Why An Ackerman Prequel Should Be the Next Attack on Titan Series

Huge spoilers for Attack on Titan follow.

After 14 incredible years, Hajime Isayama’s Attack on Titan has finally come to a close with the jaw-dropping final part of its final chapter in its final season, finally. While not perfect, the anime’s finale fixed a lot of the pacing issues of the source material, tweaked some of its more contentious dialogue, and included some of the best action ever you’re ever likely to see in animation. It’s almost hard to believe it’s finished, and on such a high note too considering the mixed response to the manga ending.

But just because the main series has finished, that doesn’t mean that the Attack on Titan universe is finished — it’d almost be a shame to let such a deep well of untapped storytelling potential go to waste. While the closing shot of a boy and his dog walking into a very familiar looking tree to supposedly start the Titan cycle all over again is the obvious direction to take the story next, there’s one bloodline that might be even more intriguing to explore in a new prequel series: the Ackerman clan.

Represented in Attack on Titan by Levi and Mikasa, as well as Levi’s uncle Kenny for a brief period, the Ackerman family are protectors to Eldia’s king, and that’s just about all we know about them, which is surprising considering just how popular both Levi and Mikasa are. We still don’t even know the names of Mikasa’s mother and father, for instance. With that in mind, we’ve got a few key reasons why an Ackerman prequel could be the next best direction for the AOT-verse.

 

We Know Next to Nothing About Them

As mentioned, there’s so little information on the Ackerman clan across the entirety of AOT that is up in the air, so much so that wiki pages for them are basically stubs. We know that they’re the result of Titan experimentation, they have Awakened powers, and are also immune to the Founding Titan’s influence and were persecuted for it by the 145th King of Eldia, who brought his nation inside the walls of Paradis. But that’s about it. For anime-only fans, there’s even less than that to go off of.

It’s difficult to understate just how much room for exploration there is for Isayama here, so much so that it feels like it was left intentionally vague for it be filled in at a later date. How exactly do their powers work? Why are they immune to the Founding Titan’s influence exactly? Who was the first Ackerman, and why were they so indentured to Fritz? Then there’s just the ability to see the Ackerman clan in its pomp, leading all the way to its downfall, though we will get to that later. They’re basically the Jedi of Attack on Titan, and while we obviously don’t want Midi-chlorian levels of explanation, more of a general insight would go a long way to tying everything together.

 

Ymir and Fritz Could Make More Sense

While opinions will always be at least a little bit divided on how Attack on Titan ended, it’s impossible to overlook just how objectively daft it is that Ymir would still be in love with Fritz after what we’ve been shown. Listen, there’s being Stockholm Syndromed, and then there’s still having heart eyes for the guy who makes your children eat your body parts. There isn’t a single redeeming quality to Fritz that maybe explains why Ymir would continue to love him, or why she needs to see Mikasa mercy-killing Eren for her to finally let go.

With a prequel show, not only could we see more of the origin of the Ackermann clan and how they were so woven into the Fritz bloodline, but we could also perhaps see some more of Ymir and Fritz’s relationship. Maybe Fritz could be reframed to be more compassionate early on before being corrupted by power, with Ymir continuing to hold out hope that he will return to the Fritz she fell in love with. It’d certainly explain more of her unending devotion to a guy who cut out her tongue and murdered everyone she knew.

There is absolutely no way his rizz is that powerful.

 

More Nine Titans

This one’s pretty straightforward: seeing the lineage of the Ackerman clan would also give us an opportunity for some more Cool Titan Action. We barely see titans like the War Hammer Titan across the entirety of the anime, while there are still plenty of questions left to answer on how exactly they work. For instance, how can Zeke use Founding Titan-esque abilities even though he’s the Beast Titan, is it because Eren’s in control of the Founding Titan without the royal blood necessary to properly use its powers? And how exactly does royal blood work?

Seeing all of the titans in the final battle also just opens up so many doors when it comes to exploring backstories (why is that Okapi Titan in particular such a focal point?), and it would also just be pretty hype to see them fighting alongside the Ackerman family in the ancient past. It became too easy to deal with titans in the latter stages of Attack on Titan as technology advanced, so seeing the Nine Titans in their almost invincible prime would really bring back some of that dread and horror from early on in Attack on Titan’s run. It might also help to show a bit more why the entire world hates Eldia through their unending cruelty, while also showcasing some of the other nations in the AOT-verse that are barely mentioned.

 

Order 66

Much like seeing the early years of the Ackerman clan would answer a lot of questions, seeing their almost redemptive demise as the series draws to a close has so much dramatic potential. Witnessing the final head of the Ackerman clan sacrificing himself so that his family can live would probably be an emotional, tragic bit of storytelling, especially as his sacrifice has been entirely forgotten about.

Following the Ackermans up until their rebellion on Paradis also gives an opportunity to witness the formation of the walls, which would be just an incredible spectacle to behold, as Karl Fritz screams thousands of his subjects into becoming Colossal Titans. Then, watching the Ackerman clan being whittled down from its proud peak at the start of this prequel to a shadow of its former self as Fritz basically Order 66’s them all would hit hard, doubly so if we see any of Levi and Mikasa’s ancestors fighting to the end.

While we already know the broad strokes about how things fall into place in Attack on Titan, shows like Better Call Saul, House of the Dragon, and Andor show how prequels can sometimes make the wider universe they’re in that much richer. There’s absolutely no way that the AOT-verse will stay dormant forever, and we’ve already pledged our hearts to an Ackerman prequel series — something tells us Isayama may have already done the same.

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