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Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering creator Wizards of the Coast has announced it is partnering with Netflix and the Russo Brothers to produce a Magic: The Gathering animated series. According to a press release, the Russos 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”.
Magic: The Gathering is a collectible card game first devised by Richard Garfield and released in 1993. The franchise has grown to boast 38 million fans and has been published in eleven languages and is played in over 70 countries. The new series will feature 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, and the animation will be done by Bardel Entertainment.
“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.”
“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 in a joint statement.
“Magic is a beloved global franchise with a massively engaged fan base that has only continued to grow over the last 25 years,” added 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.”
