We’ve heard that, in the wake of the latest bubble-burst, studios are keeping things lean and asking for more pitches based on pre-existing IPs to lower risk. The practice is hardly new, but it gets confusing when the IP they pick is something so obscure that the mainstream audience will never have heard of it.

In the late 80s Sega introduced an arcade game called Golden Axe, a brawler where you and several friends could play as barbarian characters in a savage world of swords and sorcery, attacking an endless wave of giants and monsters. The game turned out more successful than anyone predicted, having arrived just as the fighting game craze of the 90s was about to explode. The REAL breakthrough game was Street Fighter, though, and once that hit, Golden Axe just kinda faded into the background.

Everyone knows what Street Fighter is, but Golden Axe? Who outside of retro video game nerds has kept it in their minds? What kind of boost would such a license give? Sensical or not, it’s going to be the subject of an animated series on Comedy Central — Paramount just announced a ten episode order.

The characters in the game all have simple names like “Axe Battler,” which they are keeping for the series. Liam McIntyre has been cast as Ax Battler (the muscled barbarian), Matthew Rhys (The Americans) is ferocious dwarf Gilius Thunderhead, Lisa Gilroy (Comedy Bang Bang) is powerful sorceress Tyris Flare…plus, there will be one new member: Danny Pudi (Community, DuckTales) as Hampton Squib, an inexperienced man just getting into the adventuring business. Carl Tart plays villain Chronos “Evil” Lait, who didn’t exist until Golden Axe III.

Now that I think about it, maybe this show was Sega’s idea? They’ve spoke of wanting to expand their presence in Hollywood media after the success of the Sonic movies. Perhaps it was Sega that approached Paramount, not the other way around. That would make a little more sense — from their perspective right now, anything they own is milkable.

Obscure license or not, will it be good? There’s hope….this is the job Star Trek: Lower Decks creator Mike McMahan landed after that show was just cancelled. He’s the showrunner for this one too, so we can expect the Golden Axe series to be similar in tone.

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