I guess we’ll call it the MGCU. Just rolls off the tongue, no? According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hasbro and Legendary are teaming up to build a whole Magic: The Gathering entertainment universe across film and TV. It will begin with a movie, and spin out from there.
As THR notes, Legendary has the reins of several franchises that are currently running in TV and movies, most notably the Dune universe and the Godzilla movies and Apple TV+ series. Hasbro, of course, has a whole lot of toys-to-series-or-movies experience, including the ever-looming Transformers/G.I. Joe crossover event.
Last fall, Hasbro announced a Magic: The Gathering animated series at Netflix, with Star Trek: Picard’s Terry Matalas as showrunner (picking up after Netflix and previous showrunner Anthony Russo parted ways). How this fits into the new universe is unclear.
Magic: The Gathering was originally released in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast, which was bought by Hasbro in 1999. The game can be played with physical or virtual cards, and involves wizards battling each other. The world is complex, the game extremely popular: It’s only surprising that this hasn’t become a cinematic universe already.
There’s no word yet on who will be writing and/or directing these Magical adventures.
