Deadline reported on November 4th that Maya Hawke is set to join Legendary and Hasbro’s live-action “Magic: The Gathering” movie. The story cites sources and carries an exclusive tag. Deadline says the film “looks to have found its first big star” and that her role has not been disclosed. Matt Johnson of “BlackBerry” is the director. The Hollywood Reporter and TheWrap carried the news the same day. The film is meant to open a larger movie and television universe, which is why the first name attached matters.
The three reports do not use the same words. Deadline says Hawke is “set to join” the film. The Hollywood Reporter says she “has boarded” it. TheWrap goes furthest, saying Legendary and Hasbro “have cast” her and printing a statement from Johnson, though it credits Deadline with the first report. Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and TheWrap quote no executive at Legendary, Hasbro or Wizards of the Coast on the casting. None of them says what Hawke will play. Warning beyond this point there are spoilers for “Magic: The Gathering” lore.
The film is meant to open a larger movie and television universe, which is why the first name attached matters.”
Deadline’s sources add some shape. Insiders told Deadline that the cast is expected to have an ensemble feel and that Hawke’s role is expected to be a key one. Many of the other parts will go to actors who audition. For Hawke, producers “made it a priority to get the Stranger Things star the first offer to join the film.” Deadline also says the movie marks her first major role now that “Stranger Things” has ended.
The project has moved in small steps. Legendary and Hasbro announced it in February of last year as a live-action film and television universe with the movie first. Zev Foreman, Hasbro Entertainment’s head of film, called it “an exciting and complementary partnership”. Mary Parent, Legendary’s chairman of worldwide production, said the companies look forward to “creating a multimedia universe that thrills longstanding fans and creates a broad wave of new ones.” That April, Deadline reported that Johnson was the top choice to direct, though no deal had been signed. That June, it reported that Noah Gardner and Aidan Fitzgerald had closed a deal to write. The new reports list Johnson as attached to write alongside them. Gardner and Fitzgerald’s earlier work includes the canceled “The Trench”, an Aquaman spin-off.
Johnson built his name on small films with a strong voice. “BlackBerry” came out in 2023. His latest film “Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie” reached theaters through Neon on February 13th, and he directs and stars in it. Magic is a very different job, and for him it is a personal one. He told The InSneider in February that he wrote a Magic movie a decade ago and tried to pitch it in Hollywood, but nobody would listen. He told GamesRadar in March, “For years, I’ve said I would trade my entire career to be a professional Magic card player.” In a February interview with MovieWeb, relayed by Wargamer, he called the film “the biggest project I’ve ever been a part of in my life” and said “it’s very much full speed ahead.” TheWrap’s casting report carries a statement from him about playing day 2 of GP Detroit. It ends on a line for the dreamers: “in every pool, there is a day 2 deck.”
Hawke arrives with a deep list of credits. Deadline names “Inside Out 2”, “Asteroid City” and “Do Revenge” among them. Netflix says she joined “Stranger Things” in its third season as Robin Buckley, which it calls her big break. She also voiced Anxiety in “Inside Out 2”. She is in “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping”, due on November 20th, and she plays Wiress in it, according to Lionsgate’s casting release as relayed by Bleeding Cool. Deadline also lists the romantic comedy “Wishful Thinking” and the Netflix series “The God of the Woods” among her next projects. What’s on Netflix reports that the series began filming on June 12th in upstate New York, with Hawke as investigator Judy Luptack. Deadline gives no start date for Magic, so its report does not show how the film fits around that schedule.
Magic has been here before, and the earlier film attempts did not finish. A 2008 Hasbro deal with Universal collapsed by 2012, and Fox took the rights in 2014, according to tbreak’s summary of IGN’s history. TheWrap says that version had Simon Kinberg producing and was scrapped after Disney bought Fox. Netflix is a separate track, with an animated series from showrunner Terry Matalas that a Netflix representative told TVLine in February of last year is still in the works. It is not the same project as this movie. Legendary is a different kind of partner. The Hollywood Reporter notes that its earlier adaptations include “A Minecraft Movie” and the “Dune” films, with “Dune: Part 3” still to come. Hasbro Entertainment also has a Clue reimagining with Sony’s TriStar Pictures and a Monopoly film with LuckyChap and Lionsgate. The Magic plan is still only a plan.
The ensemble point matters because of how Magic is built. Richard Garfield created the game in 1993, and the companies’ announcement put its fan base at more than 50 million. Deadline calls Magic a game set across “a multiverse of fantasy worlds”, and its mythology has crossed over with Marvel and “Star Trek” among others. Players act as wizards called Planeswalkers who travel between worlds, Kinocheck explains. A film built on that structure does not need one hero or one home plane. It can hold several leads and several settings at once. Deadline’s word “ensemble” points that way, but nothing in the reporting says how the film will use that freedom.
Character guesses are already running, and none of them comes from Deadline. Nerdist’s Eric Diaz writes, “We think she may play Chandra Nalaar, assuming they embrace the big planeswalkers in MTG lore.” CBR’s Jamie Lovett lists Chandra Nalaar, Liliana Vess, Nissa Revane and Elspeth Tirel as options and floats Jaya Ballard as another fit. Those are guesses from writers who say outright that the role is unknown. They are not leaks, and they should be read as speculation. Nerdist’s own piece says “the role she’s playing remains a mystery”, and Deadline names no character at all.
The next marker is simple. Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and TheWrap give no release date and no start of production. Draftsim reports that Wizards of the Coast head designer Mark Rosewater wrote in January that the company has a deal with Legendary. That says nothing about the casting. The first real answer will be an announcement of Hawke’s role or a statement from Legendary or Hasbro. For a property whose film attempts have failed before, a first name is still a real step.
What Do You Think? Does an unnamed role change how you read this casting, or is Maya Hawke enough on her own? Which Magic character should she play, if the film leans on the big Planeswalkers at all? And can Legendary and Hasbro finally get a Magic movie made after the earlier attempts fell apart?
See you on the next binge!
