The Sudrian Chronicles

**The Sudrian Chronicles**is an upcoming Japanese animated series, based on the *Railway Series* created by the *Reverend Wilbert Awdry*, as well as the *Television Series* created by Britt Alcroft.

The series is darker in tone and plot, similar to the fifth season of the Television Series, as well as several of the later Railway Series volumes, *Enterprising Engines*, and *Duke the Lost Engine*. The series completely rewrites much of the original canon of both the books and the Television Series, being aimed at longtime fans of the series, as well as making it easier to introduce new fans to the series.

The series is considered to be non-canon to previous incarnations of the show, similar to previous installment, *Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go!* and also introduces many new characters as well as showcasing a different take on the Island of Sodor and the world surrounding it.

## Changes from *Thomas & Friends* & *Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go!*

* The series takes on a darker tone in terms of stories, with more supernatural events occurring involving ghosts, antagonists that seek to harm those around them, and stories that explore topics such as bigotry of all kinds along with the engines often discussing how humanity seems to act often.
* The order in which various engines arrive on the Island has changed, such as Emily being among the first engines to show up on Sodor, even before Thomas and Edward.
* Sir Topham Hatt is no longer a singular character as he was previously and instead appears at the start of the series as a young man, before growing older and passing away, leading to a line of Sir Topham Hatt's to run the North Western Railway, passing it down to various family members as time goes on. This is similar to the Railway Series, where there were multiple Sir Topham Hatts.
* Sir Lowham Hatt is no longer the twin brother of Sir Topham Hatt and is now an independent character known as Clancy Lowham, a notorious Sudrian Mafia Boss and head of a crime family with his own fleet of engines known as the Lowham Line who run their operations out of Misty Island, an unincorporated Sudrian Island.
* Sir Topham Hatt I is portrayed as a colonel that previously served in World War I alongside the likes of a younger Captain Star who was serving in the United States Navy at the time. As such, his wife Jane Brown runs the operations of Sodor alongside his mother, Dowager Hatt until Hatt returns from the war.
* Unlike the previous series, various Railway Series exclusives such as Neil, Sir Handel Brown, Jock, Ivo Hugh, and Isabel are all present within the series, marking the first time that many of these characters have made an appearance on-screen due to their absences in the original series as well as the second incarnation of the TV Series, *All Engines Go*.
* Likewise, the series also adds in characters from the Television Series, Shining Time Station, Theodore Tugboat, and TUGS, bringing them into the same universe.

## Episodes

### Season 1

Season 1 is a mixture of Railway Series adaptations, Television Series adaptations, Magazine/Annual adaptations and original stories created especially for the series. Each episode is treated as a "book" and lasts for 30 minutes each. The first season takes place during both the 1920's, and the 1930's, with real life events such as The Great War, The Great Depression, and other events are mentioned very heavily, with some episodes even taking place within said times. The season begins shortly after both the creation, and enforcement of the Railway Act of 1921, which creates the North Western Railway on Sodor in 1923. The season finale takes place in 1939, around the same time that both England and France declare war on Germany, leading to Season 2 taking place during WWII.

## Feature Films

 Nia
 Johnson's Revenge
 A Railway Divided