Netflix’s animated Magic: The Gathering series, Planeswalker, appears to put Chandra Nalaar at the center of its story. The rebellious, volatile pyromancer will team up with other Planeswalkers to stop a cataclysmic war that threatens the multiverse.
Ajani Goldmane also appears in the first look. A legendary Planeswalker and gigantic bipedal lion, he’s been part of Magic canon for nearly two decades. The early concept art shows him and Chandra watching the tide from a beach, with two mirrored moons overhead.
Early development concept art for Planeswalker, Netflix.
The source writer had expected Jace to lead the adaptation, given his frequent importance to Magic’s stories. In some cases, he’s literally at the center of the universe. Chandra’s apparent lead role changes that expectation, but the multiverse-threatening conflict is familiar ground. For the writer, that’s exactly the sort of Magic story an adaptation should tell.
The TV project was announced in 2024. Long before that news, the source writer considered Magic well suited to the screen: its extensive lore, vivid characters and backstories, and numerous novels gave an adaptation plenty to draw on. With the series now moving forward, their assessment of the early material is strongly positive.
Leading the production are Terry Matalas and Cindy Appel, whom the source describes as highly capable showrunners associated with Star Trek: Picard and WandaVision. It also highlights Matalas’s work on 12 Monkeys as a personal favorite of the writer.
DIGIC is handling the animation. The studio has twenty years of experience and a reputation for high-quality game trailers, cinematics and motion-capture work, with credits including League of Legends and Assassin’s Creed. Although the source writer’s first choice would have been Arcane studio Fortiche, DIGIC’s previous work and the Planeswalker trailer have won them over. They particularly praise the show’s appearance.
Seeing Chandra and Ajani together prompts another question: will the series bring in all five of Magic’s first Planeswalkers? Introduced in the 2007 Lorwyn expansion, that group also includes Liliana Vess, a necromancer; Garruk, a feral summoner; and Jace Beleren, a mind-mage.
At the time of the source article, no further Planeswalkers had been revealed. The possible appearances of Liliana, Garruk and Jace are the writer’s speculation, not confirmed casting or character announcements.
The source writer remains deeply optimistic about Planeswalker, citing both the visuals and the passion for Magic among those making its first TV adaptation. Their clearest prediction comes with a specific limitation: judging only from the early development footage, they expect the fight scenes to be incredible. Whether the remaining members of the original five will join Chandra and Ajani is still unknown.
