Vegeta (miniseries)

Vegeta would be an American-Japanese action adventure web television miniseries created by Michael B. Jordan. Based on the Dragon Ball character of the same name by Akira Toriyama, the series, which would be the first TV series set in the Dragon Ball Live-action Universe (DBLU), would be directed by Ryan Coogler, and executive-produced by Jordan, Toriyama, Masato Mikami, Steven Spielberg, Kevin Feige, ad Ryan Coogler, with Gary A Brown and Atsushi Kido serving as producers. Jordan would also reprise his role from the DBLU in the series as Vegeta, with JD McCrary and Chloe Bennet also reprising their roles from the films in starring roles. Christian Bale would also star in the series.

Jordan would develop the series with the intention of further exploring the character of Vegeta. He would particularly take inspiration from "two lines from the mangas, Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Super", which he would feel "suggets that there's some heartbreaking story that led him to who he was before her first showed up". He would also set the series in the present in order to "not only explore how he became who he was, but also how what he did and what happened to him influences what happens to him now".

The miniseries, consisting of 10 episodes, would become a critical success, with critics particularly praising the series for its themes, character development, score, visual effects and performances. The series would also be the second hightest viewed series on Disney+, behind The Mandalorian.

Synopsis
Picking up where Dragon Ball Z: Kid Buu left off, Vegeta is ready to turn over a new leaf and become a family man, while not leaving behind his Saiyan heritage. However, while he may want to leave his past behind, the past isn't quite ready to let him behind, as an old enemy from his past finally tracks him down looking for revenge. With his past history coming more and more into the light, can Vegeta come to terms with it and protect his family?

Main cast

 * Michael B. Jordan as Vegeta IV, the former prince of the Saiyan race, who is forced to confront his past in order to protect his new family. According to Jordan, his character arc in the series would be based on "both how he suggest Frieza had a role in what kind of person he became in the Namek saga in the manga, and how he expressed guilt on what he did on Planet Namek on the Dragon Ball Super manga". Jorda would reprise his role from the film series.
 * JD McCrary as Trunks, a Saiyan/Human hybrid who is Vegeta and Bulma's son, who would become aware of his father's past. McCrary would reprise his role from the film series
 * Chloe Bennet as Bulma, a human scientist and inventor who is Vegeta's wife and Trunks' mother. According to producer Steven Spielberg, the series would explore "how it is for her to raise a Saiyan family, but not making her Chi-Chi 2.0 or making her less of a feminist character". Bennet would reprise his role from the film series
 * Christian Bale as Fukushū, an alien from the Arlian race, who is trying to avenge his race's near-extinction attack at the hands of Vegeta. Bale would describe the character as "a darker version of Batman". According to Jordan, the character's race would be chosen due to a filler scene from the anime showeing Vegeta destroying the Arlian's home planet, which in turn inspired the producers to establish that he did something similar in the cinematic universe in order to stay close to the source material. Bale would provide both the voice and motion-capture for the character.

Recurrent cast

 * Benedict Cumbertbatch as Frieza, a deceased galactic tyrant and self-proclaimed most powerful being in the universe, who raised Vegeta during his childhood. Cumbertbatch would reprise his role from the film series. He would provide both the voice and motion-capture for the character.
 * Corey Stoll as Nappa, a deceased Saiyan warrior and Vegeta's former partner-in-crime. The character would previously be potrayed by Vin Diesel in the film series.

Music
Kris Bowers would compose and produce the series' score. Bowers would incorporate several themes from the film series in the score, througth he would also aim to "give them [his] own spin". He would also, as with most DBLU scores, use several themes from the original anime by Shunsuke Kikuchi. Bowers would research anime scores in order to "give the soundtrack a truly anime-like feel". Bowers would compose a "tragic" theme for Fukushū due to his character's tragic background.

Trivia

 * Aside from being the first series set in the DBLU, this would be the first live-action series based on Dragon Ball.
 * This would be the first series based on Dragon Ball to be released exclusively on an streming service.
 * Christian Bale previously worked with Kevin Feige on the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Thor: Love and Thunder (2022).
 * Corey Stoll and Kevin Feige previously worked together on Ant-Man (2015).
 * Michael B. Jordan has starred in all of Ryan Coogler's films as director.
 * Ryan Coogler, Michael B. Jordan, and Kevin Feige previously worked together in Black Panther (2018).
 * This would be the first Dragon Ball series to be feature an African-American composer and an African-American director.