Rosario Dawson to Star in NFT-Backed Anime Series from Gala

Actors Rosario Dawson and Tony Revolori are both set to star in Ghosts of Ruin, a Western anime series from Gala Film, the entertainment arm of Web3 startup Gala Games.  

Ghosts of Ruin follows a group of gamers as they navigate a potentially deadly tournament in a near-future dystopian version of San Francisco in which games are synced directly into players’ minds and indistinguishable from real life.

The series, produced and developed by new media content studio Battle Island, will feature original music from composer Hans Zimmer’s Bleeding Fingers collective.

Dawson, most recently known for portraying the Star Wars character Ahsoka Tano in multiple Disney+ series—including The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and the upcoming limited series Ashoka—will voice Prism, a stand-offish pro gamer dead set on winning the tournament.

Revolori, who starred in 2014 Wes Anderson film The Grand Budapest Hotel and Marvel Studios’ latest Spider-Man film franchise, will voice series protagonist Lee, a small-time gamer who joins the tournament at the last minute. 

The pilot episode of Ghosts of Ruin will debut on Gala’s platform in August, but will initially only be made accessible to holders of specialized NFTs sold to fund the show’s production. The NFTs, set up in four tiers, offer varying levels of immersive access to the series.

The most basic tier, “The Coder,” offers access to the show, related exclusive content, and other digital collectibles for $250 worth of GALA tokens. The most rarefied tier of NFT, “The Board Member,” allowed holders to be directly involved in the show’s production as a character or contributor. 45 of those passes were sold for $2,500 worth of GALA each. 

After debuting the pilot on Gala Film, the series’ producers hope to shop it as a proof of concept to a major streaming service. 

“It was important for us to support this project. We believe in the genre, the team’s approach and the series is a perfect melding of timely storytelling with top-tier artistic talent,” Gala Film CEO Sara Buxton said in a statement, adding that the Web3 elements will “provide a more rewarding experience” for all involved via digital ownership and benefits.

Ghosts of Ruin is showrun and written by Michael Ryan, who recently served as the showrunner on the Apple TV+ original animated series Wolfboy and The Everything Factory. The series was created by Battle Island’s PJ Accetturo and Ryan Ramsey. 

Last month, actors Danny Trejo and Mena Suvari jumped aboard RZR, another Web3-native series from Gala set to premiere exclusively on the startup’s platform this summer. 

Last week, Gala ran into some trouble when crypto exchange Coinbase abruptly announced that it would not support an upgraded version of the company’s GALA token, without elaborating as to why.