Hasbro’s Allspark Animation is handling development
Well this is a pretty interesting development to randomly happen on a Monday.
Confirmed to Destructoid, Netflix has announced, in conjunction with Hasbro (who owns Wizards of the Coast) and their Allspark Animation studio, that they’re teaming up with Joe and Anthony Russo (of Arrested Development and Marvel fame) to create an animated Magic: The Gathering series “for the first time in the franchise’s 25-year history.”
It’ll feature an “all new storyline,” that will focus on the Planeswalkers; powerful beings in the Magic universe that can traverse worlds and serve as some of the most impactful cards in the game. Yoriaki Mochizuki (who worked on the LEGO films and Into the Spider-Verse) is directing, and script duties will be handled by Henry Gilroy (Star Wars: The Clone Wars) and Jose Molina (The Tick, Agent Carter). The Russos will be executive producers and allegedly, the series will span the genres of “thriller, horror, and drama.” So far the only confirmed character, by way of the promotional teaser screen, is Chandra Nalaar: the fire-based Planeswalker that serves as one of the most iconic characters in the franchise.
Magic just wrapped up a years-long storyline in their card game arm, which now extends to Magic: Arena, a near 1:1 replication of the tabletop experience on PC. All this time Wizards of the Coast has dabbled in various mixed-media projects like novels and video games, but obviously this TV series, with major parties and creatives involved, is a big deal. With so much raw animation talent it has a lot of promise: it looks like everyone involved wants to do it right.
