Games Workshop hires Astartes creator to make official Warhammer shorts

If you've even a passing interest in Warhammer 40K, you've probably seen Astartes. Syama Pedersen's five-part animated series is striking, ditching the setting's overly-verbose tendencies to deliver wordless, brutally choreographed fights between walking tanks and squishy cultists.

It's not surprising, then, that Games Workshop headed up the reveal of the next wave of Warhammer animations with news that Pedersen had been brought on board to create an official follow-up to Astartes.

"[I’m] super excited for Astartes to transition to an official project," said Petersen. "I never would have thought this would be happening, and I can’t thank the amazing fans enough for their encouragement. It’s been my dream to animate Warhammer 40,000 ever since playing Space Crusade as a kid, and I’m pumped to work with the real deal Warhammer guys at Games Workshop to bring the fans the best Astartes action possible."

There's plenty more Space Marines on show in the reveal. Primaris: The Last Templar and Iron Within follow two more groups of the hulking metal brutes. But if you (correctly) think Space Marines are a bit naff, another animation project proves a welcome branch into the setting's less-explored frontiers. The Exodite focusses on the T'au, Warhammer's blue-skinned space communists wot stomp around in their Gundam-adjacent battlesuits.

Now that there's precedence for fan films being brought on as official Games Workshop sanctioned productions, we can only hope the most famous 40K animation gets its due.

You know which one I'm talking about.

20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.