The upcoming Netflix animated feature Ray Gunn will premiere on Netflix on December 18, 2026. The Movie Couple was invited to an early press day at the Netflix Animation Building in Burbank, California, along with a group of journalists to preview the first 30 minutes of the film and to take a deep dive into the creative process of the retro-futuristic tale.
What is the plot of ‘Ray Gunn?’
From award-winning director Brad Bird (The Iron Giant, The Incredibles) comes a neo-noir animated feature that follows private detective Ray Gunn (Sam Rockwell) as he is drawn into a case involving aliens, scandals, murder, and pop star Venus Nova (Scarlett Johansson). Bird describes the film as “The Maltese Falcon meets Buck Rogers.”
Set in Metropia, a city in an alternate future as seen from 1939, private investigator Rayond Gunn (voiced by Sam Rockwell) is drawn into a case involving aliens, murder, and mega multimedia star Venus Nova (voiced by Scarlett Johansson)
In addition to Sam Rockwell and Scarlett Johansson, the cast also includes Tom Waits, Alan Tudyk, Matt Berry, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Chernus, Kether Donohue, Michelle Rodriguez, Aasif Mandvi, Matt Jones, Kathryn Hunter, John Ratzenberger, Justin Peck and Patton Oswalt
What Footage Did We See Of ‘Ray Gunn’?
The Movie Couple had the pleasure of screening the first 30 minutes of Ray Gunn, introduced by director Brad Bird. Reflecting on his time working the decades-long project, “When we finally got to the point where we were starting to physically make this movie, I had a really good time,” said Bird. “It was hell getting to that point where we could gather up all the resources and all the artists to start making music.”
Before viewing the footage, Bird also talked about the difficult decision of where to stop the sneak peek presentation. “We picked a place to stop that is good because it kind of sets something up for you,” says Bird. “When I saw where we were stopping, I kind of thought, ‘well, if we went on a minute more, we can stop on a joke,’ and then I went, ‘yeah, but the joke isn’t the story’.
The footage opens on Metropia, showing humans and aliens intermingling, along with a multitude of flying vehicles and towering skyscrapers, complete with a film noir-style stinger that adds to the world-building of the movie’s retro-futuristic feel. We follow a one-eyed alien janitor into a building, arriving on one of the top floors in an elevator. There, we learn the janitor is sneaking in his associate and private eye, Ray Gunn.
In a heist-like scene, Ray Gunn and his one-eyed alien partner Eyera sneak into a dark office to find a hidden document. However, it seems that Ray Gunn isn’t the only one who knows about the document. Another group of aliens traveling by jetpacks enters through the office window, searching for the same document.
As Ray Gunn and Eyera hide, a security surveillance droid eventually finds them. Alerted by the droid (and the commotion), the office’s owner, Vanzine, storms in. She is an alien with tentacles for legs and multiple arms. A fight breaks out between all parties, with the other group of aliens getting away with the document.
Later, we see Ray visit a weapons shop for a new blaster. The conversation between the shop owner and Ray showcases their obvious long history. There’s a hilarious moment where the owner tries to push a specific blaster on Ray – a special function that can zap the target into the gun and release them with a pull of a trigger.
Ray Gunn takes on a new client who wants him to look into his wife’s potential affair. It turns out he is married to superstar Venus Nova. As Eyera tracks down Venus, he sees her meeting up with her supposed lover and photographs them together.
We also got to see Venus Nova filming a new music video, with a spectacular set and a costume that shifts from Angel to Devil. Her performance is captivating. This scene also gives us a look into her temperament, as she is quick to anger when something goes wrong.
This preview left me wanting to know more. The world-building in Ray Gunn is vast, and the animation is absolutely stunning. You can’t help but be pulled in by the mystery of it all. And yes, Eyera is going to end up being everyone’s favorite character.
Building a Retro-Futuristic World of Film Noir – Characters and Landscape
In a deep-dive presentation with art director Wendell Luebbe and Cinesite visual effects supervisor Adele Abada, they looked at the animation process, from character design and movement to the construction of Metropia and the film’s distinctive lighting. With the film deeply rooted in the language of classic cinema, bringing its retro-futuristic world to life required an enormous amount of work behind-the-scenes.
For Luebbe, one of the most important aspects of Ray Gunn is the opportunity to push animation beyond traditional expectations.
“Animation is expanding into new territories because we’re telling stories that are not, that you usually do not see in animated features,” Luebbe explained. “Brad has always said, ever since I’ve known him, that animation is just a vehicle for execution.”
Director Brad Bird has been developing Ray Gunn for about 30 years, and that long history is reflected in its central character. Luebbe explained that Ray’s basic design has remained remarkably consistent over the years: a detective wearing a large overcoat and a distinctive tie.
The team wanted to maintain a degree of stylization while also making the character feel tangible and believable. They created an extensive number of variations of Ray, everything from his hair, skin, clothing, and physical appearance, to take account of any changes depending on what was happening in the story. For example, if Ray was in a fight, his hair could become disheveled. If he had been walking in the rain, he would need to look wet.
“All of these had to be created separately, then combined as a pre-set,” Luebbe said. “We had up to 67 presets of this guy.”
The same attention was applied to the movie’s starlet Venus Nova, whose look was inspired by classic Hollywood stars Veronica Lake and Lauren Bacall. Venus had about 23 outfits, along with multiple hairstyles, makeup, and appearance variations.
The team was always balancing the futuristic and the period, wanting to make a unique world for the film. This includes Metropia, which can be counted as a main character itself.
The city combines Hugh Ferriss’s monumental architecture with the streamlined modern aesthetic of the 1930s. The team created super tall buildings and brought the streamlined modern design into the buildings as they reached the sky. The result is a massive city that stretches vertically for miles.
As for the alien characters, the challenge lies in how to animate bodies that don’t follow the conventional human anatomy. Eyera, for example, evolved from an early design that was half organic and half Terminator, before becoming an organic alien with spider-like legs.
The legs were another hurdle for the animators, as they had to determine how his tripod-like legs would establish a stable base, how he moves, and how the legs interact with his oversized coat. The process was a part of Cinesite’s larger character pipeline, which included modeling, rigging, animation, and CFX.
“We all worked that out before shot production,” Abada said. “So I would say 90% of it is figured out when it comes ot the shot”.
Other alien designs presented similar challenges. Characters with six arms or grasshopper-like legs required the animators to experiment with their movement and posture.
After the deep-dive presentation, we moved into a drawing demo session, where Storyboard Artist Clarisse Chua taught us how to draw the film’s main characters, Ray Gunn and Venus Nova.
During the demo, Chua talked about the storyboarding process. “We get launched on our assignments by getting the script pages, and usually, depending on how extensive the script is or what kind of scene it is, you get about one to two weeks for one to three pages of scripts to draw out,” said Chua. The time frame is fluid, as it depends on the script and how complete it is.
There was also a Voice Recording Session where we got to try our best to voice Ray Gunn or Venus Nova. With guidance from Animation Director Jason Ryan, it was fascinating to be inside a recording booth and learn more about voiceover and ADR. A monitor played the scene we were voicing, with a countdown of beeps before each line.
Ray Gunn will arrive on Netflix on December 18, 2026.
About Ray Gunn
From director Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille) comes Ray Gunn. Set in Metropia, a city in an alternate future as seen from 1939, private investigator Rayond Gunn (voiced by Sam Rockwell) is drawn into a case involving aliens, murder, and mega multimedia star Venus Nova (voiced by Scarlett Johansson).
