Bass X Machina Rotten Tomatoes searches now point to Brian Tyree Henry’s turn as Bass Reeves in Netflix’s animated steampunk Western. Variety’s review puts the show’s appeal on its blend of history and fantasy, with Henry also serving as an executive producer.
LeSean Thomas and Studio Mir
LeSean Thomas created the series, and Studio Mir produced it. That pairing gives the show a polished action frame for a story that borrows from the real Bass Reeves and the Civil War, then pushes far beyond history with a robot arm, bull-shaped mechanical suits, goop-shooting guns, and women who control lightning.
The setup gives Bass one last bounty job and sends him into the Badlands with Dana Starr, an aspiring engineer looking for her missing uncle. Dana is played by Tati Gabrielle, while Chaske Spencer appears as Lighthorse, a member of the Choctaw nation. Janelle Monáe voices Glory and sings the theme song.
Race in the Old West
Black bounties go for half the rate of white ones, and that detail sits at the center of the show’s worldbuilding. The series uses that imbalance to frame a routine train robbery as an argument over laws that were never designed to protect the people forced to live under them.
The review also places Bass x Machina beside Blue Eye Samurai in the way it mythologizes the past while still making race and representation part of the story’s structure. That comparison matters because the show is not trying to hide its politics behind the fantasy setting; it folds them into the action.
General Rivenbark and Ahni
General Rivenbark, played by Currie Graham, remains at large after a grisly experiment left Bass with his arm. Ahni, voiced by Cree Summer, brands Bass an enemy for not joining her violent crusade, while Glory urges him not to let anger take over.
Brian Tyree Henry gives Bass the weight the role needs, and the series uses that performance to keep the character grounded even as the world grows more fantastical. For viewers of Netflix, the immediate takeaway is simple: Bass x Machina is built less like a straight history lesson than a myth about law, survival, and the price of revenge.
