Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom

Set in Cosmic Era 75, the film will involve the characters of Kira Yamato and Lacus Clyne with the first trailer highlighting the themes of "freedom versus destiny".[1]

Sunrise announced the film at the Sony Music Anime Fes' 06. It would have been the first original Gundam film since 1991.[4] After the Sony Music Anime Fes' 06, Sunrise announced the film on their website.[5] Houko Kuwashima, voice actress of character Stella Loussier, has stated on her "SEED Club blog" that the character will somehow also have a role in the film. Lacus, Yzak Joule, and Dearka Elsman will return as members of the PLANT Supreme Council and Kira, Shinn, and Lunamaria Hawke will be part of the ZAFT military.[6] However, In 2008, writer Chiaki Morosawa explained that the plot was done, but she has been ill since the end of 2004-2005's Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny series. As a result, she asked for the fans' patience.[7] In 2016, it was announced Morosawa passed away due to aortic dissection.[8] Takanori Nishikawa mentioned at the Gundam 40th Fes. “Live-Beyond” concert in 2019 that he was told by a staff member that the film was still in pre-production.[9]

The Bandai Namco Group announced the "Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Project ignited" initiative during the opening ceremony for the life-size Freedom Gundam statue in Shanghai in May 2021. Headlining the initiative is the previously announced film project that serves as a sequel to the television series Destiny.[10] The official website for the film project opened on July 2, 2023, and revealed the film's title and teaser.[11]

Fukuda said the development team of the movie is composed both several returning staff members as well as new ones, aiming to create new technology together. Despite pressure of the success of the two SEED series, the director looks forward to create a product that is able to match its predecessors.[12] Fukuda apologized to the fans for the long development hell the film took as it originally meant to come shortly after Destiny. He reflected such series left unfinished drama to the protagonists of Kira Yamato, Athrun Zala and Shinn Asuka and thus wanted to explore such possibilities with Freedom. With the long development, Fukuda also looked forward to use more 3D and facial expressions.[13]

In contrast to Destiny where most of the plot focused around Athrun Zala, Fukuda decided that the protagonist of the film would be Kira, leading to the new subtitle Freedom which serves as on of the main themes of the trilogy and contrasted Gilbert Durandal's Destiny Plan used in the climax of the previous series. Fukuda finds it challenging to pinpoint what exactly those origins are, but over the course of a year, he has been mulling over how to create a piece that resonates with what they achieved with SEED and DESTINY. In that sense, it was a return to their roots in terms of evoking those elements. Finding the concept of staying true to the routes of SEED gave the director major pressure. The CG team is striving to emulate Satoshi Shigeta's artwork. He has also major inspirations about the handling of Shinn and whether or not the audience be appealed by him. He felt that the voice actors Kenichi Suzumura, Akira Ishida among others expanded their ranges, improving the characters.[14]

• Official site (in Japanese)