NBA and NFL veterans fund pilot for Afro-futurist anime Sentinel 6
Former NBA guard Michael Carter-Williams and NFL running back Jamaal Williams have joined the anime project Sentinel 6 as executive producers, meaning senior backers who help shape and fund the show.
The project was detailed by The Hollywood Reporter on 10 October 2026. It is in development as an Afro-futurist science-fiction adventure centred on Black characters and futures shaped by African diaspora culture.
Sentinel 6 was created in 2019 by Pat Stout and Asa Palmer through their production company Sable Kudzu. Stout is a Jamaican-American writer. Palmer was a Bronx native and co-creator who died unexpectedly earlier in 2025.
The story is set in 2429, about 400 years after a near extinction-level event called the Great Phoenix War. That distance gives the series a clean break from the present. Survivors rebuild in its aftermath.
The plan is for 11 to 12 thirty-minute episodes. The production describes the show as Afro-Futurism, TV-MA new adult, sci-fi action-adventure, with TV-MA the United States rating for mature audiences.
LeSean Thomas wrote the pilot, the first test episode used to launch a series, and serves as a consulting producer, meaning an experienced adviser attached to the writing. Independent talent manager Sam Goff is also an executive producer alongside Carter-Williams and Williams. Goff represents Stout through Animated Perspectives.
The funding path has been pieced together in stages. In 2024, the team raised nearly $20,000 through Kickstarter to make a trailer produced by Chase A Cloud Studio. Carter-Williams and Williams then invested in the project and fully funded its pilot in late 2025, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The producers then took the project to two dozen animation studios. Creative Freaks won the bid to produce the animation.
Carter-Williams is an ESPN analyst, NBA Rookie of the Year and former Philadelphia 76ers and Chicago Bulls player. Williams is a veteran NFL running back and former Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints player.
What makes this stand out is the route to the screen. A creator-led idea moved from crowdfunding to athlete-backed financing before securing a studio. For viewers, the next step is a completed pilot seeking a home.
