Golden Axe Season 2's Game-Adapting Plans Teased By Paramount+ Showrunners

Published Sep 19, 2026, 2:19 PM EDT EXCLUSIVE: Mike McMahan and Joe Chandler are ready for more Golden Axe. Adapted from the SEGA beat-'em-up franchise of the same name, the Paramount+ series centers on Ax Battler, Tyris Flare and Gilius Thunderhead as they learn that the powerful Death Adder is back and his minions spreading through the world of Yuria, though split up when they disagree on how to stop him, putting them on separate journeys. The animated series features a star-studded cast, including Widow's Bay's Matthew Rhys as Gilius, Wolverine's Liam McIntyre as Ax and Twisted Metal's Lisa Gilroy, among others. Ahead of the show's September 16 premiere, ScreenRant's Brandon Zachary interviewed Mike McMahan and Joe Chandler to discuss Golden Axe. When asked about their potential plans for the show's future, McMahan confirmed their interest in producing more, even teasing that they "pulled a little bit" from the sequel games for the debut season to open the door for the future as they "didn't want to limit ourselves." Chandler concurred with his Golden Axe co-creator, recalling the "fun" he's had diving through the various Wikipedia entries for the franchise and learning "all this stuff that you didn't know," particularly the character's backstories, which he described as "interesting": Joe Chandler: There are all these extra characters. There are characters that feel like reskins of the original characters, almost, that we'd love to get involved in a new season. Best case, there's a whole Sega-verse that would be fun to explore and expand on. But yeah, the Golden Axe world has so much to do that we would love to do more, obviously. Paramount+'s Golden Axe series is the first-ever adaptation of the SEGA franchise, with Universal and Stories International at one point having slowly developed an animated adaptation in the mid 2010s before it quietly died on the vine. Notably, the show not only reunited Paramount+ with McMahan after their acclaimed run on Star Trek: Lower Decks, but also with SEGA after their various Sonic the Hedgehog films and TV show. Though McMahan and Chandler did largely stick to adapting the first game's story for the show, the former's tease of Golden Axe having elements from the sequel games does ring true when looking at both the story and cast of the show. With it picking up after Death Adder's initial defeat, the timeline is between the first and second games, while Carl Tart's Chronos notably wasn't introduced until Golden Axe III, which only featured Gilius as a non-playable character while fighters Kain and Sarah were designed akin to Ax and Tyris. However, much like Among Us before it, the Golden Axe series quickly became the subject of a quiet release on Paramount+. At the time of writing, only five reviews for the animated adaptation have been published online, a dramatically lower figure compared to other shows, which typically amass in the teens with review count. That being said, the reviews out there have been very positive, with ScreenRant awarding the series a glowing 9/10 score and writing: With Golden Axe, McMahan and Chandler push their tongue practically all the way through the cheekbone with its mixture of clever wordplay and meta commentary on the lightly written lore from the games, and it results in a nonstop joyride. Despite the initially quiet release, there is still plenty of time for Golden Axe to not only bounce back on streaming, but get enough attention to inspire a season 2 renewal from Paramount+. Rhys is coming off of a historic double victory at the Emmys, putting him on the mainstream radar, and with SEGA also ramping up development on a variety of new adaptations, including an animated Sonic series and Crazy Taxi film at Netflix, the studio could quickly look to have McMahan and Chandler push ahead with their season 2 plans. Golden Axe is now streaming on Paramount+. Release Date September 16, 2026 Network Paramount+ Showrunner Joe Chandler Writers Joe Chandler, Mike McMahan, Taylor Cox Cast Matthew Rhys Gilius Thunderhead (voice) A new animated series drawn from the hit video game franchise finds legendary warriors Ax Battler, Tyris Flare, and Gilius Thunderhead reuniting to save Yuria from the evil Death Adder. Main Genre Animation Creator(s) Joe Chandler, Mike McMahan Executive Producer(s) Joe Chandler, Toby Ascher, Antonio Canobbio, Ben Kalina, Neal H. Moritz, Toru Nakahara, Chris Prynoski, Shannon Prynoski, Haruki Satomi, Pavun Shetty, Shuji Utsumi Producers Nick Cofrancesco Seasons 1