Eyes of Wakanda Tops Disney Plus and Wows Critics — So Why Did Its Animation Studio Just File for Bankruptcy?
Axis Studios’ last act heads to Wakanda, with a Black Panther spin-off closing out the studio’s slate.
Tough news behind a very good Marvel show: the outside animation house that gave Eyes of Wakanda its painterly look, Axis Studios, has gone under. It is one of those industry stories that lands right when the work is getting well-deserved attention.
What happened to Axis
Per Forbes, the Scotland-based studio has been placed into administration, the UK process that is roughly the local version of US Chapter 11. In plain English: the company is insolvent and administrators step in to try to restructure or sell the business. Eyes of Wakanda now stands as the studio’s final project.
Who Axis was (and why this stings)
Axis had a long résumé across games and streaming. Beyond Marvel’s show, they delivered work for Halo and League of Legends, and contributed to episodes of Netflix’s Love, Death & Robots. Not exactly a lightweight portfolio, which makes the timing feel especially harsh.
The Wakanda of it all
Eyes of Wakanda is a compact miniseries: four episodes, about 30 minutes each. It tracks elite Wakandan warriors, the Hatut Zeraze, across different eras as they take on high-risk missions to recover Vibranium artifacts. Axis provided the hand-painted animation style that gives the show its character — and now, apparently, its swan song.
"This project holds special meaning for me - not only because creatively I had lots of fun, but also because it was one of the final shows developed at Axis Studios before it closed its doors."
That comes from artist Arianna Querin, who recently shared art from the production. It is both a nice sentiment and a gut-punch for anyone who likes seeing distinctive animation styles make it to screen.
How the show is landing
Critics love it: Eyes of Wakanda sits at 92% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences are a lot cooler at 52%. That split is... noticeable, and honestly not uncommon for animation that swings a little stylistically.
Is there more coming?
There are no plans for a second season right now. If Marvel Animation decides to continue, they would almost certainly need a new studio to take over production. For the moment, Eyes of Wakanda is streaming on Disney Plus.