BRZRKR: Keanu Reeves to star in Netflix comic book movie and anime spin-off

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Earlier this month, BOOM! Studios sent the first issue of their comic book series BRZRKR out to stores, and now Netflix has already secured the rights to bring a live-action film adaptation of the comic book to their streaming service – and to follow that up with an anime spin-off series that will "expand the BRZRKR universe by exploring different elements of the story".

BRZRKR is based on an original idea by Keanu Reeves, who also writes the comic book with Matt Kindt. The main character in the book looks just like Reeves, so it makes sense that Reeves will also be producing and starring in the live-action Netflix adaptation, plus producing the anime and providing the voice of his character for that series. The comic book's art team consists of illustrator Ron Garney, colorist Bill Crabtree, and letterer Clem Robins, with Rafael Grampá providing character designs and covers.

A 12 issue limited series, BRZRKR is about 

an immortal warrior’s 80,000-year fight through the ages. The man known only as “B” is half-mortal and half-god, cursed and compelled to violence… even at the sacrifice of his sanity. But after wandering the earth for centuries, B may have finally found a refuge – working for the U.S. government to fight the battles too violent and too dangerous for anyone else. In exchange, B will be granted the one thing he desires – the truth about his endless blood-soaked existence… and how to end it.

It sounds like the descriptions "violent" and "blood-soaked" are very accurate to the BRZRKR comic book; Collider's Rafael Motamayor mentioned that the comic includes moments where B "makes a man's head explode with a single punch" and "murders another man by stabbing him with a chunk of his own ribcage". As if the John Wick movies weren't violent enough, Reeves seems set to take violence to a new level with BRZRKR.

Reeves will be producing these Netflix projects alongside BOOM! Studios' Ross Richie and Stephen Christy, as well as Company Films' Stephen Hamel. BOOM!'s Adam Yoelin is executive producing.