Netflix Is Turning ‘Magic: The Gathering’ Into An Animated Series
Netflix is bringing Magic: The Gathering to the television screen, and they have Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo — and Hasbro’s Allspark Animation department — to help them do so.
Magic: The Gathering, the popular trading card game that invites players to enter a dueling world of magic filled with wizards, planeswalkers, heroes, villains, and creatures of just about every kind, is one of the most unique and popular tabletop games around. The cards showcase incredible artwork from thousands of artists, an artistic element which helps bring the game to life.
Developed in 1993, the franchise quickly grew in popularity. Magic: The Gathering has some 38 million fans worldwide, in more than 70 countries — and more than 20 billion cards have been produced, according to Wizards of the Coast. Wizards of the Coast also boasts that the company adds about 1,000 cards to its ever-growing library each year.
In a statement, the Russo brothers said they consider themselves to be two of the many millions of fans who love the game, Forbes reported.
“We have been huge fans and players of Magic: The Gathering for as long as it has been around, so being able to help bring these stories to life through animation is a true passion project for us,” the Russos said, according to a press release from Netflix.
The Russos will “oversee the creation of an all new storyline and expand on the stories of the Planeswalkers,” which will “contend with stakes larger than any one world can hold,” per the release.
HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT TIME: Netflix and Wizards of the Coast are teaming up with Joe and Anthony Russo to make a Magic: The Gathering anime series and this teaser of Chandra has me asking QUESTIONS. pic.twitter.com/vljlEtl0Mq
— Netflix Geeked (@NetflixGeeked) June 3, 2019
Also joining the effort to bring this elaborate world to the screen is creative talent from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Batman: The Animated Series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Firefly, Agent Carter, Ultimate Spider-Man, and other films, per Netflix. Henry Gilroy from Star Wars Rebels and Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Jose Molina from The Tick and Agent Carter will serve as lead writers — and co-executive producers — on the series.
Chris Cocks, Wizards of the Coast president, said that more fans than ever are enjoying Magic, adding that the company was “thrilled” to be working with the Russo brothers in order to bring Magic‘s “rich and diverse cast of characters and worlds to Netflix in a way that will delight our many fans and those new to the franchise.”
While reports have not said when the series would be available, fans will no doubt be excited to see not only what the series has to offer, but precisely how the fantastical world will be portrayed on the screen.
