'Avengers: Endgame' directors developing animated 'Magic: The Gathering' series at Netflix
Planeswalkers are coming to Netflix.
In news sure to supercharge anyone who has at least dabbled in the mystic art of Magic: The Gathering, Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo will develop a new animated series for the streaming platform based on the popular Wizards of the Coast fantasy franchise.
There have been previous attempts to bring Magic to movie theaters, but this will be the first time the franchise will be adapted for the screen in the franchise’s 25-year history, which started with the flagship card game involving battles between wizards called Planeswalkers.
The Russos will executive produce the series and “oversee the creation of an all new storyline” that will “expand on the stories of the Planeswalkers, which are Magic’s unique magic-wielding heroes and villains, as they contend with stakes larger than any one world can hold,” according to an announcement from Netflix.
The teaser image accompanying the news seems to feature popular character Chandra Nalaar, a human Planeswalker from the world of Kaladesh who specializes in fire magic.
Star Wars Rebels co-executive producer/writer Henry Gilroy will co-write and co-showrun the Magic series with Jose Molina, a co-executive producer on Amazon’s The Tick and Marvel’s Agent Carter.
“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,” said the Russos — who are also big Fortnite players, by the way.
Octopie Network and Canadian studio Bardel Studio will handle animation. Isaac Krauss, CEO of Octopie, said their “goal is to not only tell a compelling story leveraging Magic: The Gathering’s incredible body of work, but to also push the medium and perception of storytelling through animation. This series will cross the genres of suspenseful thriller, horror, and drama with deeply developed characters the likes of which are not often seen in animation.”
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