Viz Media announced on Monday 28 September 2026 that the Naruto franchise is getting a new television anime “limited series”. Nothing else about it has been revealed. The details come at the “NARUTO: What’s Next?” panel at New York Comic Con on Saturday 10 October, 17:00 EDT, and the panel is being streamed worldwide for free on the official Naruto YouTube channel.
That is the whole of the confirmed news, and it is worth saying plainly, because a lot of pages are already treating a one line press release as if a full season had been announced. Here is what has actually been confirmed, what has not, and how to watch the reveal yourself.
The panel: date, time and where to watch
The reveal happens at a one hour stage event at New York Comic Con. The official stream page on the NARUTO / BORUTO channel is already live as a scheduled broadcast, so you can set a reminder now.
| New York | Saturday 10 October, 17:00 EDT |
| Los Angeles | Saturday 10 October, 14:00 PDT |
| London | Saturday 10 October, 22:00 BST |
| Berlin and Paris | Saturday 10 October, 23:00 CEST |
| Karachi | Sunday 11 October, 02:00 PKT |
| Delhi | Sunday 11 October, 02:30 IST |
| Tokyo | Sunday 11 October, 06:00 JST |
| Sydney | Sunday 11 October, 08:00 AEDT |
Three guests are listed: Junko Takeuchi, the voice of Naruto since 2002, Noriaki Sugiyama, the voice of Sasuke, and Yoshihiro Tominaga, executive producer at Studio Pierrot’s Pierrot Films. The official listing promises “exclusive reveals on the New NARUTO TV Anime Limited Series” plus news on the Naruto Card Game arriving in 2027.
What is confirmed
- A new Naruto television anime, described officially as a limited series.
- Studio Pierrot is involved. Its Pierrot Films executive producer is on the panel.
- Details are being revealed on 10 October at New York Comic Con, streamed worldwide.
- Both lead voice actors from the original series are attending.
- A Naruto Card Game is coming in 2027, and gets an update at the same panel.
- The official site is running a countdown page headed “New Naruto Project Coming Soon”.
What is not confirmed
This is the part most write ups are skipping, so read it before you believe a release date you saw somewhere.
- What the story is. No arc, no synopsis, no indication of whether it is new material or an adaptation of something existing.
- Episode count. “Limited series” implies short. It does not tell you whether that means four episodes or twelve.
- Release date or year. Nothing. Not 2026, not 2027.
- Staff. No director, no series composition, no character designer.
- Where it will stream. Crunchyroll carries the franchise in most territories, but no platform has been named for this.
- Whether it is a brand new project at all. See below, because this matters.
The four episodes that never aired
Back in 2022, to mark 20 years of the television anime, the franchise announced four brand new episodes. They were never broadcast. AniList still lists that project as NARUTO (2026), a television entry with an episode count of four, Studio Pierrot attached, FLOW on the theme songs, and no release date at all. AniList itself flags the title and format as provisional.
So there are two reasonable readings of Monday’s announcement, and neither has been confirmed:
- The long delayed four episode anniversary project is finally getting a date, now presented as a limited series.
- It is a separate, newly commissioned short run, and the anniversary episodes remain in limbo.
Anyone telling you which of those it is on 29 September is guessing. The panel on 10 October is where it gets answered.
Where this sits next to Shippuden and Boruto
The franchise timeline on screen is straightforward. The original Naruto ran 220 episodes from 3 October 2002 to February 2007. Naruto: Shippuden ran 500 episodes from February 2007 to 23 March 2017. Boruto: Naruto Next Generations ran 293 episodes from April 2017 and stopped on 26 March 2023.
The Boruto anime has not returned. Its continuation is listed as Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Part 2 with no date, no episode count and no staff announced, which we covered in our Boruto Two Blue Vortex guide. That gap is a large part of why a new Naruto anime lands the way it does: there has been no new weekly Naruto franchise anime on air for three years.
The Hollywood film is a separate thing
Worth separating, because the two keep getting mixed together. Lionsgate is producing a live action Naruto film, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. The official franchise site announced a global casting search for Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura on 10 July 2026, and Charles Melton has been reported in final negotiations to play Kakashi Hatake. None of that has anything to do with the television limited series announced on Monday.
What a limited series usually means
Studio Pierrot has form here, and it is useful context rather than a prediction. Pierrot is currently making Black Clover 2nd Season and has been running Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War in short, self contained cours rather than long continuous runs. That structure, a small number of episodes built around one arc, is what the industry generally means by a limited series, and it is the shape the anniversary project was already announced in.
What it does not mean is a movie, and it does not mean a full weekly season. If the panel announces either of those instead, the wording will have changed.
How to follow the reveal
The stream is free and needs no account. The scheduled broadcast sits on the NARUTO / BORUTO Official Channel, and the franchise is also running a countdown at naruto-official.com. We will update this page as soon as the panel ends, with whatever is actually announced rather than what people hoped for.
If you want to know what else is starting in the meantime, our October 2026 premiere guide and the weekly anime schedule both cover the autumn lineup with dates and times.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a new Naruto anime?
Yes. Viz Media confirmed a new Naruto television anime limited series on 28 September 2026. What it covers, how long it runs and when it airs have not been announced.
When will we find out more?
Saturday 10 October 2026 at 17:00 EDT, at the “NARUTO: What’s Next?” panel at New York Comic Con. That is 22:00 BST the same day and 06:00 JST on Sunday 11 October.
Can I watch the panel if I am not at the convention?
Yes. It streams free and worldwide on the official NARUTO / BORUTO YouTube channel.
Is this the same as the four anniversary episodes from 2022?
Unknown. Those four episodes were announced in 2022 and have never aired. The new announcement might be them or might be separate, and nobody outside the production can say which yet.
Does this have anything to do with the live action film?
No. The Lionsgate film with Destin Daniel Cretton directing is a separate project.
Is Boruto coming back too?
The Boruto anime’s continuation is listed with no date and no staff announced. Nothing at this panel has been said about it.
Published 29 September 2026. Sources: the announcement reported by Anime News Network from Viz Media’s press release, the official stream listing on the NARUTO / BORUTO YouTube channel, the countdown page at naruto-official.com, and AniList for the series records.
