David Fincher and the genre-bending return of LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS

Scott Huver
Photos: Charley Gallay (Getty Images/Netflix)
May 5, 2025
Gold Derby

“For my money, it’s like LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS should be anything. Anything that you can’t figure out where else it goes,” legendary filmmaker David Fincher mused about the unconventional, sci-fi/cyberpunk-flavored Netflix (mostly) animated anthology series. It’s as apt a description as any for the ambitious, experimental, and genre-bending project, now launching its fourth season.

“Creativity happens on the fringe,” said Fincher — the director behind boundary-pushing cinematic classics like SevenFight ClubThe Social NetworkGone Girl, and Zodiac. Speaking on stage at the LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS season premiere at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, he was joined by fellow executive producer Tim Miller (Deadpool) and supervising producer Jennifer Yuh Nelson (Kung Fu Panda 2 & 3), and the host, director Guillermo del Toro. “It always does, and it always takes somebody — it has to be these weird flyers out there — to inform where the industry is going to go. So we’re just going to be out there.”

“Out there” also aptly describes Fincher’s contribution to the new season as a director. Having launched his career as an in-demand music video director for top artists in the ’80s and ’90s — including MadonnaMichael Jackson, the Rolling StonesStingGeorge MichaelAerosmithNine Inch Nails, and Paula Abdul — Fincher returned to those roots to helm Can’t Stop. The dynamic, fully CGI-animated short features the Red Hot Chili Peppers performing their 2002 hit at an Irish castle—as marionettes on strings.

Read the full profile

The event was recorded by Netflix, so a video should be available soon.

LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS. Volume 4 Premiere Red Carpet Interviews

May 5, 2025

Featuring Directors Till Miller, Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Patrick Osborne, Emily Dean, Robert Bisi & Andy Lyon, and Voice Actors Emily O’Brien, and Sumalee Montano.

LOVE, DEATH + ROBOTS Vol. 4 Red Carpet Interview
The Movie Couple

LOVE, DEATH + ROBOTS VOLUME IV Premiere! Tim Miller, Emily O’Brien, Sumalee Montano, and more!
Temple of Geek

LOVE, DEATH + ROBOTS Vol. 4 Premiere: MR. BEAST’s Episode (Snyder Connection & Sonic 4)!
Mama’s Geeky

LOVE, DEATH + ROBOTS Season 4 Cast and Creatives on AI & How They’d Expand the Title
The Direct Extras

LOVE, DEATH + ROBOTS: Tim Miller & Cast Break Down Epic Volume 4 Episodes
Screen Rant Plus

LOVE, DEATH + ROBOTS: Tim Miller

LOVE, DEATH + ROBOTS: Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Emily Dean, & Patrick Osborne

LOVE, DEATH + ROBOTS: Sumalee Montano, Feodor Chin, & Emily O’Brien

That Hashtag Show
May 17, 2025

LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS. Volume 4: Official Trailer, New Posters, New Stills & Episode Guide

April 24, 2025
Netflix

Dinosaur gladiators, messianic cats, string-puppet rock stars, it can only be LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS.

The fourth volume, presented by Tim Miller (DeadpoolTerminator: Dark Fate) and David Fincher (MindhunterThe Killer), sees Jennifer Yuh Nelson (Kung Fu Panda 2Kill Team Kill) return as supervising director for ten startling shorts showcasing the series’ signature, award-winning style of bleeding-edge animation, horror, sci-fi and humor. Buckle up.

Among the 10 shorts included in Volume 4 is an episode directed by David Fincher. The second short he has directed after Bad Travelling (Vol. 3) is titled Can’t Stop, and it is a throwback to his early work as a music video director. “A unique take on the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ legendary 2003 performance at Slane Castle, Ireland,” it features the band members as marionette puppets, with animation by Blur Studio.

Other shorts in this Volume directed by returning directors include Spider Rose by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, set in the fantastic cyberpunk universe of Swarm (Vol. 3). Oscar-winning Patrick Osborne directs two episodes: The Other Large Thing, about a cat plotting world domination, and Smart Appliances, Stupid Owners, about household tech that revolts. Tim Miller directs another two episodes: Golgotha, “a rare live-action entry” about “dolphin Jesus”, and The Screaming of the Tyrannosaur, set in an outer space gladiatorial arena where combatants ride genetically modified dinosaurs. And Robert Valley directs 400 Boys, about a post-apocalyptic city where warring gangs follow a bushido-like code of honor.

Read the Volume 4 Guide: 2025. LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS. Volume 4

Click in the gallery below to view eleven brand-new stills:

And check out the new posters designed by Neil Kellerhouse:

EXTREMING May 15, 2025, only on Netflix.

LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS. Volume 4: Official Teaser, Poster, First Stills & Release Date

There will be 10 original shorts in the new volume.

April 9, 2025
Netflix

Dinosaur gladiators, messianic cats, string-puppet rock stars, it can only be Love, Death & Robots.

The fourth volume, presented by Tim Miller (Deadpool, Terminator: Dark Fate) and David Fincher (Mindhunter, The Killer), sees Jennifer Yuh Nelson (Kung Fu Panda 2, Kill Team Kill) return as supervising director for ten startling shorts showcasing the series’ signature, award-winning style of bleeding-edge animation, horror, sci-fi and humor. Buckle up.

Click in the gallery below to view five brand-new stills:

Time for your fourth dose:

Poster by Neil Kellerhouse

EXTREMING May 15, 2025, only on Netflix.

Love, Death + Robots Is Fully Charged for Volume 4

Stephan Lee
Netflix Tudum

Read the series guides:

2019. LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS. Volume 1

2021. LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS. Volume 2

2022. LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS. Volume 3

Netflix’s Origin Story: How the Streamer Killed Blockbuster Video, Snagged ‘House of Cards’ From HBO, and Changed Hollywood Forever

Brent Lang
March 20, 2025
Variety

“No late fees.”

When Netflix launched as a DVD rental service in 1998, that was its most effective pitch to potential customers — an unmistakable reference to the thing that people hated the most about Blockbuster. With more than 9,000 locations, Blockbuster was the biggest video rental chain in the world, but it was alienating members because its profits came from charging hefty fines for movies that weren’t returned on time.

“It was an obvious sore spot,” Reed Hastings, Netflix’s co-founder, says. “People loved renting movies and watching them at home, but the late fee became the symbol of everything painful about that model. So we decided to create something different.”

Netflix didn’t just do away with late fees by allowing customers to keep movies for as long as they wanted. It offered subscribers unlimited rentals for a monthly flat fee. As a bonus, it delivered DVDs directly to customers’ homes, eliminating the hassle of having to drive to the local Blockbuster to scour aisle after aisle of movies in search of something to watch.

That gamble paid off. Twenty-eight years after it debuted with little fanfare, Netflix, now under the leadership of Hastings’ successors, Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, dominates Hollywood. Its market cap of $392.68 billion surpasses those of Disney, Warner Bros., Discovery, Paramount Global, and Comcast combined.

Reed Hastings on Ted Sarandos committing to spending $100 million on House of Cards, picking the show up for an unheard-of two seasons, before a pilot had even been shot, and agreeing not to give David Fincher any notes and guaranteeing him full creative control:

“I wasn’t comfortable with it. It seemed perilously aggressive to me, just on the edge of reckless. We’d been working together for a decade, so I’d come to trust Ted’s instincts. But they were definitely not my instincts.”

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LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS. Volume 4

Tim Miller:

“If you look at when we traditionally released the show, you might have some clues as to when. But, yeah, we’re working on it and it’s going to be awesome. There are some big surprises there.”

The Direct Extras. December 10, 2024.

David Fincher:

“I just finished up a Love, Death, and Robots.”

CinemaBlend. January 2, 2025.

“The Most Thrillingly Stupid Fix in the World”: David Fincher Tells Us How He Restored SE7EN in 4K

Perri Nemiroff
January 2, 2025
Collider

It’s officially 2025, and that makes it the year of SE7EN’s 30th anniversary. Released in theaters on September 22, 1995, David Fincher’s second feature film enjoyed a successful run at the box office, scored an Academy Award nomination for Best Film Editing, a BAFTA nomination for Best Original Screenplay, and is still revered as top-tier cinema to this day.

The movie stars Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt as detectives. Freeman’s William Somerset is a respected veteran on the verge of retirement, while Pitt’s David Mills is a recently transferred detective with loads of confidence, but lots to learn from Somerset. The pair is assigned to investigate a string of elaborate and ruthless murders, each one connected to one of the seven deadly sins.

In celebration of SE7EN’s release on 4K UHD on January 7, and also its first-ever IMAX release on January 3, I got the opportunity to get a peek behind the curtain of the restoration process courtesy of Fincher himself. He broke down the factors he must consider when choosing which of his films to restore, where he draws the line when making changes to the original film during this restoration process, how he used AI to pull off “the most thrillingly stupid fix in the world,” and loads more. You can read about all of that and his thoughts on his Netflix projects getting physical releases in the interview below.

Read the full interview

The Screenplay for “Love, Death + Robots: Bad Travelling” by Andrew Kevin Walker

January 26, 2024
andrewkevinwalker.com

Download the Screenplay and Beat Sheet for Love, Death + Robots: Bad Travelling from Andrew Kevin Walker’s website (links in the top right of the script pile).

Winner of the 2022 Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Writing in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production.

Follow Andrew Kevin Walker on Instagram

Read the LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS. Volume 3 guide

Watch LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS on Netflix

In Conversation: David Fincher and The Crew of “The Killer” in New York

Tomris Laffly
October 28, 2023

David Fincher discusses the making of The Killer with Sound Designer Ren Klyce, Editor Kirk Baxter, and Writer Andrew Kevin Walker, after the screening for the press in New York. Hosted by Tomris Laffly.

(Video clips recorded with a phone from the audience, with not very good audio and, for some reason, with each video clip edited in twice).

In Conversation: David Fincher and The Crew of “The Killer” in New York

October 27, 2023
Netflix: Behind the Streams

David Fincher discusses the making of The Killer with Writer Andrew Kevin Walker, Editor Kirk Baxter, and Sound Designer Ren Klyce, after the “Tastemaker” screening for The Academy at the Whitby Hotel in New York.

Watch The Killer on Netflix