Movies - Astérix – The Kingdom of Nubia: a new animated adventure for Christmas 2026

By Mulder, 28 january 2026

With the reveal of its very first teaser poster, Asterix: The Kingdom of Nubia is already shaping up to be one of the big family events of the 2026 Christmas holidays, immediately rekindling the curiosity of long-time fans and younger audiences who discovered the indomitable Gauls through their recent animated incarnations. This new 3D animated feature film, directed by Alexandre Heboyan, is a direct sequel to Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion, released in 2018, a film that marked an aesthetic and narrative turning point for the franchise by offering modern animation while respecting the original spirit imagined by Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny. From this teaser poster, with its colorful and deliberately exotic graphics, the film asserts a clear ambition: to take Asterix and Obelix far beyond their usual lands to explore a new imaginary world, that of the kingdom of Nubia, rarely touched upon in the saga's cinematic universe, while retaining the humor, sense of adventure, and satire that have made it so successful for decades.

Narratively, Asterix : The Kingdom of Nubia is based on an initial idea that is both playful and rich in dramatic potential: following a clumsy mistake, an elixir of youth is accidentally poured into Panoramix's magic potion, transforming the indomitable Gauls into children as harmless as they are vulnerable, an unprecedented situation that completely reverses the usual balance of power in the village. Faced with this catastrophe, Asterix and Obelix embark on a long journey to the kingdom of Nubia to find a baobab seed, an essential ingredient for repairing the potion and saving their village, which is still threatened by Roman occupation. This simple yet clever starting point allows the film to address universal themes such as transmission, temporary loss of strength or identity, and the way we view childhood, while offering a completely new visual playground for animation, with exotic landscapes, unique architecture, and new cultures to discover, all without ever betraying the comic and adventurous DNA of the series.

Behind the camera, Alexandre Heboyan returns to a world he knows perfectly well, having already demonstrated in Le Secret de la potion magique his ability to combine respect for the original material with modern cinematic language, while the writing is entrusted to a solid team composed of Matthieu Delaporte, Alexandre de La Patellière, Mathieu Leblanc, and Thomas Mansuy, screenwriters well versed in popular comedy and adventure stories. Production is handled by Philippe Bony, with support from M6 Studio, SND, Superprod Animation, and M6 Films, a group of partners now accustomed to bringing major French animated franchises to an international level, both technically and narratively. The music, composed by Romain Trouillet, promises to accompany this African journey with a specific sound identity, while the editing is entrusted to Grégoire Sivan, who will ensure the rhythm and comic effectiveness essential to this type of story.

On the voice side, the film brings together a vocal cast that combines continuity and novelty, with the highly anticipated return of Christian Clavier as Asterix, an emblematic figure now inseparable from the character, accompanied in particular by François-Xavier Demaison, Bernard Alane, Issa Doumbia, François de Brauer, and Eye Haïdara, a cast that reflects a desire to bring varied and contemporary tones to the characters, while maintaining consistency with the previous animated films. Distributed in France by SND, Astérix: The Kingdom of Nubia is officially scheduled for release on December 2, 2026, a strategic date that confirms the studio's ambition to make the film one of the pillars of the end-of-year box office, following in the footsteps of the franchise's previous successes.

With this first teaser poster and the initial confirmed details, Asterix: The Kingdom of Nubia looks set to be an important milestone in the cinematic evolution of Asterix, seeking to renew the imagination without ever breaking with the legacy of Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny, and to prove that after more than sixty years of existence, the indomitable Gauls still have many lands to explore and new stories to tell, provided they are given the necessary space and audacity.

Synopsis:
A new animated film featuring Asterix and Obelix.

Asterix: The Kingdom of Nubia
Directed by Alexandre Heboyan
Written by Matthieu Delaporte, Alexandre de La Patellière, Mathieu Leblanc, and Thomas Mansuy
Based on the work of Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny
Produced by Philippe Bony
Starring Christian Clavier, François-Xavier Demaison, Bernard Alane, Issa Doumbia, François de Brauer, Eye Haïdara
Edited by Grégoire Sivan
Music by Romain Trouillet
Production companies: M6 Studio, SND, Superprod Animation, M6 Films
Distribution: SND (France)
Release date: December 2, 2026 (France)
Running time: TBD