It has been quite some time since Netflix announced an animated series based on the popular card game Magic: The Gathering. Despite going through several renditions, the adaptation has been in production at Netflix for a while. The Russo Brothers were once attached to the first version, which was first revealed in 2019 and was originally slated to debut on Netflix in 2022. In September 2024, Netflix stated that a new creative team would oversee the new series. However, since then, there has been no official update from the streamer on its development.

Almost two years have passed now, and since there are no updates, it is perceived as if the streaming giant has stashed it in limbo indefinitely. But is it really so? 

The reluctance of the streamer has led some to believe that Magic: The Gathering has been cancelled, but there is some evidence that suggests otherwise. Last year in June, Netflix revealed that DIGIC Pictures would take charge of animating the upcoming Magic: The Gathering animated series at the 2025 Annecy Film Festival. At the event, Dylan Thomas, the Director of Adult Animation at Netflix, unveiled the streaming behemoth's future lineup, which also included Magic: The Gathering.

While talking about the show, Thomas stated, "This series is an epic fantasy saga that centers around three powerful mages, known as planeswalkers, who are able to travel across infinite worlds, each one vividly distinct from one another."

With the announcement of DIGIC Pictures' involvement, Netflix also unveiled the show's concept art at the festival, but it has not yet been publicly released for everyone to see. Although there is still no anticipated release date, Thomas stated that additional details about the show will be unveiled in 2026. 

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That was in June 2025, and it is 2026 now; there is still no official update on its development. Moreover, the only relevant update came in 2025 itself from the showrunner Terry Matalas.

Terry Matalas, the showrunner and executive producer of Magic: The Gathering, revealed in an interview with The Sackhoff Show podcast in May 2025 that the show has finished all of its scripting and is currently in the casting and animatics stage. He also talked about the CGI approach they took with the project to bring its expansive and stunning world to the screens.

“It’s not an anime, it’s a big, giant, expansive, CGI wonderfest,” Matalas said while also explaining the reasoning behind the decision. The decision was made because animation is thought to be the best way to portray the vast and varied worlds and planes of existence that are the central elements of the Magic: The Gathering universe, which would be too costly to accomplish in live-action television without a huge budget. 

But still, the fact remains that these updates are almost a year old, and there is no latest announcement or even a tease about the project. For a project stuck in Netflix’s developmental cycle for years, it rarely happens that it comes to reality. Anyhow, since there are also no reports of it being cancelled, it can be safely assumed that it lurks somewhere in the realm of possibility for now. Only time will tell what Netflix decides to do with the series that it announced way back, while it goes on announcing new ones. 

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