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Picture: Wizards of the Coast
While working on our big list of new animated series set to debut on Netflix in 2025 and beyond, we got slightly lost on what exactly happened to the Magic: The Gathering animated series at Netflix and whether it’s still in the works.
Note: This article was first published on September 6th and has been updated to reflect a new article from Collider with comments from an interview with Brandon Routh.
Let’s rewind the clock back to June 2019. That’s when Netflix officially confirmed it was working on a brand new series based on the card game with the help of Joe and Anthony Russo, Wizards of the Coast (the company behind the game), Hasbro’s Allspark Animation, and animation studios Octopie (who still lists the show on their about page) and Bardel.
Henry Gilroy and Jose Molina were on board to write initially, with Yoriaki Mochizuki working as a supervising director.
In July 2019 at SDCC, the Russos hinted about the series’ subject matter, hinting that fan favorites Chandra and Jace would be the series’ subjects. The duo even mentioned long-term plans to bring the IP to live action.
Picture: Netflix
Fast-forward two years into development, and Deadline revealed in August 2021 that the Russo brothers (in addition to Gilroy and Molina) had departed the project over “creative differences”, with Jeff Kline stepping in to lead the creative team. Bardel was no longer attached to animation, and neither were those duties going to Snowball Studios (which currently has no reference to the show on its website).
The Russo Brothers continue to work with Netflix on a myriad of announced (and a couple of unannounced – hopefully, we get to talk about these more soon!) projects through their production company, AGBO. Their next major project for Netflix is The Electric State, which will be released in early 2025.
In August 2021, Hasbro announced new details about the upcoming show in an investor press release stating that the show would be arriving on Netflix in late 2022.
“The animated series is currently in full production
and Wizards of the Coast confirmed today that Brandon Routh (credits: Arrow, The Flash, Superman Returns) will be the voice actor for Gideon Jura, an unfalteringly heroic Planeswalker in the Magic: The Gathering multiverse.While the series brings together familiar and well-loved Planeswalkers for Magic fans, it also introduces new characters and kicks off a completely new story, so anyone—even if they’ve never played Magic before—will enjoy the story from episode one.
An upcoming novel from acclaimed fantasy author Django Wexler is set to release alongside the launch of the Netflix series and provides richer context as a fast-follow prequel to the show. The novel expands on the events that unfold in the Netflix series and dives into how Gideon Jura and Jace Beleren bond—and distance—as they share causes, but distinct perspectives and abilities.”
Concept art for Netflix series Magic: The Gathering
Officially from Netflix, the last reference we got to the show was back in November 2021 when it previewed its Geeked Lineup for 2022 on X. These were all the shows and movies Netflix had coming up for 2022
The Geeked account also added a description for the show, saying, “An all-new animated event series from @wizards_magic, following the lore of the compelling characters and fantastic worlds that have entertained and delighted fans for more than 25 years.”
The show was absent from Geeked Week in 2022, and it was not mentioned throughout the year. Of course, it did not arrive in late 2022.
From what we can tell, most Hasbro employees connected to the project ceased working on it in early to mid-2022 (some as late as July 2022), and these ranged from writers to animators. In the case of one designer at Hasbro, they still list the series for release in 2024-2025, although a director states that the series is simply “unreleased.”
Hasbro themselves did mention the show back in October 2023 when talking on an investor call (via Dicebreaker) with Chris Cocks, saying, “We have over 30 projects in development from blockbuster movies like the upcoming Transformers One with Paramount to an animated [Magic: The Gathering] series with Netflix to digital-first IP development like our new YouTube series, Oddpaws.”
Magic: The Gathering Artwork
In September 2024, Collider spoke to Brandon Routh, who told the outlet when asked about the status of the show:
“I’m not sure. I did do a voice for it. As far as I understand, nobody’s put out a press release about it, but apparently it’s not happening. That’s kind of old news. I’m not sure why it’s surfacing again.”
We don’t have any official insight on this, but it appears that plans to release whatever was produced were scrapped. It’s important to note that the production studio change and changes at Netflix Animation (direction changes, leadership changes, or mass layoffs) meant that the series never saw the light of day.
Magic: The Gathering is back in development at Netflix?
Here’s where we learn what’s happening right now. It appears the show still has a pulse on Netflix, but based on the above comments and what we’ve learned, the previously produced show won’t be coming to our screens.
This year, we’ve learned that a new writer is on board, possibly starting a new adaptation from scratch. Christopher Derrick posted on LinkedIn back in April 2024 that he was “happy to share that I’d started a new position as TV Writer/Co-Producer at Netflix!” with a subsequent update stating that he’s a writer/co-producer “on Netflix Animation’s MAGIC THE GATHERING series.” As of the time of publishing, it still says that’s a present role. Derrick has previously worked on Star Trek Picard and The Equalizer.
Sadly, that’s all we’ve currently got on the project, but reading the tea leaves, it looks like a new adaptation show could start from scratch.
Do you hope Netflix gets around to releasing a Magic: The Gathering series or developing a new one from scratch? Let us know in the comments.
