The Russo Brothers Are Teaming With Netflix For A Magic: The Gathering TV Show

By Nick Venable
published

Fresh off of directing the second-highest-grossing film of all time with Avengers: Endgame, brothers Anthony and Joe Russo could feasibly get their hands dirty with any conceivable project possible. On top of reportedly directing the upcoming drama adaptation Cherry with Spider-Man: Far From Home's Tom Holland, the Russo brothers are apparently now teaming up with Netflix to develop an animated series based on the globally renowned role-playing game Magic: The Gathering.

Netflix announced that Anthony and Joe Russo will be serving as executive producers on the new animated series that will apparently be titled Magic: The Gathering. (Probably smart not to confuse people with an alternate title.) It's apparent that this Magic TV project has been in development behind the scenes ahead of the news going public, too, as the rest of the creative team is also already lined up.

In one corner of Magic: The Gathering's writing team is Henry Gilroy, a former writer and executive producer on Star Wars Rebels and The Clone Wars, as well as for a variety of Marvel's animated series such as Guardians of the Galaxy and Ultimate Spider-Man. He started out on shows such as Tiny Toon Adventures and Taz-Mania, too, so he knows humor as well as action beats.

In the other corner is Jose Molina, who is more known for live-action shows over animated series, though he also worked on Clone Wars. Molina has written and been a co-EP on hits such as Law and Order: SVU, The Vampire Diaries, Sleepy Hollow and, most recently, Amazon's The Tick. (Henry Gilroy wrote a pair of episodes for the original animated Tick series, for what that's worth.)

Along with Netflix, the Russo brothers will also be partnering with game publisher Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro's Allspark Animation for the Magic: The Gathering TV show, which will be produced by the animation network Octopie. The actual animation for Magic will be produced by Bardel Entertainment, which also works on current hits such as Rick and Morty and Teen Titans Go! for Cartoon Network.

While the actual plotline for the TV show isn't being promoted in full, the announcement teases that Magic: The Gathering will introduce an all new storyline that expands the story of the Planeswalkers, which are the power-wielding wizards that are contending "with stakes larger than any one world can hold." One might also expect for the TV series to be engineered to introduce new characters and character types that will inevitably get brought into the card game's future expansions.

Take a gander at Netflix's sneak peek image below.

netflix magic the gathering tv show first look

(Image credit: netflix press)

In Netflix's announcement, here's what Anthony and Joe Russo had to say about signing on for a Magic TV series.

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.

Get ready for lots of largely clueless older people to pipe up with comments like "How can you make a TV show out of a card game?" or "What's next, Netflix's Go Fish: The Series?" or "This isn't the kind of magic that David Copperfield does." Here's hoping everyone becomes a convert whenever Magic: The Gathering debuts on Netflix. That'll presumably in 2020, though no dates were specified.

Are you guys excited to see Magic: The Gathering finally getting adapted into a TV show after all this time?

Nick Venable
Nick Venable
Assistant Managing Editor

Nick is a Cajun Country native, and is often asked why he doesn't sound like that's the case. His love for his wife and daughters is almost equaled by his love of gasp-for-breath laughter and gasp-for-breath horror. A lifetime spent in the vicinity of a television screen led to his current dream job, as well as his knowledge of too many TV themes and ad jingles.