The Spike TV network has announced that in January of 2009 it will air Afro Samurai: Resurrection, an animated feature length movie sequel to the Afro Samurai anime miniseries that was one of the bestselling anime DVDs of 2007.  Afro Samurai: Resurrection, like its predecessor was produced by Gonzo, one of Japan’s leading anime studios.  Once again Samuel L. Jackson, who also functioned as an executive producer on the project, reprises his role as the title character and hip hop artist RZA (Wu-Tang Clan) provides the soundtrack.  Lucy Liu joins the vocal cast as Sio, a seductive and sadistic mastermind plotting to destroy Afro Samurai, while Mark Hamill will voice the role of Bin, Sio’s servant and protector.  A trailer for Afro Samurai: Resurrection will debut at Comic-Con and will be available for viewing on afrosamurai.com starting at 8:15 pm (ET) on Thursday July 24th.

FUNimation Entertainment, which co-produced Afro Samurai: Resurrection with Gonzo, will once again have the home entertainment (DVD, etc.) rights, though no debut date for the disc, which is sure to be one of the bestselling anime DVDs of 2008, has been set yet.

The Afro Samurai miniseries and Afro Samurai: Resurrection are based on the original Afro Samurai manga by Takashi Okazaki, which Tor/Seven Seas is releasing in North America on September 2nd, 2008.