Joe and Anthony Russo are teaming up with Netflix, Wizards of the Coast, and Hasbro’s Allspark Animation on a Magic: The Gathering animated series. The just-announced project will mark the first time the popular Magic franchise has been brought to life on the screen.
“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 Joe and Anthony Russo, the sibling filmmaking team behind Avengers: Endgame, Avengers: Infinity War, Captain America: Civil War, and Captain America: Winter Soldier.
“Working with Joe and Anthony, Wizards of the Coast, and Netflix on such a universally cherished brand is a real highlight for our studio.” stated Isaac Krauss, CEO of Octopie. “Our 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.”
Magic: The Gathering was created in 1993 and has been published in 11 languages. More than 38 million people are fans of the game.
“More fans are enjoying Magic now than at any time in its 25-year history thanks to the enduring popularity of the tabletop game and our latest release War of the Spark, as well as the incredible success of our new digital game, Magic: The Gathering Arena.” said Chris Cocks, President of Wizards of the Coast. “We’re thrilled to collaborate with Joe and Anthony Russo to bring Magic: The Gathering‘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.”
According to Netflix, Joe and Anthony Russo will executive produce and “oversee the creation of an all new storyline and 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.”
“Magic is a beloved global franchise with a massively engaged fan base that has only continued to grow over the last 25 years,” said John Derderian, head of Anime programming for Netflix. “There’s no one better suited to bring this story to audiences around the world than Joe and Anthony Russo, whose talent for genre storytelling is unmatched, as demonstrated by their central role in creating some of the biggest box office hits of all time.”
The behind the scenes team will include 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 The Lego Movies.
Henry Gilroy (Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars) and Jose Molina (The Tick, Agent Carter) are the animated series’ lead writers. Yoriaki Mochizuki is the supervising director and co-executive producer.
Todd Makurath, Eric Calderon, and Dave Newberg are producing, and Mike Larocca and Isaac Krauss join the Russos as executive producers.
