Shikidouji, the illustrator of Shoji Gatoh's Full Metal Panic! light novel series, revealed on Wednesday that production has been green-lit on a "director's cut" version of the first Full Metal Panic! television anime series from 2002. The director's cut will consist of three films. The announcement does not state if the film trilogy will add new footage.

Full Metal Panic! centers around a mercenary group called Mithril on a parallel Earth in which the Cold War did not end in 1991.

The original Full Metal Panic! light novel series debuted in 1998, and Fujimi Shobo published the series' 12th and final novel in the main series in 2010. The novels have more than 11 million copies in print. Tokyopop published the first five volumes before the company shut down its North American branch in 2011.