Netflix's Most Anticipated 2026 Series Is Officially Its Most Controversial
Nicolas Ayala is a Senior Writer for the Comics team at ScreenRant, with over five years of experience writing about Superhero media, action movies, and TV shows.
The most anticipated Netflix series in what's left of 2026 matches its anticipation with a fair bit of controversy behind the scenes. Ben Affleck’s tense kidnapping thriller Animals headlines the most anticipated Netflix movie releases this year, scheduled to debut on October 9 with a star-studded cast. Movie enthusiasts can also look forward to Chris Evans and Anya Taylor-Joy in Sacrifice on October 16, as well as anticipated documentaries like the four-part sports profile TYSON on October 13 and the intimate retrospective The One About Matthew Perry on October 27.
Netflix's upcoming series are also filled with stars and captivating hooks. Florence Pugh stars in the seven-episode limited series adaptation of John Steinbeck's classic novel East of Eden, available on October 1. Fan-favorite franchises are making major returns as well, including the French heist thriller Lupin: Part 4 on October 23, and the Boston-based eleventh season of the reality phenomenon Love Is Blind on October 14. Alongside the expected late-fall return of Keri Russell in The Diplomat season 4, these releases provide a robust lineup of drama, romance, and mystery for the final three months of 2026.
Curiously, the most anticipated Netflix release of 2026's fourth quarter is very different from all the aforementioned movies and shows, and it promises to be a streaming phenomenon despite a couple of controversies among fans.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run Is Both Highly Anticipated And Controversial
Steel Ball Run Faced Backlash Behind The Scenes
As one of the most celebrated storylines in Hirohiko Araki’s long-running manga epic, the anime adaptation of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run is naturally one of the most intensely anticipated anime releases in recent years. However, its rollout has been shadowed by serious fan concerns. A major part of the backlash is the involvement of music producer Dr. Luke, who had a nearly decade-long legal battle after pop singer Kesha filed a lawsuit alleging that the producer had abused her. Dr. Luke composed and produced JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run's ending theme song, "Dead or Alive," which sparked outrage and inspired fans to demand the song's removal.
The soundtrack choices have also drawn scrutiny from fans who had high expectations for very specific musical choices. Given that Steel Ball Run follows an 1890s cross-country American horse race, period-appropriate folk, Americana, or classic rock tracks are a more logical choice than modern Japanese rap or hip-hop. Moving away from the source material's western-inspired rustic nature feels like a missed opportunity to fully capture the atmospheric spirit of the Trans-American race. Still, even with these debates, the Steel Ball Run arc keeps anticipation at a fever pitch.
Expectations Are High For JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run
Steel Ball Run Could Go Very Well Or Very Badly
Considering how widely celebrated Steel Ball Run is, expectations for its anime adaptation are impossibly high, which places the project on a razor-thin margin where it could either become a unanimous success or a big disappointment. Throughout the years, the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure anime has become a benchmark for stylistic fidelity. With Steel Ball Run introducing notoriously difficult animation hurdles such as the hundreds of dynamic horse-riding sequences, any misstep or obvious shortcut could be instantly magnified. Missing the mark on such a pivotal arc would pose a genuine risk to the entire series' reputation.
Fortunately, beyond the initial production controversies, everything surrounding the upcoming Steel Ball Run release seems to be top-notch. The return of Johnny Joestar and Gyro Zeppeli’s transcontinental journey promises an unmatched spectacle in motion, and the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure franchise's signature creative vision appears to remain intact. If the second stage of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run continues to channel the heart and artistry of Araki's original work, the anime will certainly overcome its turbulence to deliver new heights for the entire JoJo universe.
Are you excited about JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run?
- TV Show(s)
- JoJo Bizarre Adventure
- Video Game(s)
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R
- Created by
- Hirohiko Araki
- Character(s)
- Will A. Zeppeli, Jonathan Joestar, Giorno Giovanna, Jotaro Kujo, Joseph Joestar, Jolyne Cujoh, Johnny Joestar, Josuke Higashikata, Gyro Zeppeli
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.