Avengers: Endgame Directors to Team with Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast for Magic: The Gathering Animated Series on Netflix
John F. Trent
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Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo are teaming up with Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro’s Allspark Animation for a Magic: The Gathering animated series on Netflix.
According to Netflix, the Russo brothers will “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.”
“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.
Magic: The Gathering is primarily a tabletop card game. Although it has expanded its footprint into the digital age with multiple mobile games. One of the defining features of the game are the Planeswalkers. They were originally the players of the game. Althought Planeswalker cards were introduced in the Lorwyn expansion. They are magic wielding heroes and have the ability to traverse from plane to plane. There are currently 177 Planeswalker cards in total representing 53 different Planeswalker characters. Jace has the most Planeswalker cards in eleven followed by Ajani, Liliana, and Chandra who have ten.
The Russo Brothers will executive produce the show. They will be joined by Octopie, who will oversee production. Todd Makurath, Eric Calderon, and Dave Newberg will produce the animated series. Mike Larocca and Isaac Krauss will also serve as executive producers.
“Working with Joe and Anthony, Wizards of the Coast, and Netflix on such a universally cherished brand is a real highlight for our studio.” said 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.”
While the Russo Brothers will be overseeing the creation of the new storyline. The series will see Star Wars Rebels and Star Wars: The Clones Wars veteran Henry Gilroy and Agent Carter’s Jose Molina serve as lead writers and co-executive producers.
Yoriaki Mochizuki will be a co-executive producer and supervising director on the series. Animation will be done by Bardel Entertainment. Bardel Entertainment has previously worked on Netflix’s Dragon Prince, Rick & Morty, Teen Titans GO!, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and more.
“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.”
“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.”
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