Prison BreakWarhammer has let a fan-favourite 40k animator out of the basement, and weve finally got an Astartes 2 trailerSomeone left the door open and Syama has escaped. Now a whole team is releasing a new series of animations in 2026.Image credit: Warhammer News by Connor Makar Staff Writer Published on Jan. 29, 2025 Alarms are blaring at Warhammer HQ, as a prisoner has escaped from deep within the Imperial Palace. No, it's not Luther (again), and it isn't whatever's behind that mysterious numbered door either. It's Syama, the animator behind the hugely popular Astartes animation. They've vanished into thin air, but have left a trailer for Astartes 2 behind, which they (alongside a team of other talented animators) will be releasing in 2026.The trailer, which you can watch below, is a collection of clips showing Space Marines from various chapters doing what they do best: shooting big guns and fighting Xenos. Some of these clips come from the original teaser released by Syama a few years ago, while many of them are entirely new. It makes for a very good watch.Watch the Astartes 2 trailer here!Watch on YouTubeIt's of course worth noting that Syama hasn't spent all this time locked away, they've been working on the Secret Level 40k animation too, so they've had a chance to stretch their legs. But ever since they were hired people have been thirsty for some Astartes, which it seems we'll soon have.But the trailer also raises some interesting questions. If we check out the official Warhammer blog post for this new reveal, we're given some interesting additional info. "This teaser trailer is not actually clips from the new animation, instead showing a compilation of shots that represent the former lives of the characters that will appear in the show. Theres a pretty unsubtle hint at the end as to the nature of the final story... well leave you to speculate and start putting the pieces together yourselves."So none of the clips in this trailer will actually show up in Astartes 2 next year. Instead, it's offering a glimpse of the "former lives" of characters we'll see. A bit of speculation here, but this could mean one of two things. Either Astartes 2 will feature individual episodes with these characters doing seperate things alongside their chapters, be it fighting The Tau or clashing against Chaos, or they'll all come together in a single Death Watch Squad. The Death Watch, for those not aware, is basically a seperate Space Marine entity where marines from different chapters are sent to fight aliens. I'm currently leaning towards the Deathwatch idea, just because the blog mentioned a hint towards the final story, and the original Astartes series focused on a single squad doing its thing, but it truly could be anything. It does seem like a lot of work though, animating all these new shots just so none of them make it into the final project. I don't know about you, but I'm fiendishly waiting for 2026 to come around, and with it, more Astartes. Let us know below if you feel the same way!