Thirteen years. That’s how long we’ve been waiting to find out what happens to Homura Akemi after the single most controversial ending in anime history. And on September 12, 2026 — the exact day the staff asked fans to hold their spoilers until — Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Walpurgisnacht Rising finally dropped a brand-new promo video and main visual. The sequel to 2013’s Rebellion is real, it’s moving, and the fandom is absolutely losing it.
If you’ve ever watched a magical girl show and thought “this is too happy, something terrible is about to happen,” you already know why this matters. Madoka Magica didn’t just subvert the genre — it detonated it. And Walpurgisnacht: Rising is the film that has to answer the question Rebellion left dangling for over a decade: can Homura ever be saved from her own wish?
What Just Happened: The September 12 Promo Drop
The new promo video and visual arrived right as the film’s spoiler embargo lifted — a date the production team itself had been pointing toward for weeks. In the new footage, fans spotted Homura in a striking new outfit, the Holy Quintet back in frame, and a world that looks beautiful and deeply wrong at the same time. You know, classic Madoka.
The visual also confirms the film is in its final marketing stretch, meaning a release date announcement could come at any moment. After a delay that pushed the project past its original 2025 window, this is the clearest signal yet that the sequel is genuinely, finally close.
Why This Sequel Is Bigger Than Any Other Anime Comeback
Let’s recap for the uninitiated: Rebellion ended with Homura rewriting the entire universe to save Madoka from her fate as a concept-level god. In the process, she became the “demon” of the Madoka universe — a being outside the laws that govern magical girls, witches, and hope itself. The final shot of her standing in a world that only she remembers differently has haunted fans for 13 years.
Walpurgisnacht: Rising picks up that thread. The title itself is a promise: the ultimate witch, Walpurgisnacht — the stage-six catastrophe that Madoka was originally meant to fight and die against — is rising again. Directed by Akiyuki Shinbo with the Gekidan Inu Curry duo (who co-directed Rebellion), written by Gen Urobuchi, with Ume Aoki’s character designs, Yuki Kajiura’s music, and the original voice cast back — Aoi Yūki, Chiwa Saitō, and the rest — this is the exact team that made the franchise legendary.
4 Fan Theories the New Promo Just Reignited
1. Homura’s “Perfect” World Is Already Cracking
The most popular theory: Homura’s rewritten universe is a fragile illusion, and the new promo’s unsettling imagery is the first sign it’s collapsing. Every magical girl Homura “saved” is living a life that isn’t theirs — and if the world she built runs on her will alone, then any crack in her resolve becomes a crack in reality itself.
2. Madoka Is Coming Back — With Her Memories Intact
Fans have pored over the new visual frame by frame, and many believe it teases Madoka remembering her past as the Law of Cycles. The emotional payoff writes itself: if Madoka remembers everything Homura sacrificed, the entire dynamic of their relationship flips — and so does the tragedy.
3. Walpurgisnacht Isn’t the Villain — She’s the Key
Some theorists argue Walpurgisnacht is rising not to destroy the world, but to break it — to shatter Homura’s rewritten reality so the original universe can return. A witch as a liberator would be the most Madoka ending imaginable: salvation arriving from the exact place hope abandoned.
4. Kyubey Has Been Playing the Longest Game of All
Rebellion ended with Kyubey trapped and powerless. But the incubators are patient — emotionless, countless, and never wrong twice. Theory: the entire film is Kyubey’s counter-move, a scheme to harvest the biggest emotional energy source in existence: Homura’s love for Madoka.
The Wait Is Almost Over
Whatever the film reveals, it’s already made history. 13 years is an eternity in anime — most franchises reboot twice in that window. That Madoka’s creators refused to rush the conclusion, refused to cheapen Rebellion’s ending, and are delivering a theatrical sequel with the original team intact says everything about how much this story matters to them.
This is the same energy we’re seeing across anime right now — long-awaited returns finally paying off, from Expelled from Paradise’s 12-year-gap sequel to the Evangelion universe expanding into real life. Madoka Magica feels like the perfect closer to this era of comebacks — and if you want more fan-theory fuel while you wait, our One Piece Chapter 1204 breakdown has you covered.
So — after 13 years of waiting, what do YOU think Walpurgisnacht: Rising will do to Homura and Madoka? Will they get the happy ending they both deserve, or is Urobuchi about to break our hearts a third time? Drop your theory in the comments below.
