Russo Brothers Step Away From Netflix’s Magic: The Gathering Series

Joe and Anthony Russo, who are most well-known as the directors of the MCU films Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame, were previously attached to be leading an animated adaptation of the classic trading card game Magic: the Gathering for Netflix. However, as of today, the Russos have now been revealed to have moved on from the project, with a new notable lead taking over in their stead.

Revealed in a new report from Deadline, Jeff Kline, who has previously worked on the Transformers: Prime series, will be helming Magic: the Gathering moving into the future. According to this report, the Russos and the other members of their writing team were said to have left working on this series a while back. The divorce was one that was said to be friendly, however, with Netflix then opting to just move on and bring in Kline to work on the project. Joining Kline will be the likes of Steve Melching, Audu Paden, Izzy Medrano, Nicole Dubuc, Russell Sommer, Dan Frey, and Taneka Stotts.

Talking about the process of taking the reigns from the Russos, Kline shared in a new quote today that he is thankful to the directing duo for involving him on this Magic: the Gathering series to begin with. “I’m grateful to the Russos for bringing me into the world of Magic: the Gathering – specifically, over dinner at one of their go-to Cleveland restaurants. Magic is one of those rare intellectual properties with such a wellspring of mythology that ‘picking and choosing’ is half the battle,” Kline said. “Every single person working on the series understands how beloved this universe is – and feels both the exhilaration and tremendous pressure that comes with translating Magic across mediums.”

In addition to this quote from Kline, Netflix and Wizards of the Coast, which is the owner of the Magic: the Gathering IP commented on this transition. “While the Russo Brothers are no longer part of the animated series, their passion for the game combined with their early creative perspective and input helped us to shape the project to a place where we believe fans of the game and those new to the ‘Gathering Universe’ will enjoy the series and discover what millions of fans around the globe have known for the past 25 years,” both entities said in a joint statement.

For now, Netflix hasn’t announced any potential release windows for when Magic: the Gathering might end up coming to the streaming service. Given that this creative team transition has just become official, though, it seems like we might still be pretty far off from seeing this series arrive.