Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, sweepstakes, and more!
Legendary French comic Asterix is becoming a Netflix animated series
Asterix, the beloved satirical French comic series about the last Gaulish village holding out against Roman rule, is heading to Netflix. The streaming giant announced Wednesday that it has partnered with the series' publisher, Hachette’s Les Editions Albert René, to create an "animated limited series" based on the beloved property.
Alain Chabat, a French filmmaker and playwright who previously landed a massive hit with the 2002 live-action adaptation Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra, will direct the series, marking his return to the franchise for the first time in nearly two decades.
"I’m French Canadian, and like most francophones around the world, I grew up with Asterix, his sidekick Obelix and loyal companion Dogmatix," Netflix director of Original Animation Dominique Bazay said in a statement. "I watched the animated specials and read the books religiously. If you’d told the 8-year-old me that one day I’d help bring these characters to life… I wouldn’t have believed you!"
Created by writer René Goscinny and artist Albert Uderzo in 1959, Asterix follows the adventure of the title character, a Gaulish warrior, and his various friends and allies as they resist the rule of the bumbling Romans who've taken over the land around them in 50 B.C. Though its gone through various shifts in creative teams over the decades (both Goscinny and Uderzo have passed away), Asterix remains one of the most popular French comics ever, translated into more than 100 languages around the world. Nearly 40 volumes of Asterix have been published to date, and the series has been adapted into several successful feature films including both animated and live-action.
Now, the world's biggest streaming service is taking its turn with the beloved property. According to Bazay's announcement, the new animated series will adapt the volume Asterix and the Big Fight, which follows "the Romans, after being constantly embarrassed by Asterix and his village cohorts, organize a brawl between rival Gaulish chiefs and try to fix the result by kidnapping a druid along with his much-needed magic potion."
Asterix arrives on Netflix in 2023.
