Photo : Wizards Of The Coast

Joe and Anthony Russo just declared open season on swirlies , because the Avengers: Endgame directors have revealed they’ll be overseeing an animated adaptation of Magic: The Gathering for Netflix. Wizards Of The Coast’s long-running card game is brimming with mythology, its Multiverse of magical creatures and fictional continents having long fascinated kids still drying the toilet water from their hair .




Some of those kids, though, are now some of the most powerful people in Hollywood, and they’ve amassed an impressive gang of creatives to bring the project to life. That includes Star Wars Rebels’ Henry Gilroy, as well as Clone Wars’ and The Tick’s Jose Molina. The pair will flesh out the magical Planeswalkers that, until now, existed only in decks and book and comic adaptations of the game. Instead of the adapting one of the game’s existing storylines—there are many—the writers will dream up a new tale .

Octopie Network and Bardel Studio will oversee the animation, and, per Octopie CEO Isaac Krauss, the goal is to “push the medium and perception of storytelling through animation.” He adds, “ 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.”


Netflix is taking great pains to embrace the nerd market as of late, beefing up its anime slate (and acquiring holy grails like Neon Genesis Evangelion) and pumping money into projects like its Witcher TV series. The idea of crafting a satisfying adaptation of something so far-flung as Magic: The Gathering could be seen as Icarus-like, but the Russos have undoubtedly earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to piecing together sprawling fantasy worlds that encompass a myriad of characters and tones. We just hope they don’t get too many paper airplanes tossed at their heads as they brainstorm over some freshly unpacked decks.