RTX 2023: Is RWBY Still a Cliffhanger?

RWBY volume 9 was regarded by fans of the American anime as a return to form for the beloved show by Austin's Rooster Teeth: So where's volume 10? (Image Courtesy of Rooster Teeth)

For the last 10 years, it's been impossible to talk about Austin online leviathan Rooster Teeth without talking about its anime crossover smash, RWBY. But there was some surprising news today at the RWBY panel at the annual RTX convention: There is still no word on volume 10.

The surprise announcement came from series director Kerry Shawcross, who confirmed that volume 10 has not yet been greenlit. “That’s just how these things go,” he said, adding that they are still in discussions with partners, and he and writer Eddie Rivas have been working on concepts. To prove that there is a future beyond the major cliffhanger at the end of Volume 9, there was an abandoned six-minute epilogue (set to a temp track from Explosions in the Sky) that foreshadows future events. For now, Shawcross added, “Hashtag #greenlightvolume10.”

However, Shawcross and Rivas still had plenty to talk about, alongside supervising producer Lori Yates, plus cast members Lyndsay Jones (Ruby Rose), Kara Eberle (Weiis Schnee), Arryn Zech (Blake Belladonna), Barbara Dunkelman (Yang Xiao Long), and, making his first appearance at RTX, Neath Oum (Lie Ren).

The biggest announcement, aside from a whole swath of 10th anniversary and con-exclusive merch, had been foreshadowed in a special video at the earlier Rooster Teeth Animation: Behind the Frames panel. There was a tease that there will be more RWBY on YouTube, with the first public appearance of lead character Ruby Rose as a VTuber.

Plus, it's not like there will be no animated RWBY, as the second volume of the crossover movie featuring the Rooster Teeth characters and DC's greatest heroes, Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsmen, will be available later this year.

As for the merchandise:

• Volume 9 will be available on Blu-ray and DVD on October 3, complete with commentaries, galleries, and episodes of spinoff series RWBY: Fairy Tales and RWBY Chibi.

• Before that, the 44-track volume 9 soundtrack will be available on streaming platforms from July 28.

• New Makeship merch, including Team JNPR plushies and Team RWBY charms.

• The DC/RWBY trade paperback will be published September 5, collecting all seven issues of the comic miniseries.

Created by Monty Oum in 2013, RWBY recounts the adventures of four young women in a fantasy world in which they have been trained to fight the monstrous Grimm. After Oum tragically died in 2015 aged 33 after an allergic reaction to a medical procedure, the show continued under Shawcross. RWBY has become the biggest title in Rooster Teeth's catalog, although for Volume 9 (regarded as a return to form by many fans), the series moved platforms from Rooster Teeth’s RT First to anime experts Crunchyroll for first-run screenings.

RWBY has become a transmedia phenomenon, spawning spinoffs (RWBY Chibi and RWBY: Fairy Tales), novels, the DC crossovers, and not one but two video games, co-op action RPG Grimm Eclipse and the Metrovania-style 2D side scroller Arrowfell. Plus, in an amazing turn of events for an American show influenced by anime, it's not only been translated into Japanese but got its own Japanese-produced reboot, RWBY: Ice Queendom.

And as for the future? As Shawcross concluded, and as has been trending on social media since, “#greenlightvolume10.”

RTX 2023, Fri.-Sun., July 7-9. Austin Convention Center, 500 E. Cesar Chavez. rtxaustin.com