Matthew Rhys and Liam McIntyre Charge Into First Trailer for SEGA’s ‘Golden Axe’ Animated Series, Release Date Confirmed
Video game adaptations have become one of Hollywood’s most reliable trends, but most of the attention tends to land on the biggest, most recognizable franchises. Sega’s back catalog has plenty of hidden gems still waiting for their moment, and one of the studio’s oldest properties is finally getting the animated treatment after years of stalled attempts.
Attempts to adapt “Golden Axe” for the screen actually date back to 2014, making the project’s road to Paramount+ a genuinely long one. That wait is nearly over now, with the fantasy-comedy series set to premiere September 16, giving fans of the classic 1989 side-scrolling beat-’em-up their first real look at how the show translates that world into animation.
Marking the occasion, Entertainment Weekly has shared an exclusive first-look trailer and photos revealing the show’s tone and cast in action. The new adaptation leans heavily into meta comedy, with series regular Tyris Flare kicking things off by explaining exactly how both the show and the original game work: facing “a series of progressively harder enemies until we have a big final battle with Death Adder,” before delivering the punchline that “we kill him for good.”
That plot follows three returning heroes reuniting to take down the towering villain Death Adder, who, true to franchise tradition, simply refuses to stay dead. Emmy winner Matthew Rhys, who’s currently experiencing a career resurgence thanks to “Widow’s Bay,” voices Gilius Thunderhead, described as “a grumpy battle dwarf with exceptionally poor hygiene and a chip on his shoulder.”
Liam McIntyre, the “Spartacus” veteran currently voicing the title hero in the “Marvel’s Wolverine” video game, plays Ax Battler, a barbarian warrior whose “brawn outweighs his brains, but his heart outweighs his brawn.” Lisa Gilroy rounds out the returning trio as Tyris Flare, a battle sorceress described as “deadly in a fight and even deadlier with her sharp wit.”
Their reunion gets complicated by the arrival of Hampton Squib, voiced by Danny Pudi, a newcomer eager to join their quest despite being wildly underprepared for what lies ahead. Carl Tart also joins the cast as Chronos “Evil” Lait, a character originally introduced in “Golden Axe III,” described as “a 100 percent badass humanoid panther.”
The series was originally greenlit at Comedy Central back in April 2024, receiving a 10-episode season order from co-creators Mike McMahan, known for “Star Trek: Lower Decks,” and Joe Chandler, whose credits include “American Dad.” Production comes from CBS Studios in association with Sony Pictures Television and Original Film, with animation handled by Titmouse Productions.
That Comedy Central connection has since shifted, with the series now landing on Paramount+ ahead of its September premiere. The move reflects a broader pattern within Paramount’s content pipeline, where properties originally developed for cable networks have increasingly found their way onto the company’s streaming service instead.
This adaptation arrives amid a wider wave of Sega properties making their way to screen, a trend largely fueled by the box office success of Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog” film franchise. That success appears to have opened the door for the studio to mine deeper into Sega’s catalog, with “Golden Axe” representing one of the more unexpected picks given how long the property sat dormant without a serious screen adaptation.
With a starry voice cast, a self-aware comedic tone, and nearly a decade of failed development attempts finally paying off, “Golden Axe” looks poised to carve out its own niche among the growing wave of video game adaptations hitting streaming platforms. Fans of the original games will get their first full look at how faithfully, or irreverently, the show handles its source material when it premieres next month.
What do you think of the first look at Golden Axe?
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