Well, this came out of nowhere, didn’t it?

A new Golden Axe cartoon, inspired by the arcade and SEGA Genesis brawler, will start streaming on Paramount+ from 16th September.

Judging by the trailer, this subscribes to the irreverent, self-referential style of humour that can grate – but I don’t particularly hate the trailer personally.

There are a ton of nods to the games in the footage too, including the character select screen, potions, and those little purple mounts that constantly appear.

Here’s what the blurb says:

“In an homage to SEGA's iconic 1989 video game, Golden Axe follows legendary warriors Ax Battler, Tyris Flare, and Gilius Thunderhead as they reunite to save Yuria from the evil giant Death Adder, who just won't seem to stay dead. Their quest is complicated by Hampton Squib, an inexperienced and wildly underprepared adventurer whose dream of heroism far exceeds his abilities. Forced to work together despite their flaws, they must find a way to stop Death Adder once and for all.”

Fresh from his turn as Logan in the upcoming Marvel’s Wolverine, Australian actor Liam McIntyre is voicing protagonist Ax. He’ll be joined by Matthew Rhys (Gilius) and Lisa Gilroy (Tyris).

The show’s been co-created by Mike McMahan and Joe Chandler, the latter of American Dad fame, which I think comes through.

It turns out a Golden Axe toon has been touted since 2024, although these stories completely passed me by at the time.

Originally it was planned for Comedy Central, but looks like Paramount+ has ended up locking this down.

Judging by the trailer, I reckon this could be a bit of mindless fun – I’ll probably end up checking it out if there’s an easy way to watch it in the UK.

What about you?

[source youtube.com, via ew.com]