Neon Genesis Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno recently apologized to fans for delaying the long-awaited final chapter of the Rebuild of Evangelion film series (once known as Evangelion 4.0 but now known as Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.0) in order to work on Godzilla: Resurgence. Unfortunately, he didn’t offer any hint of a release date, nor did he reveal any information about how far into development the project is at this stage.
“To all the Evangelion fans, I’m really, really keeping you all waiting,” Anno recently said (via Oricon, as translated by Kotaku). “I am truly sorry.”
The Evangelion series, and the character of Shinji in particular, was partly inspired by Anno’s struggles with depression. Anno mentioned making Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo, set in a post-Third Impact alternate reality that departs from the original anime, was particularly draining on a personal level. “After doing the third entry [...] I thought I wasn’t going to make any more,” he said. “I went into talks with Toho [about Godzilla], and it saved me. I think this is how I’m able to keep making Evangelion. However, since it is a fact that I’m making everyone wait, I deeply apologize for that.”
The third film in the Rebuild of Evangelion series came out in 2012 in Japan and there’s still no sign of the fourth or its release date. Fans had reason to hope the final film would arrive by the end of 2015. A year and a half later, it seems we’re no closer to getting Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.0. Though it is good to hear Anno still plans to finish the series; for a while there it seems he could have written Evangelion off entirely.
In the meantime, at least Godzilla: Resurgence looks pretty damn good, right?
