Will There Be A New Lupin III Dub Released By Discotek This Year??
In another thread I saw that there was some speculation about what possible new Lupin Discotek titles we could get this year, if any, or if there might be any upcoming redubs. I know that not every fan cares about dubs, but they do serve as an easy entry point for a lot of casuals. As someone with dyslexia, they also serve as an accessibility option that makes enjoying the series a lot easier.
This got me thinking, and I observed that since 2016, we've gotten a pretty steady flow of new Lupin English dubs, a lot that were released first by Discotek. Discotek always seems to be working on something Lupin. I have heard Discotek mention, during their panel discussions, that not every new dub is funded stateside and that actually a few movies and the Part 1 dub were funded by Japan through some cultural exchange fund or something like that.
Something New For 2026?
To recap, I decided to make a list for myself to see how many dubs Discotek has released over the years and it's a lot, like half of the whole franchise:
2016 - Jigen's Gravestone
2018 - Part IV
2018 - The Legend of the Gold of Babylon
2019 - Goemon's Bloodspray
2019 - Blood Seal of the Eternal Mermaid
2020 - Fujiko Mine's Lie
2020 - Goodbye Partner
2021 - Part V + Is Lupin Still Burning
2021 - Lupin VS Conan Movie
2022 - Prison of the Past
2022 - Part I
2022 - Episode 0: First Contact
2022 - Lupin VS Conan Special
2025 - Castle of Cagliostro
Now let's speculate on what might still be in store for English-dubbed Lupin in 2026.
TV Specials
I think as far as Discotek is concerned, all of the TV specials that they were interested in dubbing are done, especially now that we are getting the TV Specials collection sets. I think it's unlikely for a new dub to be released in one of those sets.
Series:
Discotek has made it clear that while there is a lot of fan demand for a completion of Part 2 or a complete Part 3 dub, it would be too expensive for them to produce. The only reason even Part 1, which is much shorter than 2 or 3, happened was because it was outsider funded. I just don't see Parts 2 or 3 happening. While the length of those series prevents them from getting the full dub treatment, something short like Lupin Zero has a much better shot. When Lupin Zero was released in English-speaking territories it was actually Sentai Filmworks that handled the distribution. For whatever reason they didn't opt to give it an English dub, a truly bizarre exclusion. It's been a few years now and I think it's possible the license has lapsed, and could be up for grabs. It's a short 6 episodes, which I think could be easily dubbed and released by Discotek.
OVA:
This is the one place I see a couple of good opportunities for a new English Dub. I think one of the OVAs that is at the top of mind for most fans would be a ReDub of The Fuma Conspiracy. I've recently watched this english dub, and while it's not the worst thing I've ever heard, its audio mixing seems uneven and sloppy. It's also now one of few a titles Discotek has never released on blu-ray, despite releasing a DVD, and their DVD run is over a decade out of print. I heard there might be some licensing issues for that title but I have a hard time believing it's something that Discotek can't work out, considering they already have in the past. I think that new dub or not The Fuma Conspiracy is likely to release on blu-ray soon, but I heavily lean toward there being a new dub on that disc.
The other OVA which is also due for a Blu-ray release would be Green vs. Red. It's another title that Discotek released on DVD ages ago, in 2013, that I could see getting an English dub on a shiny new Blu-ray Disc. Unlike The Fuma Conspiracy, this has never had an English dub. Truthfully, I would have thought we would have gotten this title on Blu-ray by now. I've been speculating that they might do something interesting with this OVA by casting two actors to play the different Lupins. I understand that the original Japanese Dub used a completely new voice actor for yasuo, but how exciting would it be to have, say, Tony Oliver voice Red and Sonny Strait voicing Green? But what do I know? I thought they would have gotten Tony or Sonny to voice the fake Lupin in Zenigata and the 2 Lupins, but they got someone new instead. Although that was more in line with how the original OVA handled that Fake Lupin. I strongly believe this will also be released on blu-ray soon.
Speaking of the Lupin the IIIRD OVA series, Zenigata and the 2 Lupins is likely coming within the next year from Discotek although that won't exactly be a new dub from Discotek, as it has already been released on VOD platforms. I guess it's still true that it will be released on blu-ray first by Discotek. The Immortal Bloodline Movie already has a pre-order up by GKIDS. GKIDS usually does good blu-ray releases but I hope they let the license lapse and discotek re-releases it eventually, y'know for that blu-ray spine continuity.
Wild Card!
I just laid out all the titles I think are likely to get a standard normal blu-ray release, but there is a wild card possibility I wanted to highlight. Discotek experimented with a Fan Disc for the series Reborn!, where they dubbed a collection of fan-favorite episodes. I think it's possible that they put together a Fan Disc for Lupin part 2 that collects 4-8 fan favorite episodes that never received an English-language dub. If such a disc were made I think it's possible they would take the opportunity to redub the two Miyazaki-directed episodes to match the same cast as the newly redubbed Castle of Cagliostro.
We really are coming to the end of an era for new Lupin dubs from Discotek, but like Lupin himself Discotek also always seems to have one more thing up their sleeve.