 15, 2019 (2019-03-15)	6 minutes
A group of scientists mutates yogurt by fermenting bacteria. Although initial tests fail, a researcher takes the mutated bacteria home for her homemade yogurt, where it becomes sentient. The yogurt asks to meet US leaders, to whom it claims to have solutions for the country's problems. As payment, the yogurt requests control over the state of Ohio. The leaders, including the president, initially laugh at the offer, but accept it after the yogurt threatens to make a similar deal with China instead. Soon, the yogurt gives the president a plan to eradicate the United States national debt, warning him that any deviation will be catastrophic. The government can't help but deviate, and the global economy collapses within 6 months except for Ohio. In desperation, the government gives the yogurt supreme executive power over much opposition. A decade later, humans live prosperous lives under the yogurt's reign. The yogurt suddenly decides to initiate space launches, leaving the humans behind on Earth. Cast : Maurice LaMarche, Alexia Dox
7	7	"Beyond the Aquila Rift"	Léon Bérelle, Dominique Boidin, Rémi Kozyra, Maxime Luère	Philip Gelatt	Alastair Reynolds	Unit Image	March 15, 2019 (2019-03-15)	17 minutes
The Blue Goose spaceship's crew members, Thom, Suzy, and Ray, are returning home from a successful mission, but an error in the routing plot causes unexpected events to happen. Thom awakes from suspended animation and is greeted by Greta, an old flame. She tells him that he and his crew are hundreds of thousands of light-years from Earth, nearly beyond the Aquila Rift, and centuries have passed: there is no way for them to get home. They rekindle their relationship, but Thom is still in disbelief of the situation. He demands the truth from a tearful Greta, who tells him that his experiences are a simulation and that he is not ready to see reality, as she truly does care for him and all those who find their way there. He insists, so she reluctantly relents and awakens him. Thom is revealed to be an emaciated old man; their ship caught in an enormous web with countless others; his crew either dead or trapped in their own trances; and "Greta" an alien arachnid creature at the web's center. As a horrified Thom loses his mind from the encounter, "Greta" returns him to the dream world, minus his recent memories, just as she had with his crew and the others. She reawakens him and greets him all over again, a process that presumably repeats until Thom eventually dies. Cast : Henry Douthwaite, Madeleine Knight, Rebecca Banatvala, Delroy Brown, Grahame Fox
8	8	"Good Hunting"	Oliver Thomas	Philip Gelatt	Ken Liu	Red Dog Culture House	March 15, 2019 (2019-03-15)	17 minutes
In the early 20th century China, young Liang and his father track a shape-shifting fox-like Huli jing named Tsiao-Jung to her den. There, Liang meets Tsiao-Jung's daughter, Yan, who tries to explain the plight of the Huli jing. Tsiao-Jung urges Yan to escape, but Liang's father kills Tsiao-Jung in front of them. Unbeknownst to his father, Liang lets Yan go. Years later, Liang's father dies just before the British colonizing of Hong Kong. Liang moves to Hong Kong where he works as a train engineer, and one night encounters Yan, now permanently human because industrialization has supplanted magic. Liang develops robotics engineering, and Yan comes to him for help. The Governor of Hong Kong had drugged her and turned her into a cyborg sex toy, but she eventually killed him after an altercation. Liang builds her a flexible metal alloy body able to morph into a robotic Huli jing. Parting as friends, Yan then hunts Englishmen abusing women in her homeland. Cast : Elaine Tan, Matt Yang King, Gwendoline Yeo, Maddox Henry, Sumalee Montano, JB Blanc
9	9	"The Dump"	Javier Recio Gracia	Philip Gelatt	Joe Lansdale	Able & Baker	March 15, 2019 (2019-03-15)	10 minutes
A city inspector tries to convince "Ugly" Dave Dvorchek to move out of his house in a dump. However, Dave refuses to leave. He instead tells the inspector a story about his past encounter with Otto, a muck creature that has fused with whatever material it consumed in the dump. Instead of killing it, Dave bonded with it made it his pet. He then encourages Otto to eat the inspector. Cast : Nolan North, André Sogliuzzo, Gary Cole
10	10	"Shape-Shifters"	Gabriele Pennacchioli	Philip Gelatt	Marko Kloos	Blur Studio	March 15, 2019 (2019-03-15)	16 minutes
In a world where werewolves are common knowledge but discriminated against, two close werewolf friends, Lt. Decker and Sgt. Sobieski, serve in the US Marines in Afghanistan. They are ambushed by Taliban militia while escorting a convoy. Decker's senses locate the assailants, who are then neutralized. After returning to base, Decker and Sobieski are antagonized by some of their comrades. Later that day, Sobieski is assigned to a Watchtower position. That night it is attacked and Decker races ahead of the backup convoy to help the troops. Upon arrival, Decker finds Sobieski and all the other soldiers slaughtered by what is surely another werewolf. Commander Reyner orders Decker to find the Taliban werewolf and bring him in alive. The next night, Decker sneaks out of the base camp into the desert and meets an old man and a younger man he previously encountered, both of whom morph into werewolf form. After fighting and killing them both, the injured Decker returns to base and ends his service in disgust. He reclaims Sobieski's body and buries him in the desert with his dog tag. Cast : Graham Hamilton, Adam Bartley, Jim Pirri, James Horan, Ike Amadi
11	11	"Helping Hand"	Jon Yeo	Philip Gelatt	Claudine Griggs	Axis Studios	March 15, 2019 (2019-03-15)	10 minutes
Astronaut Alexandria Stephens attends to a faulty satellite in Earth's orbit. During a spacewalk, her old-model EVA suit is hit by a stray screw from orbital debris, casting her hopelessly adrift with only 14 minutes of oxygen. She seals the upper left arm of her suit using her watch strap, then removes the left glove, exposing her left arm to the vacuum of space. Throwing the glove pushes her back toward the satellite, but she narrowly misses grabbing hold. As she drifts back past her beaten-up maintenance vehicle The Anthem, she decides to break off her now frozen left forearm and throws it in the last-ditch attempt to make it back to her ship. Back on board, she performs emergency self triage then radios Bill, her ground controller, who asks with relief if she "still needs a hand?" Cast : Elly Condron, Chris Parson
12	12	"Fish Night"	Damian Nenow	Philip Gelatt	Joe Lansdale	Platige Image Studio	March 15, 2019 (2019-03-15)	10 minutes
Two salesmen get stuck in the desert after their car breaks down due to a broken radiator. Spending what remains of their day around the car, the older man informs the younger man that the desert was once a sea floor teeming with life. At night, they wake up to find the ghosts of prehistoric marine life floating around the car. In awe of the sight, the young man undresses to swim through the air, while the old man urges him to return. As the young man becomes a luminescent being, a primordial Shark appears. Despite the old man's calls of danger, the young man stays ignorant until the ghost shark devours him. Cast : Kirk Thornton, Yuri Lowenthal
13	13	"Lucky 13"	Jerome Chen	Philip Gelatt	Marko Kloos	Sony Pictures Imageworks	March 15, 2019 (2019-03-15)	13 minutes
After two crews on the Dropship #13-02313 are lost, other Marines become superstitious and give the unlucky ship to rookie Lt. "Cutter" Colby. Cutter flies twenty missions without casualty; under her charge, the ship is renowned as "Lucky 13". Cutter, loyal to her craft, passes up upgrading to newer models. On its last mission 13 is shot down, but all its occupants survive. The troops evacuate as Cutter occupies enemy combatants; when overwhelmed, Cutter sets 13 to self-destruct to kill as many enemy troops as it can. After reaching the trench, Cutter watches as the ship does not detonate until enemy troops take over, where 13 takes them all down with her. Cutter is awarded numerous medals and a cutting-edge new ship, but she longs for one more mission with Lucky 13. Cast : Samira Wiley, Daisuke Tsuji, Nestor Serrano, Stanton Lee, Noshir Dalal, Jeffrey Pierce, David Paladino, Jeff Schine, Melissa Sturm
14	14	"Zima Blue"	Robert Valley	Philip Gelatt	Alastair Reynolds	Passion Animation Studios	March 15, 2019 (2019-03-15)	10 minutes
Journalist Claire Markham is invited to interview the reclusive artist Zima Blue, who wishes to tell his story before unveiling his final work. Zima, who began in portraiture, moved on to murals focused on abstract shapes in a single shade of blue. He continued making larger murals until they were incorporated into celestial bodies, asteroids, and even nebulas. When they meet, Zima reveals to Claire that even though many assume he is a cybernetically enhanced man, in truth he is an advanced android originally built by a roboticist to clean ceramic pool tiles (known as Zima Blue tiles), with the tiles being the first thing he saw. He was upgraded and modified as a test-bed for hardware and software to his current state, passed from owner to owner after his original owner died. Expressing a deep yearning for meaning through his art, he unveils his final piece: he immerses himself in the re-constructed pool that he originated from, casts off all of his modifications, and reverts to his original state as a simple pool tile cleaning machine. Cast : Kevin Michael Richardson, Emma Thornett
15	15	"Blindspot"	Vitaliy Shushko	Vitaliy Shushko	N/A	Elena Volk's Independent Studio	March 15, 2019 (2019-03-15)	8 minutes
A cyborg crew — Hawk, Kali, Sui, and Rookie — attempt to rob a convoy for a heavily guarded microchip as it is in motion to a tunnel. As they plant explosives on the back car, Sui drops one of his when swerving to avoid a desert rat, alerting the guards. Kali opens cover fire as Hawk moves in to deal with the turrets. Once in the tunnel, they have a limited window to get the microchip, but as Hawk readies, he is blindsided and destroyed by a massive defense bot. Using the distraction, Sui knocks it off the convoy, but it shifts into vehicle mode and gives chase, crushing Kali as it does. Sui sacrifices himself to destroy the defense bot's CPU and the convoy. Rookie survives and takes the targeted microchip, lamenting the loss of his team. He is greeted by Bob, the team's coordinator, who congratulates him and tells him that he copied all of their brains before the mission. The crew greets Rookie in hologram form, commending him for a job well done. Cast : Aaron Himelstein, Carlos Alazraqui, Jill Talley, Brian Bloom, Chris Cox
16	16	"Ice Age"	Tim Miller	Philip Gelatt	Michael Swanwick	Digic Pictures / Blur Studio / Atomic Fiction	March 15, 2019 (2019-03-15)	10 minutes
A couple, Gail and Rob, find an antique refrigerator after they move into their new apartment. Opening it to get ice, they discover a tiny preserved mammoth, and returning to the freezer, they realize that a fast-moving time-dilated civilization is developing. Within ten minutes, the civilization goes from Medieval era to Industrial Revolution then modern-day, but some minutes later they see the civilization use tactical nuclear warfare, which burns Rob's face. Finding the fridge civilization escalating their warfare, they close the freezer and order pizza. After an hour, and afraid they did not make it, they open the freezer and find the civilization has rebuilt and has moved further into its future with technology evolving at an unprecedented level. They ultimately evolve into a race of energy beings, return to a singularity, and vanish from the freezer. Believing the mini-people are gone, Rob unplugs the refrigerator to clean it in the morning. As they have breakfast, they find the freezer now has a prehistoric world, with primitive sapiens under attack by dinosaurs. Cast : Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Topher Grace, John DiMaggio, Roger Craig Smith
17	17	"Alternate Histories"	Victor Maldonado & Alfredo Torres	Philip Gelatt	John Scalzi	Sun Creature Studio	March 15, 2019 (2019-03-15)	7 minutes
Multiversity, an alternative history research simulation app, shows a user six different timelines involving the death of Adolf Hitler in 1908 instead of 1945. Potential consequences of each death include different outcomes from WWI and WWII; various individuals reaching the Moon first; time travel paradoxes; and post-apocalyptic scenarios. Exiting the demo, the user selects a possible alternate timeline where "Lincoln shoots first". Cast : Rebecca Riedy, Dieter Jansen, Scott Whyte, Chris Cox
18	18	"The Secret War"	István Zorkóczy	Philip Gelatt	David W. Amendola	Digic Pictures	March 15, 2019 (2019-03-15)	16 minutes
A platoon of Red Army soldiers hunts demons in the Siberian forests. Sgt. Sergei Pavlovich and Lieutenant Nikolai Zakharov raise concerns that the men are too dispersed, but the Major dismisses their worries. Following a bloody victory, Scout Okchen finds the decomposed corpse of a fallen Secret Police agent, Boris Grishin. Grishin's notebook describes "Operation Hades", an attempt to summon demons to fight for the Red Army. However, the summoners failed to control them and are killed. Sergei wishes to use this information to get rid of the demons, but Zakharov fears it would expose the government's past errors. As they locate a barrow, Okchen, and another soldier, Pogodin ready munitions to seal the demons' nest, but the blast instead opens the entire burrow. The horde is larger than expected, so Zakharov orders a last stand, commanding his son to relay a message to bombard their current location to kill the horde. By the morning, the whole platoon is killed by the demons, but planes fly over them and begin carpet-bombing the site. Cast : Stefan Kapičić, Bruce Thomas, Jeff Berg, Antonio Alvarez, Victor Brandt

Volume II (2021)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Adapted script by	Based on the story by	Animation studio(s)	Original release date	Duration
19	1	"Automated Customer Service"	Meat Dept (Kevin Van Der Meiren, David Nicolas, Laurent Nicolas)	John Scalzi & Meat Dept	John Scalzi	Atoll Studio	May 14, 2021 (2021-05-14)	13 minutes
In a futuristic retirement community staffed by robotic helpers, the house-cleaning 'Vacuubot' of an elderly woman named Jeanette malfunctions and becomes increasingly aggressive. She contacts the automated customer support, but the solutions given prove unhelpful. After several urges to surrender by customer support, her neighbor Bill comes to her rescue. Although they destroy the robot, the customer support tells them that every Vacuubot model in operation has added them to a termination list. Jeanette rejects the customer support's offer for the termination whitelist as she, Bill, and her dog ride off, chased by an army of Vacuubots. Cast : Nancy Linari, Ben Giroux, Brian Keane
20	2	"Ice"	Robert Valley	Philip Gelatt	Rich Larson	Passion Animation Studios	May 14, 2021 (2021-05-14)	13 minutes
Brothers Sedgewick and Fletcher move to an ice-covered colony planet where almost the entire population has been genetically modified to have superhuman abilities. Sedgewick, who is not 'modded', struggles to fit in, branded as an "extro" by his peers. Against his brother's advice, Sedgewick accompanies him to a race across ice floes with other modded youths to catch a glimpse of the massive Frostwhales that breach through the ice to breathe. As they race back to safety, Fletcher seems to injure his leg, forcing Sedgewick to carry him. The brothers barely survive the breach, having been unlucky that the Frostwhales hit the ice one time fewer than they habitually do. They enjoy the view of the Frostwhales breaching, after which Sedgewick realizes Fletcher faked his injury to help his brother gain the others' respect. Cast : Archie Madekwe, Sebastian Croft, Beatriz Godinho, Alexander Lobo Moreno, Miguel Amorim, Mike Bodie, Maria Teresa Creasey
21	3	"Pop Squad"	Jennifer Yuh Nelson	Philip Gelatt	Paolo Bacigalupi	Blur Studio	May 14, 2021 (2021-05-14)	18 minutes
In a dystopian future, humanity has gained drug-induced biological immortality, resulting in overpopulation. Breeding becomes strictly forbidden, and any children found are summarily executed by the police force while their parents are prosecuted. After his latest execution, Detective Briggs becomes unnerved by his lover Alice's casual admission that she would let him impregnate her. As his job began to take a mental toll on him, Briggs decides to conduct a personal investigation. He encounters a woman, Eve, buying an antique toy train set and follows her back to her dilapidated home, where she has been harboring her toddler daughter, Melanie. He asks Eve why she chose to raise a child in such conditions; she explains how her daughter changed her life. Briggs sympathizes and spares them both when Eve tries to preemptively kill him. As he leaves the house, he encounters his police partner Pentle, who realizes what he has done. The officers exchange gunfire, killing each other. Cast : Nolan North, Elodie Yung, Emily O'Brien, Michelle C. Bonilla, Dendrie Allyn Taylor, Debra Cardona, Ike Amadi, Noshir Dalal, Andrew Hawkes, Jennifer Hale, Ayana Shira Haviv, Piotr Michael
22	4	"Snow in the Desert"	Leon Berelle, Dominique Boidin, Remi Kozyra, Maxime Luere	Philip Gelatt	Neal Asher	Unit Image	May 14, 2021 (2021-05-14)	18 minutes
Snow, an albino man, wanders across a barren planet. He is being hunted by the merchant Baris for his unique physiology which grants him a regenerative ability that renders him virtually immortal. At a bar, three bounty hunters intercept him. Snow barely survives the altercation after a woman named Hirald saves him. Snow thanks her and leaves. At night, Hirald visits Snow's camp to express her intention to travel with him. She then reveals that she is an agent sent by Earth Central Intelligence and requests Snow to come willingly so that they might study his physiology for the greater good. Hirald soon learns that Snow's wife committed suicide more than a century ago due to him not aging; the two then make love. Snow's hideout is ambushed by Baris' goons, but Snow finishes them off with Hirald's help. Baris then shoots and seemingly kills Hirald; however, she recovers and kills him. The damaged Hirald then reveals herself to be a cyborg. Following a past accident, her surviving human brain and nervous system were fused with an artificial body, rendering her virtually immortal like Snow. The two bond over their loneliness and desire to find love within their immortality. Cast : Peter Franzén, Zita Hanrot, Alaïs Lawson, Jonnie Hurn, Piotr Michael, Julie Nathanson, Scott Whyte
23	5	"The Tall Grass"	Simon Otto	Philip Gelatt	Joe Lansdale	Axis Animation	May 14, 2021 (2021-05-14)	11 minutes
Unexpectedly, a steam train breaks down in a field of tall grass. A passenger named Laird steps outside against the conductor's advice. While smoking, he witnesses a number of strange lights and wanders into the tall grass to investigate. He soon becomes lost, and the lights are revealed to be glowing ghoul-like creatures emerging from the ground. The creatures attack and chase him through the field, but at the last moment, the conductor saves him. The conductor confides in Laird that every so often, the train breaks down at that same spot. He believes the field of tall grass opens up a door to another world, and the creatures were once lost humans who have transformed. The train steams off as more of the lights and roarings appear throughout the field. Cast : Joe Dempsie, Steven Pacey
24	6	"All Through the House"	Elliot Dear	Philip Gelatt	Joachim Heijndermans	Blink Industries	May 14, 2021 (2021-05-14)	7 minutes
On Christmas Eve, siblings Leah and Billy are awoken by the sound of rustling downstairs. Believing it to be Santa Claus, they sneak down to catch a look. They are horrified to find that it is actually a grotesque monster, who hears their approach and corners them. It identifies them both as "good" and regurgitates a present for each before climbing out through the chimney. Lying in bed, they both wonder what would have happened if they had been found "bad". Cast : Divi Mittal, Sami Amber, Fred Tatasciore, Brynley North
25	7	"Life Hutch"	Alex Beaty	Philip Gelatt	Harlan Ellison	Blur Studio	May 14, 2021 (2021-05-14)	14 minutes
A pilot named Terence crash-lands on a craggy planet below a space battle against a hostile alien force. He locates a nearby shelter—dubbed a Life Hutch—that has previously crash-landed as well. As the Life Hutch's automated systems activate, the maintenance robot malfunctions and attacks anything that moves, ripping his side and crushing his fingers. He loses consciousness and recalls moments from the battle in which he piloted one of the many attack ships before being hit by space debris. When he wakes, he accesses his flashlight and tricks the robot into attacking itself as it tracks the light beam. After destroying the robot, he activates a rescue beacon and waits for aid. Cast : Michael B. Jordan, Michelle C. Bonilla, Briant T. Delaney
26	8	"The Drowned Giant"	Tim Miller	Tim Miller	J. G. Ballard	Blur Studio	May 14, 2021 (2021-05-14)	14 minutes
The gigantic, naked corpse of an unknown man washes up on the shore. Academics come to observe the giant, mounting him and encouraging spectators to do the same. One of the academics, Steven, becomes entranced by the giant and decides to watch from afar. Through philosophical perspectives, he narrates the decomposition and the desecration of the corpse as time goes on, along with the waning interest of the townspeople, who eventually forget the giant's existence. Months later, the remains of the giant appear in various parts of the town. Cast : Steven Pacey, Laura Pacey

Production

Development

David Fincher serves as executive producer for the series.

The project evolved from a late 2000s meeting whereby David Fincher and Tim Miller decided to make a remake of the 1981 film Heavy Metal. Announced in 2008, the project was to be produced by Paramount Pictures although Fincher and Miller had trouble getting the funding necessary for the project. According to Miller, after the release of Deadpool, Fincher called Miller saying "OK, so we're going to use your newfound popularity to get our anthology movie made", only to eventually decide, "F*** the movie stuff, let's just take it to Netflix, because they'll let us do whatever we want."

Casting

The season one cast includes Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Gary Cole, Chris Parnell, Omid Abtahi, John DiMaggio, Christine Adams, Josh Brener, Emily O'Brien, Jill Talley, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, Nolan North, Elaine Tan, Aaron Himelstein, Samira Wiley, Stefan Kapičić, and Topher Grace, with Grace and Winstead appearing in live-action roles, rather than animated. The season two cast includes Michael B. Jordan, Nancy Linari, Emily O’Brien, Joe Dempsie, Ike Amadi, Nolan North, Fred Tatasciore, Peter Franzén, Jennifer Hale, Sebastian Croft, Brian Keene, Steven Pacey, Scott Whyte, and Zita Hanrot.

Writing

Sixteen of the eighteen short films in the first season are short story adaptations. Initially this was not planned, with the duo envisioning a variety of methods by which they would have developed the series. Miller originally suggested a longer list of stories that he wanted to adapt. Miller primarily wrote outlines and drafts for each short and allowed for scripts to be changed as studios saw fit in order to aid the production.

Release

Netflix released the first trailer for the series on February 14, 2019; the trailer featured Matt Green's industrial hardcore remix of AMBASSADOR21's "We Are Legion". The episodes of the show are displayed in different orders to different users, which differ from how most shows are displayed on the service. In response to an accusation that the episode order was based on the streaming company's perception of a user's sexual orientation, Netflix responded that there were four unique episode orders, released to users at random.

Reception

Volume I

For the first volume, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes compiled 43 critic reviews and identified 77% as positive, with an average rating of 7.03/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "This animated anthology has enough creative Death to satisfy cyberpunk aficionados who Love their Robots to have some Heavy Metal influence, but the series' lofty ambitions are often undercut by a preoccupation with gore and titillation." Metacritic sampled 4 reviews from mainstream critics and calculated a weighted average score of 65/100, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Writing in The Daily Beast, Nick Schager described the series as "Black Mirror for the ADD-addled video game crowd" and praised the show for its "diverse affair rife with violence, humor, and a healthy dose of sensuality". Peter Rubin of Wired magazine praised the show and its boundary-pushing nature, saying that "sometimes, you just want to see Adolf Hitler suffocated by a giant mound of gelatin". Rubin further voiced frustration with the seemingly "endless parade of stoic supermen and the women who deceive or escape them", noting that at times it seems as though Fincher and Miller have aimed the show at a "particularly retrograde subset of genre fans". In a more negative review, Ben Travers of IndieWire described the episodes as "too often hyper-masculine and half-baked" and gave the series a C grade, though the review was based on only 6 of the 18 episodes. Abby Robinson of Digital Spy called the series problematic in its portrayal of women as primarily sexual objects and victims of trauma, labeling it as "firmly rooted in the past".

Volume II

The second volume has an 83% rating from 12 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 6.71/10. Matt Fowler of IGN said the season needed a higher episode count, "even though its first season had too many. A shorter catalog is probably best here since this year’s batch of stories features some repeating themes. That being said, the series continues to be an enjoyable thought-provoking buffet of animated wonders and wickedness.".

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref.
2019	British Academy Scotland Awards	Best Animation	Jon Yeo and Caleb Bouchard (Episode: "Helping Hand")	Won
	Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards	Outstanding Short Form Animated Program	David Fincher, Tim Miller, Jennifer Miller, Joshua Donen, Victoria Howard, Gennie Rim, Alberto Mielgo and Gabriele Pennacchioli (for "The Witness")	Won
		Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation (Juried)	Jun-ho Kim (background designer) (for "Good Hunting")	Won
			Alberto Mielgo (production designer) (for "The Witness")	Won
			David Pate (character animator) (for "The Witness")	Won
			Owen Sullivan (storyboard artist) (for "Sucker of Souls")	Won
		Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation	Brad North, Craig Henighan, Jordan Wilby, Troy Prehmus, Jeff Charbonneau, Alicia Stevenson and Dawn Lunsford (for "The Secret War")	Nominated
2020	Annie Awards	Outstanding Achievement in Animated Effects in an Animated Television/Media Production	Viktor Németh, Szabolcs Illés, Ádám Sipos and Vladimir Zhovna (for "The Secret War")	Won
		Outstanding Achievement in Music in an Animated Television/Media Production	Rob Cairns (for "Sonnie's Edge")	Won
		Outstanding Achievement in Production Design in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production	Alberto Mielgo (for "The Witness")	Won
		Outstanding Achievement in Editorial in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production	Bo Juhl, Stacy Auckland and Valerian Zamel (for "Alternate Histories")	Won
2021	Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards	Outstanding Short Form Animated Program	David Fincher, Tim Miller, Jennifer Miller, Joshua Donen, Andrew Ruhemann, Cara Speller, Victoria Howard, Philip Gelatt, Robert Valley and Jennifer Yuh Nelson (for "Ice")	Won
		Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation (Juried)	Patricio Betteo (background artist) (for "Ice")	Won
			Dan Gill (stop motion animator) (for "All Through the House")	Won
			Laurent Nicolas (character designer) (for "Automated Customer Service")	Won
			Robert Valley (production designer) (for "Ice")	Won
		Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation	Brad North, Craig Henighan, Dawn Lunsford, Jeff Charbonneau and Alicia Stevens (for "Snow in the Desert")	Won

External links

• Love, Death & Robots on Netflix
• Love, Death & Robots at IMDb