I’ve questioned for years why Magic: The Gathering’s vivid cast of planeswalkers hadn’t yet made it into movies or TV yet. With so much lore behind the machine of Magic: The Gathering, and such vivid backstories and so many literal novels on hand for reference, the IP has always felt very ripe for harvesting. In 2024, we got the news that a TV show was happening, and now, it’s finally that time. We’re getting a Magic: The Gathering TV series (for real, for real), and you know what? It looks really damn good.
Who is at the helm of this project? None other than Terry Matalas and Cindy Appel. Matalas and Appel are best known for Star Trek: Picard and, of course, their work on WandaVision. (But I’ll always love you for 12 Monkeys, Terry!) Along with two hyper-competent showrunners, twenty-year veteran animation studio DIGIC is behind bringing this Magic: The Gathering TV series to life. DIGIC has a reputation for its high-quality video game trailers, cinematics, and motion-capture. They’ve worked on everything from League of Legends to Assassin’s Creed. While in a perfect world I would have picked Arcane’s Fortiche for the project, DIGIC’s work speaks for itself, as does the trailer for the show. I’m already in love with how Planeswalker looks.
Could All Five of Magic: The Gathering‘s First Planewalkers Feature in the Netflix TV Series?
I’ve always wondered which planeswalker would be the focus in a situation like this, and in my head I always assumed it would be Jace who would star in Magic: The Gathering TV series, because everything is always about Jace. He’s literally the center of the universe in some cases! But nah, by all appearances, it seems the volatile and rebellious pyromancer Chandra Nalaar will be taking center stage for Planeswalker. Chandra will join with other Planeswalkers to prevent a cataclysmic war threatening the multiverse. Pretty standard Magic: The Gathering fair, which frankly is exactly what I was hoping for in a TV series adaptation.
Along with Chandra, in this Magic: The Gathering TV series first look, we see Ajani Goldmane, another legendary Planeswalker who happens to be a gigantic bipedal lion who has stalked through Magic canon for nearly two decades. No other Planeswalkers have been revealed yet, but with Chandra and Ajani here, it makes me wonder if we’ll see the other three of Magic: The Gathering’s first five planeswalkers, released as part of a Lorwyn expansion in 2007. The other three are necromancer Liliana Vess, feral summoner Garruk, and the aforementioned ‘Most Special Boy in the Multiverse’, mind-mage Jace Beleren.
Only time will tell, but have no doubt we’ll be following the show all the way to its premiere and beyond. I’m deeply optimistic about Planeswalker‘s potential, and with so many of the folks behind being passionate about Magic, there’s no telling the heights Magic: The Gathering‘s first TV series adaptation can reach. Judging just by the early development footage, at the very least, the fight scenes are going to be incredible.