Billie Eilish and Phoebe Bridgers Join My Chemical Romance for Animated Short Film
My Chemical Romance have brought together an unexpected cast of voices for Prelude to The End, a new animated short film created in collaboration with visual artist and filmmaker Lauren Tsai. Among those lending their voices to the project are Billie Eilish, Phoebe Bridgers and video game creator Hideo Kojima.
The film arrives as the band celebrates the 20th anniversary of The Black Parade, using its opening track, ‘The End’, as the soundtrack to a story that expands on Tsai’s existing visual universe, The Dying World.
At its centre is Astrid, a student at an unusual New England boarding school where the surrounding environment is overrun with rubbish. When school authorities throw away her treasured sketchbook, she follows it down a rubbish chute and finds herself in a strange world inhabited by forgotten ideas.
Tsai voices Astrid, with Eilish playing her close friend and Bridgers taking the role of her sister. Kojima voices a character known as The Teacher, while actor John C. McGinley appears as The Dean.
The collaboration has a personal connection for Tsai, who grew up creating animated fan videos set to My Chemical Romance songs. Having since developed a career spanning animation, acting and visual art, she previously introduced The Dying World at the Annecy Film Festival in 2025. She also directed the video for boygenius’ ‘Cool About It’.
Speaking about the project, Tsai described the collaboration as a dream, acknowledging the influence of Gerard Way and My Chemical Romance’s creative legacy on her own work.
Prelude to The End explores the relationship between creativity, identity and the things we leave behind, themes that sit comfortably alongside the ideas running through The Black Parade.
The film’s release coincides with the expanded 20th-anniversary edition of the band’s landmark 2006 album, which arrived last week with six bonus tracks, including previously unreleased live material.
My Chemical Romance will also screen the film ahead of their final two performances at the Hollywood Bowl on 30 and 31 October, concluding their five-night residency celebrating the album.
