Golden Axe Animated Series Gets First Trailer, Paramount+ Premiere on September 16
The first trailer for the Golden Axe animated series is here, and the show arrives on Paramount+ on Wednesday, 16 September. Entertainment Weekly debuted the exclusive first look, which revealed a release date along with the cast and tone of the long-gestating adaptation.
The series is based on Sega's arcade beat-'em-up of the same name, a side-scrolling action game released in 1989 in which players pick one of three warriors and fight through the fantasy land of Yuria to defeat the villain Death Adder. The animated version takes a sharply different approach: a comical, satirical spin on fantasy and video games, loaded with meta humour that pokes fun at the medium itself, according to VGC.
Behind the show are two animation veterans. Mike McMahan, creator of Star Trek: Lower Decks and Solar Opposites, co-created the series with Joe Chandler, whose credits include American Dad and the Napoleon Dynamite animated series. The show received a 10-episode season order in 2024, per Entertainment Weekly.
The three original playable heroes are voiced by Liam McIntyre as Ax Battler, Matthew Rhys as Gilius Thunderhead, and Lisa Gilroy as Tyris Flare. McIntyre, who also plays the title hero in the upcoming Marvel's Wolverine video game, voices a barbarian described as having "a strict code of honor and sweet golden retriever demeanor." Rhys, an Emmy winner, plays a "grumpy battle dwarf with exceptionally poor hygiene and a chip on his shoulder." Gilroy, from Jury Duty, voices a character "deadly in a fight and even deadlier with her sharp wit."
The cast also includes Danny Pudi as Hampton Squib, a naive, inexperienced first-time adventurer who complicates the heroes' reunion mission. Carl Tart voices Chronos "Evil" Lait, described as "an uncomfortably cheesy humanoid panther."
The plot follows Gilius, Ax and Tyris reuniting to take down Death Adder, who keeps returning — a familiar problem for anyone who played the original arcade game. Their mission is derailed by the arrival of the hopelessly underprepared Hampton.
The road to screen has been a long one. The Golden Axe adaptation was initially announced in April 2024 for Comedy Central before moving to Paramount+. Attempts to adapt the property date back to 2014, according to Entertainment Weekly.
For a game franchise that began as a straightforward sword-and-sorcery brawler, the animated series is leaning hard into comedy rather than faithful epic fantasy. The creative team's track record in animated satire — McMahan on Lower Decks, Chandler on American Dad — signals the tone more clearly than any single trailer beat. Whether that approach lands with viewers who remember feeding quarters into the 1989 cabinet will be answered when all ten episodes arrive on Paramount+ this September.
