Netflix's 'Bass X Machina' Is the Dark Western Epic You Didn't Know You Needed | Review
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Netflix has been behind many hit adult animated shows in the last few years, from comedies like Big Mouth and BoJack Horseman to action-packed genre spectacles like Arcane and Castlevania. Bass X Machina looks to add to that legacy, with a steampunk Western mash-up inspired by American history. With Oscar-nominated star Brian Tyree Henry leading and a celebrated animation studio at the helm, does Netflix's newest series have what it takes to become your new streaming obsession?
What Is ‘Bass X Machina’ About?
The show is set in an alternate Old West, where steampunk-style technology lives alongside an America still recovering from the Civil War. Bass Reeves (Henry) is a bounty hunter with a cybernetic arm, haunted by the loss of his first wife and child in the war while doing his best to provide for his new family. He's then approached by the U.S. government with a complicated but well-paid mission to find a missing scientist linked to technological experiments that threaten America's safety. After reluctantly teaming up with Dana (Tati Gabrielle), a young engineer and the scientist's niece, Bass's investigation uncovers a plot with links to his past.
Bass X Machina was created by LeSean Thomas, best known for his work on the animated classic The Boondocks, as well as Nickelodeon’s The Legend of Korra. It is produced by Studio Mir, the Korean studio behind the recent Marvel hit X-Men ‘97. While the story is fictional, Bass Reeves is inspired by the real-life figure of the same name, who became one of the first Black Deputy U.S. Marshals during the late 19th century.
‘Bass X Machina’ Blends Fantasy with a Painful Reality
Image via Netflix
Bass X Machina seems to draw from many influences, ranging from animated shows like Arcane to neo-Westerns such as Django Unchained, but the series also has its own intriguing approach to its story. The Old West setting isn’t just for aesthetics; it plays into every aspect of Bass and Dana’s journey. The scars of war, the tensions of a divided nation, and the struggle to do the right thing in a world filled with corruption are all at the heart of each episode. Bass is a man who fights to protect the very society that oppresses him, constantly walking the line between the man that war made him and the man he wishes to be.
It’s a fascinating context that transforms Bass X Machina into something much more than gunfights and action scenes. One mid-season episode in particular, set aboard a train, becomes a half-hour debate on the nature of revenge, identity, and survival. Bass’ way of doing things, as well as Dana’s, is questioned at many turns, while the villains’ motivations are more complex than you might imagine. That’s not something every adult animated project can offer, and while the internal battles mean the show's pace can slow down at times, the story is delivered so elegantly that this is a small complaint.
The Action in Netflix’s 'Bass X Machina' Is Out of This World
Steampunk Westerns aren't a new subgenre, but rarely has the balance between Old West society and sci-fi technology been struck so perfectly as in Bass X Machina. Cybernetics is something that is shown to be resisted by humans, mirroring our current-day relationship with AI, and that allows the story to begin in a predominantly Western setting while slowly broadening the world's horizons as it progresses. Little touches, such as robot bartenders or Dana’s notepad, suggest a society on the verge of a technological leap beyond our present capabilities.
That blend of Western and sci-fi also gives way to fascinating locations like the workshop of Etta (Starletta DuPois), a bad-tempered inventor who becomes Dana’s idol, or the mesmerizing final showdown set in a construction site filled with robots and shining cogs. It’s a marvel to behold, with the animators putting an impressive level of detail into these environments while also choreographing magnificent action scenes. Bass X Machina's biggest strength is that no aspect of the visual or narrative storytelling has been left unattended. Whereas some shows are set in an alternative future simply to look pretty, Netflix's new animated series uses its fantastical past to drive conversation about real-world issues.
Brian Tyree Henry Leads a Terrific Voice Cast in 'Bass X Machina'
Henry, who also executive produces the show, is a delight as Bass X Machina's narrative anchor. With a deep, booming tone to his delivery, it’s easy to imagine the fear an outlaw may feel when Bass comes looking to collect his bounty. Like Joel in The Last of Us or Kratos in the upcoming God of War, Bass Reeves is the earthy, world-weary veteran who must guide a wide-eyed youngster through a violent world, and Henry's performance allows the character to be both fearsome with his foes and vulnerable with his allies.
Gabrielle, best known for her roles in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, You, and The Last of Us, shakes things up as Dana, a young and ambitious engineer who believes in doing the right thing. She asks difficult questions of Bass, creating a mentor-mentee dynamic between them despite his best efforts to stop her tagging along. She’s the brains of the duo, riding alongside Bass’ steed on a motorized scooter, and tries to help with gadgets that don’t always work. Dana's naivety is what gives the show a lot of its humor, as well as its heart.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which Western Icon Are You Most Like? No Name · Doc Holliday · Wyatt Earp · Mattie Ross
Pick your name, your gun, your horse and how you spend a night in town, and we will tell you which legend of the Old West you would have been. Four icons are waiting at the end of this: the stranger who never gives his name, the gambler who would die for a friend, the lawman who never wanted the badge, and the girl nobody has ever talked out of anything.
🚬No Name(Dollars Trilogy)
🃏Doc Holliday(Tombstone)
⭐Wyatt Earp(Tombstone)
🐎Mattie Ross(True Grit)
01
The town is about to learn your name. What do they call you? In a Western, what people call you is already half the character.
02
What are you carrying? Everything out here is character, right down to what is sitting on your hip.
03
What are you riding? A hero and their horse is one of the oldest relationships in cinema.
04
You have got one evening in town. How does it go? The saloon is where these films quietly tell you who somebody really is.
05
A stranger offers you money for a job that sounds like trouble. Somebody always turns up with a full purse and a bad idea.
06
Somebody is waiting for you in the street. What does the town see? Two people, an empty road, and everybody else watching from behind the shutters.
07
What is the one thing you will not do out here? The code is about the only thing west of the river that actually holds.
08
The job is finished. Where does the story leave you? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides your icon.
The Dust Has Settled Your Western Icon Is…
Four icons and four completely different ways of walking into trouble. This is the one you would have been out there, why it fits, and what it would have cost you.
The Man With No Name
You have never explained yourself and you have never needed to, because people work out fairly quickly that you are the most capable person in the room without you ever having to mention it.
- Eastwood built the character out of everything he refused to do, stripping away the backstory, the speeches and every bit of reassurance until only the competence was left.
- You keep your own counsel, and while other people occasionally find that unnerving, you have never felt any real need to fix it for them.
- The Dollars films work because he genuinely is in it for himself right up until the moment he is not, and he never explains that part either.
- You would be gone before anybody got a chance to thank you.
Doc Holliday
You are the funniest person in most rooms and the most loyal person in all of them, and you would be genuinely insulted if somebody suggested those two things were in any tension.
- Doc has no real reason to be in this fight beyond the fact that his friend is in it, which is the only reason he has ever needed for anything.
- You lead with wit, and it does a very effective job of hiding how seriously you take the handful of people you actually care about.
- Val Kilmer's performance is the most quoted in the entire genre because the jokes keep getting sharper as the situation gets worse.
- You would spend everything you had on this and still describe it as a good week.
Wyatt Earp
You never wanted this job, and you took it anyway because the alternative was standing there watching somebody less careful do it badly, which is the most Western reason there has ever been.
- Earp is the reluctant authority figure, a man who came to town specifically to be left alone and somehow ended up answerable for all of it.
- You are protective by instinct, so when something goes wrong your first thought is who is exposed rather than who is to blame.
- These films understand that keeping order costs far more than breaking it, and that the person holding the line almost never gets thanked.
- You would do the whole thing again, and you would complain about it the entire time.
Mattie Ross
Nobody has ever successfully talked you out of something you had already decided was right, and a long line of grown adults has found that out the hard way.
- Mattie is the most relentless character in the Western canon and she manages it through argument, paperwork and flat refusal rather than a fast draw.
- You have no patience for being managed, so you negotiate, you check the details and you turn up exactly when you said you would.
- True Grit is the rare Western where the moral centre is the youngest person on screen and every adult around her has to catch up.
- You would get what you came for, and the film is honest about what that takes out of you.
Some excellent vocal performances amplify the duo's journey, particularly former Twilight star Chaske Spencer as Lighthorse, a Native American sheriff and old friend of Bass who is after the same bounty. Janelle Monáe has some moving scenes as Bass’s wife Glory, and also performs the show’s memorable theme song, "HONOR KiLLING."
Bass X Machina offers a hint of more adventures to come, but only after bringing its story to a satisfying conclusion. That’s probably a wise move, given Netflix’s history of canceling beloved shows after a very limited run. Based on this first season, more Bass Reeves adventures would be most welcome, as the show is a great example of what’s possible within the medium of animation.
Bass X Machina is now streaming on Netflix.
- Release Date
- November 3, 2026
- Network
- Netflix
- Writers
- Chad Handley
Cast
-
Glory (voice)
-
Bass Reeves (voice)
Bass x Machina, released in 2026, is set in a lawless Steampunk West where a father navigates a landscape infested with outlaws, machines, and supernatural terrors. He becomes judge, jury, and executioner to protect his family, though each act of justice threatens to take away those he loves.
- Creator(s)
- LeSean Thomas
Pros & Cons
- A moving story that blends fantasy with history.
- Incredible animation and action scenes.
- Brian Tyree Henry and Tati Gabrielle make a great team.
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