Magic: The Gathering is in the righteous, geeky hands of the Russo brothers for its Netflix series adaptation

The directorial duo behind Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame is set to helm another very nerdy project — bringing Magic: The Gathering to life in a Netflix TV series. 

Judging from Joe and Anthony Russo’s cosmic success in bringing closure to Marvel’s cinematic saga (plus street cred from directing Community episodes), the 26-year-old trading card game is in very safe hands. It’s a match made in mana heaven, Planeswalkers. 


Earlier this week, Netflix announced that the Russo brothers would be teaming up with Wizards of The Coast and Hasbro to launch an animated series based on the lore of the long-running card game that has gripped the imaginations of over 38 million players worldwide. As executive producers, the Russos will oversee the creation of a totally new storyline and expand on the stories of the Planeswalkers — wizards both good and bad who can cast spells, use artefacts, and summon creatures in battle. 

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5W9t62t10I[/embed]

It’s not surprising at all that the brothers are Planeswalkers themselves. “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.

Not much else is known about how the adaptation will handle the wealth of material from over 60 known planes in the Magic multiverse, but the head of animation studio Octopie — which will be overseeing the show’s production — assures that it’ll dive deep into the supernatural aspect.

“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,” enthused Octopie’s CEO, Isaac Krauss.

Considering the long history of Magic: The Gathering, it’s not surprising that previous attempts have been made to bring the card game to life. Back in 2014, Game of Thrones writer Bryan Cogman was set to script a potential franchise movie based on the game for 20th Century Fox, but nothing much has been heard of the project since then. 

Even before that, Universal struck a deal with Hasbro in 2008 to produce a series of films based on its games and toys — and though we managed to get a couple of forgettable Transformers and G.I. Joe flicks out of that, Magic never got the big screen treatment (probably because of Board Stall, when there’s just too many elements on the playing field to move forward). 

Perhaps fate was simply waiting for the right people to take on the project, and indeed, the Russo brothers seem like the perfect minds to take on something as deep and esoteric as Magic: The Gathering. It’s certainly the right time for a TV adaptation too — the game is bigger than ever with multiple video game iterations, a consistently high live streaming audience, and esports tournaments with multi-million dollar prizes. 

ilyas@asiaone.com