Lollipop Chainsaw 2 Back2Back Announced for PS5 in 2027 Without Suda51 or James Gunn

By CriticalPixel · 2026-09-17

Tokyo Game Show 2026 just delivered the reveal fans had been teased about for over a year. Lollipop Chainsaw 2 Back2Back is officially in development for PS5, targeting a 2027 release. Publishers Dragami Games and Nada Holdings confirmed the project alongside developer JP Universe, putting a name and a logo on a project that had spent months hiding behind a countdown teaser account. The reveal went live through a fresh trailer and a PlayStation Store listing, and deal-tracking accounts such as Wario64 broke the news within minutes of the trailer going up.

The original Lollipop Chainsaw launched in 2012 from Grasshopper Manufacture and director Goichi Suda alongside Warner Bros. Games, mixing campy horror movie humor with over the top chainsaw combat and a soundtrack full of licensed rock tracks. It built a cult following on style more than combat depth, then got a fresh coat of paint in 2023 with the RePOP remaster, which restored music that had been pulled from the original release over licensing problems.

A New Playground for Juliet

The pitch centers on Juliet Starling coming back in a new outfit and a serious power upgrade. San Romero, the town she trashed in 2012, has been rebuilt and rebranded as Jaredwood, a sprawling metropolis built around the film industry. According to Gematsu, a mysterious director traps Juliet inside his own twisted zombie movie, and she has to fight through waves of Corrupted Realm zombies while she and her allies dig into who is actually pulling the strings behind Jaredwood.

Lollipop Chainsaw 2 Back2Back key art showing Juliet in a new outfit

The pedigree behind the project is not small. Hajime Tabata, who directed Final Fantasy XV, is attached to Lollipop Chainsaw 2 Back2Back, alongside returning original crew members Masahiro Yuki, who co-produced and wrote the first game's scenario, and character artist NekoshowguN, who designed Juliet the first time around. JP Universe itself is a newer studio without a long public track record, and Nada Holdings brings the publishing muscle alongside Dragami Games, the company that already handled the RePOP remaster. Pairing an unproven developer with an experienced director like Tabata is the kind of bet that could go either way once real gameplay footage shows up.

The Elephant in the Room: No Suda, No Gunn

Here is the part longtime fans keep bringing up. Neither Goichi Suda, whose studio Grasshopper Manufacture directed the original, nor screenwriter James Gunn is credited on this sequel. On X, SwivelHipSmith summed up the mood bluntly, writing that the reveal amounts to Lollipop Chainsaw with nothing behind it, no Grasshopper, no James. Other replies pushed back, pointing out that both Suda and Gunn moved on from the franchise years ago, so their absence should not shock anyone who has actually followed the series since 2012.

Lollipop Chainsaw 2 Back2Back screenshot of the Jaredwood cityscape

Community Reaction Splits Down the Middle

Reaction across social media landed somewhere between hyped and cautious. One fan called it a cult classic coming back and left it at that. Others were harsher about the reveal art itself, arguing the muted color palette does not match the neon, candy colored tone the original was known for and asking Dragami to lose the grey entirely. Combine that with the missing original creative leads and you get a fanbase that wants this to work but is not ready to celebrate off a logo and a two minute trailer alone.

Our Take

Dragami Games and Nada Holdings are not wrong to swing for this license again. Lollipop Chainsaw sold well as a cult favorite and the RePOP remaster proved there is still an audience willing to pay for Juliet twice. But naming Tabata as a hire without Suda or Gunn attached is a gamble, not a guaranteed win, and pairing the announcement with a RePOP discount feels like a company hedging its bets by selling the safe nostalgia option right when it is asking fans to trust a brand new creative team with the sequel. If Dragami wants to win over the skeptics, the TGS Main Stage show on September 19 needs actual gameplay, not another trailer full of quick cuts and a title card.

RePOP Sale and What Comes Next

To mark the announcement, Dragami Games put Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP on sale for up to 45 percent off. The Steam discount runs through September 30, the Xbox Series and Xbox One sale runs through October 15, and the publisher says PS5, PS4, Switch, Switch 2, and GOG discounts are coming later. Dragami framed it on X as a second anniversary sale for the remaster, timed to catch anyone curious about the original before the sequel lands in 2027.

Lollipop Chainsaw 2 Back2Back screenshot of Juliet fighting zombies

Nothing about pricing or an exact release month exists yet, and Dragami has been clear that a full stage show is still days out from this reveal. Lollipop Chainsaw 2 Back2Back is playable at Tokyo Game Show 2026 through September 21 at Makuhari Messe, so more hands on impressions should start showing up this week. Whether it lands depends entirely on what Dragami and JP Universe show off next, not on the logo drop fans got today.