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My Chemical Romance and visual artist Lauren Tsai have unveiled “Prelude to The End,” a collaborative short film that brings together the band’s iconic musical universe and Tsai’s imaginative visual storytelling. Arriving alongside the release of The Black Parade (20th Anniversary) on Reprise Records, the project offers a fresh interpretation of the album’s enduring legacy while expanding the world of Tsai’s original creation, The Dying World.
The film, produced by Tsai’s independent studio UNREAL INC., is available now on My Chemical Romance’s YouTube channel. Watch HERE. The short will also screen ahead of the final dates of the band’s historic five-night run at the Hollywood Bowl on October 30 and 31.
At the heart of the collaboration is a fusion of Tsai’s The Dying World, first introduced as a short film at the 2025 Annecy Film Festival, with “The End,” the opening track from The Black Parade. The resulting work explores the complicated relationship between artistic creation, identity and the determination to express one’s true self—a recurring thread throughout My Chemical Romance’s music and a central concern of Tsai’s imaginative universe.
“Prelude to The End” follows Astrid, the protagonist of The Dying World, as she navigates an uncanny boarding school in New England that has been overtaken by trash. When the institution attempts to force her into compliance by discarding her beloved sketchbook, Astrid tumbles down the school’s trash chute and finds herself in a strange world inhabited by forgotten ideas. There, she encounters an idea of her own that has long been haunting her. Through this surreal journey, the film examines the bonds we form with our creations, the complexities of youth and the unwavering impulse to become—and express—who we truly are.
The film features an intriguing collection of vocal contributors. Tsai voices Astrid, joined by Billie Eilish as Astrid’s friend, Phoebe Bridgers as her sister, Hideo Kojima as The Teacher and John C. McGinley as The Dean, an imposing authority figure at The Dying World’s Paper Academy. Its musical centerpiece is a live recording of Flying River, Violin Concerto by Pascal Dusapin, performed by the Utopia Orchestra at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, under the direction of Giuseppe Mengoli, with solo violin by Daniel Lozakovich.
The collaboration arrives as My Chemical Romance celebrates two decades of The Black Parade, the landmark, 4x Platinum-certified album that helped propel the New Jersey-bred band into the mainstream. Upon its release in 2006, the record reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums and Top Tastemaker Albums charts, establishing itself as a defining rock opera for a generation. As Rolling Stone once described it, the album “served up an era-defining rock opera, tailored for the golden age…”
The anniversary edition brings together the original album and six bonus tracks: three beloved B-sides previously scattered across separate releases, alongside three live recordings captured during the band’s 2007 tour at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, New Jersey. Previously unavailable on LP, CD or streaming, the live selections include the unreleased “Someone Out There Loves You. An iTunes-exclusive edition also includes live versions of “Mama” and “Cancer.”
Meanwhile, My Chemical Romance is preparing to conclude the U.S. leg of its acclaimed The Black Parade 2026 Tour this weekend with the final nights of its unprecedented five-show Hollywood Bowl engagement, culminating on Halloween. The tour will then continue into Asia next week.
For Tsai, the project represents a particularly meaningful creative homecoming. A self-taught artist and animator who began sharing her work on YouTube at just 11 years old, she has cited My Chemical Romance’s artistic world as a formative influence on her own development. The band’s music helped inspire elements of The Dying World and its characters, making this collaboration a full-circle moment for an artist who once created animated fan videos set to the group’s songs.
Since building a career in Japan across art and fashion before relocating to Los Angeles, Tsai has expanded her creative practice into animation, directing, fine art, acting, fashion collaborations and immersive installations. Her recent work includes directing boygenius’ “Cool About It” music video, collaborating with Perrotin Gallery for Art Basel Hong Kong, and working with brands including Marc Jacobs and Nike. After debuting The Dying World at the 2025 Annecy Film Festival, she unveiled the project in full through an installation at Hollywood Forever Cemetery later that year.
With “Prelude to The End,” Tsai has the opportunity to expand that universe while paying tribute to the creative legacy that helped shape her own. By introducing new voices, characters and settings, the short film deepens the narrative of The Dying World while building a bridge between two distinct artistic worlds.
Speaking about the collaboration, Tsai shared: “It was an absolute dream to work on this project for The Black Parade and The Dying World. I deeply respect MCR and Gerard’s creative legacy. It has been an honor for him to find inspiration in a world that I’ve created, in the same way I have always admired the worlds that he has built throughout his career.”
