It’s safe to say that Magic: The Gathering doesn’t have the best history when it comes to screen adaptations. Over the last few years multiple films and series’ have been announced, only to be unceremoniously cancelled later on. Those longing to see their favorite planeswalkers in TV or film have been longing for a while, in other words. This week, however, a new development has restored faith in the MTG animated series slated for release on Netflix.
Announced last September, many expected this attempt to go the way of all the others. According to a Netflix article earlier this week, however, the show will be part of the company’s Annecy Festival lineup. While hardly a guarantee of progress, or eventual release, this is still a very positive sign for the project. Maybe an MTG series will happen in our lifetime after all.
A Peek At The MTG Animated Series?
The MTG animated series got a small, but significant, mention in Netflix’s Annecy Festival announcement piece. For the uninitiated, this is a French film festival dedicated to animated films and series’. Netflix is showcasing a wide range of projects there, including the Magic: The Gathering series.
Specifically, the series will feature in the Animated Series Studio Focus section of the event, held on June 12th. According to the announcement, this section “will share insights into our creative and production processes behind our animated slate.”
While this sounds intriguing, it’s best to temper expectations. Other entries in the festival lineup are mentioned as receiving “never-before-seen footage” and “early looks” at the event, but nothing like that is promised for Magic. Given how early the project is in development, it’s likely we’ll just see a few screenshots or work-in-progress images rather than any actual footage.
That said, this is still an exciting announcement. For one, it proves that, for now at least, the project is actually going ahead. Additionally, the fact that the show is grouped with Netflix’s “adult spectacle” series’ like Blue Eye Samurai in the lineup is interesting. This means we may be getting a more mature take on Magic than many expected, especially given the overall direction of the game lately.
The Annecy Festival appearance may not be anything hugely exciting in the end, but it’s definitely still worth keeping an eye out for. If an event appearance is on the cards, it may not be too long before we have some more substantial morsels to chew on. Watch this space, animated Magic dreamers!