My Chemical Romance Release Animated Short "Prelude to the End" With Phoebe Bridgers and Billie Eilish in the Cast

My Chemical Romance have released a new animated short film, "Prelude to the End", and two of the best-known voices in alternative pop are part of its cast. Phoebe Bridgers and Billie Eilish both appear in the film, according to Pitchfork, which reported the details on October 30, 2026.

The film is a collaboration with visual artist Lauren Tsai. It follows Astrid, a student at a boarding school in New England that has been overrun with rubbish. Looking for a beloved sketchbook, Astrid falls down the school's garbage chute. At the bottom, she enters a place where old ideas come to life.

Bridgers voices Astrid's sister. Eilish voices a close friend of Astrid. The cast also includes Hideo Kojima, the video game designer, who voices a character called the Teacher, and the actor John C. McGinley, who voices a character called The Dean.

The soundtrack includes a live recording of Pascal Dusapin's "Flying River, Violin Concerto". The piece is performed by the Utopia Orchestra and conducted by Giuseppe Mengoli. A violin concerto is a work in which a solo violinist plays with a full orchestra.

The band plans to show the film at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on October 30 and 31, 2026. Those two nights are the last of the band's five-night residency at the venue, a run of consecutive shows in one place. Screening a film during a live show gives the crowd a different way to take in the band's work than a concert alone.

The release also marks a wider anniversary. My Chemical Romance say they are marking 20 years since "The Black Parade", their third album and the follow-up to "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge". To mark the date, the band has put everything finished during the album's recording sessions into one collection, the first time those pieces have been released together. The band also asked the artist James Jean to revisit the world of "The Black Parade" and make three new pieces of art, according to the band's own website.

For fans, the short film sits alongside that anniversary material, so the two projects read as one body of work. For anyone new to the band, the film stands on its own: a short story, a famous cast and a piece of classical music, all packed into one animated run.