When Activision launched the modern toys-to-life gaming craze in 2011 with the release of Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, it undoubtedly had to hope the Skylanders brand would generate a new merchandising storm outside of the core collectible-based format of the franchise’s tentpole game. It certainly paid off, as the franchise has now amassed $3 billion worth of sales and a slew of non-gaming related merchandise. Now the franchise takes its most logical step forward with a new animated series titled Skylanders Academy, premiering today (October 28th) on Netflix.

The 13 debut episodes follow the story of Spyro the Dragon (the classic PlayStation icon who found new life in the Skylanders series), Stealth Elf and Eruptor as they begin their studies as the titular Skylanders Academy to learn techniques that will help them battle enemies, such as Kaos, the perennial villain from the Skylanders games.

While some characters have their roles reprised by their voice actors from the games, such as Invader Zim’s Richard Steven Horvitz returning to voice Kaos, Netflix has hired big name actors to voice the main heroes, such as Justin Long as Spyro, Ashley Tisdale as Stealth Elf and Jonathan Banks as Eruptor. This star-studded cast, which also includes veteran comedians Bobcat Goldthwait, Norm Macdonald and Catherine O’Hara, is likely meant to present the show as a high-quality Netflix exclusive to compete with the streaming site’s massive catalogue of shows from other content producers, or perhaps to also attract older audiences eager to see Mike from Breaking Bad’s angry voice coming out of a lava monster.

While I never really paid much attention to the Skylanders franchise since it began, when I first heard about this new series a few months ago, the impressive voice cast had me somewhat interested. I’ll definitely give at least an episode or two of the show a chance. Hopefully I won’t have to wait long to hear Zed from Police Academy yell at the guy from the Apple commercials. What do you guys think? Will you watch this new show on Netflix? What voice actor portraying a Skylander would get you to watch the show? Let us know in the comments!

In other Netflix news, have you heard about the fan petition to bring a Star Wars mini-series to Netflix, or that Jessica Jones season 2 on Netflix will have female directors for every episode? Read all about them here on Don’t Feed the Gamers!