Russo Brothers producing Netflix's Magic: The Gathering animated series

Joe and Anthony issued a statement saying they've been "huge fans and players" of Magic: The Gathering since it was created and described the animated show as a "true passion project"
Russo Brothers Netflix's Magic: The Gathering
Russo Brothers Netflix's Magic: The Gathering

Anthony and Joe Russo, the directors of Avengers: Endgame, are teaming up with Netflix for an animated Magic: The Gathering series.

Launched in 1993, Magic: The Gathering is a fantasy card game where players battle one another as planeswalkers, who can summon a variety of spells, monsters, and magical items. It has since been adapted as a video game for multiple platforms, and interestingly, last month, a game theory study concluded that Magic: The Gathering is the most complicated real-world game at present.

Universal and Hasbro started working on a Magic: The Gathering movie in 2009, but the project was ultimately dropped. Fox picked up the film rights in 2014 and attached X-Men's Simon Kinberg to produce, but that also failed to move forward. The IP has since found its way over to Netflix which is now making it as an animated TV show and announced that the Russos will be serving as executive producers on the series.

The directors, who also helmed Captain America: Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War issued a statement saying they've been "huge fans and players" of Magic: The Gathering since it was created and described the animated show as a "true passion project" for them. Netflix further confirmed the Russos will "oversee the creation of an all new storyline and expand on the stories of the Planeswalkers" featured in previous versions of the franchise.

Up and coming animation studio Octopie will oversee production with its CEO Isaac Krauss promising the TV 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.” The Russos are joined behind the scenes here by Henry Gilroy (Star Wars Rebels) and Jose Molina (The Tick), who will serve as the show's lead writers and co-producers. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and The LEGO Movie franchise's story artist Yoriaki Mochizuki will act as the supervising director, in addition to being a producer.

Magic: The Gathering is the latest addition to Netflix's animated shows meant for older viewers that boasts a collection currently comprising of Disenchantment and BoJack Horseman, with a future addition in the form of a comedy series, called Q-Force, described as "gay James Bond."

Magic: The Gathering is also part of their upcoming fantasy offerings like the live-action adaptation of The Witcher, and the Jim Henson Company's The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.

Netflix's Magic: The Gathering series does not have a premiere date at the moment.

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