Years after being announced and a more recent creative relaunch, Magic: The Gathering is getting its first animated series in Planeswalker.
“It’s happening!” say several Wizards of the Coast employees at the beginning of the reveal video. As part of its larger MagicCon: Atlanta event, Wizards pulled back the curtain on the Netflix series. Plot-wise, the show will focus on the “fierce clash” between the titular Planeswalkers, powerful mages that can travel between different universes (or “planes”) and control the elements. The series focuses on Chandra, a popular, fire-wielding Magic character “hunted for her gifts and haunted by her past.”
“Confronted by an insidious force, Chandra and some of the most legendary Planeswalkers must harness their extraordinary abilities, navigate treacherous alliances, and battle their own inner demons to prevent a cataclysmic war that threatens to consume their very existence,” the synopsis continues. “As the line between victory and annihilation grows thinner, a single spark determines the fate of thousands of worlds.”
Visually, Planeswalker looks to take inspiration from Netflix’s Arcane, itself based on Riot Games’ League of Legends. The art style is the most immediate signifier, but also peep the concept art and renders of its action scenes. We only get a little of the latter in the video above, but the camerawork carries a similar dynamism and energy that made Riot and Fortiche’s series so captivating to many. Some of that may be intentional, as animation studio Digic Pictures has done cinematics for League of Legends, in addition to Blood of Dawnwalker more recently.
Look for Planeswalker to burn up Netflix sometime in 2027.
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