Wizards of the Coast is partnering with Joe and Anthony Russo, the directing team behind Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame, to create a Magic: The Gathering animated series for Netflix.
While Magic has had a lot of spin-off material in the past, such as the currently-running comic book and a series of novels, this is the first time that the franchise has ever ventured into television.
The Russos will “oversee the creation of an all-new storyline,” according to Wizards of the Coast press release. The details of that story have yet to be revealed, but are said to focus on the series’ trademark Planeswalkers, the characters that drive the game’s surprisingly intricate plot.
Magic is currently slated to be animated by the Vancouver, B.C.-based studio Bardel Entertainment, with production by the Californian firm Octopie. Todd Makurath, Eric Calderon, and Dave Newberg are listed as producers, with Henry Gilroy (“Star Wars: The Clone Wars“) and Jose Molina (“The Tick,” “Agent Carter“) as lead writers and executive producers.
Magic: The Gathering was created in 1993 by Richard Garfield and celebrated its 25th anniversary last year. The collectible card game has millions of fans all over the world, as well as both pro and esports leagues. The card game’s most recent expansion, released last month alongside a new novel and an actual CGI trailer, is the highly-publicized War of the Spark.
Founded in Renton, Wash., in 1990 by Peter Adkinson, a former systems analyst at The Boeing Co., Wizards was acquired by toy giant Hasbro for $325 million in 1999. Beyond its juggernaut fantasy titles such as Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons Wizards also served as distributor of the Pokémon trading cards for several years. It is making a significant push into digital initiatives to attract new fans.
