We’re only getting four new episodes of Invincible before it goes on break

Invincible was one of the surprise hits of 2021. A beautifully animated superhero show on Amazon Prime Video, it’s based on the comics by Robert Kirkman, the guy who created The Walking Dead. What I loved about the first season was that it was a pretty traditional superhero show that also subverted the genre. It was earnest and cynical at the same time; I still don’t know quite how it pulled that off.

In any case, the wait for a second season has been long, which Kirkman attributes to the difficult animation process, the vast cast, and the fact that the team was working through the early days of COVID when no one knew what to do; remember those? “We’re an hour long animated show which is very unusual, but we have so many characters and so many settings, even in just one episode that we’re really kind of pushing the limits of what can be done in animation,” he told Collider. “So it takes a long time to make it. But it has also taken a long time to learn how to do it and figure it out because we’re doing a lot of things that you don’t necessarily do in animation.”

But all’s well that ends well: we new episodes will start airing on Amazon Prime Video in November. But there’s a catch: according to The Hollywood Reporter, Amazon will only air the first four episodes, but will save the last four for sometime in 2024.

Why is Invincible splitting up its second season?

After waiting years for season 2, it sucks to go on another break that soon. Amazon didn’t reveal why it’s doing this, but THR speculates that it probably has something to do with the actors and writers strikes that have currently shut down work in Hollywood. While Amazon could air all eight episodes in a row, without new content coming in, it wants to stretch what it has so we’ll be entertained for longer.

It makes sense, although I’d rather the team get to work on season 3, which has already been ordered. The sooner the studios come to the table to talk about issues like AI and residual payments, the sooner these strikes can end and work can resume.

Until then, best get used to more delays and work stoppages. For instance, Deadline reports that work on the second season of Silo at Apple TV+ has stopped due to the strikes. Anytime you wanna talk is cool with us, studios.

Robert Kirkman wants to make more character specials for Invincible

In the meantime, you can actually watch a new episode of Invincible right now: a special about the character Atom Eve dropped last week. “She’s one of the most popular characters in the show,” Kirkman said. “And so we wanted to really give her a showcase, and as far as, like, doing other episodes with different characters in a similar way, I’d love to. We’ll just have to see.”

"I mean, there’s so many, it’s hard. I love Battle Beast. I’d love to do something with Battle Beast. I think that really digging in, and Monster Girl’s origin is dealt with in the comics a little bit, but to expand it out to this level and actually show the pathos that comes from, like, being trapped in that body and being turned into a big monster. I don’t know, that would be a lot of fun to explore. But there’s a lot of different characters I’d love to kind of show that spotlight on."

Invincible season 2 premieres on Amazon Prime Video on November 3.

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