Deadline reports that Maya Hawke has joined the cast of Hasbro and Legendary’s live-action Magic: The Gathering movie. The casting moves the long-planned adaptation ahead, with Matt Johnson set to direct and write the screenplay with Noah Gardner and Aidan Fitzgerald.
As of Nerdist’s publication, Hawke’s role remained a mystery; no character had been announced. Nerdist says it seems the actress, who plays Robin Buckley in Stranger Things, will have a main role within a larger ensemble. The outlet speculates that she may play Chandra Nalaar if the filmmakers use Magic’s major planeswalkers. That remains the outlet’s theory rather than confirmed casting information.
Johnson had already said he was still in the middle of the project and that the movie was progressing in an update earlier this year: “I’m still in the middle of it; that’s very much happening. It’s the biggest project I’ve ever been a part of in my life, and I’m amazed it’s happening. As of today, as of this conversation, it’s very much full speed ahead.”
Netflix also has a separate Magic: The Gathering animated series planned, with no connection to the live-action production. The news about Hawke marks movement on the film; it doesn’t establish a shared screen universe or reveal which story the movie will follow.
In 1993, Magic: The Gathering debuted as the world’s first trading card game. According to Nerdist, it has grown into a global brand that has generated $10 billion in total sales. The breadth of its lore leaves the filmmakers with many places to begin. Nerdist suggests the recent Resident Evil movie could provide a model, using the franchise title for a story confined to one area of its fictional world. There’s no word on whether Johnson’s adaptation will follow that route.
Previous efforts to make a Magic movie never made it to the screen. In 2014, Twentieth Century Fox came close, with X-Men and Star Wars Rebels writer Simon Kinberg handling the script. That particular project collapsed soon afterward.
Nerdist sees grounds for optimism. As with Dungeons & Dragons, decades of fantasy lore give Magic material for a film. The outlet describes Hawke as a fan-favorite actress thanks to her role as Robin Buckley and points to Stranger Things as evidence that she can distinguish herself within an ensemble built around fantastical lore. Those elements, it argues, give the adaptation what it needs to succeed. Nerdist’s disclosure also identifies the publication as a subsidiary of Legendary Digital Networks.
Johnson and his co-writers haven’t disclosed which corner of Magic’s world they’ll explore. Until that direction is announced, the Chandra Nalaar suggestion depends on a story choice the filmmakers haven’t confirmed.
