'Attack on Titan' season 2 release date news: Longer wait for anime's return

"Attack on Titan" season 2 is officially pushed back to 2017. Despite the announcement back in 2014 that the new season of the hit anime will premiere this year, production is reportedly still in its early stages.

During an interview with Mission Tokyo, Manu Guerrero, product manager of Selecta Vision, which is the Spain-based distributor of the anime, revealed the delay.

"Kodansha [publisher of the "Attack on Titan" manga that inspired the critically-acclaimed anime series] has confirmed us that it will not be [released] this 2016, and that it will be for 2017," Guerrero said (via a translation provided by Mission Tokyo).

"Although everything suggested that it would be one of the strongest releases for the end of the year, [and] in fact it was expected its release for October, it seems that it will finally be delayed and we will have to wait a little longer to see new episodes," he added.

Guerrero hopes that "Attack on Titan" season 2 will be here by January 2017. He also added that if an October premiere was still on the table for the new season of "Attack on Titan," details like concept arts and character designs should have emerged by now.

The cause of delay is unclear although it is believed that Wit Studio, which will be developing the anime, has been busy with its new series "Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress" slated for 2016.

However, rumor mills suggest that Wit Studio deliberately shifted its focus to the abovementioned anime so that they can wait for the manga series created by Hajime Isayama to get more arcs enough for a whole season.

By the time "Attack on Titan" season 2 premieres, it will be almost four years since the first season of the show aired. Rumors have it that the new season will tackle various exciting storylines like the Colossal Titan and humans who can transform into Titans.