Maya Hawke is set to star in the live-action film adaptation of Magic: The Gathering, putting the Stranger Things actress at the centre of one of Hasbro’s biggest properties as it moves to the big screen.
Deadline first reported the casting, which was confirmed by multiple outlets on November 5. Hawke is expected to anchor an ensemble cast that has yet to be announced, with her character and the storyline still undisclosed. The film is being developed by Legendary Entertainment and Hasbro Entertainment, with director Matt Johnson — a longtime fan of the game — writing the script alongside Noah Gardner and Aidan Fitzgerald.
Magic: The Gathering, the trading card game launched in 1993, is set across a multiverse of fantasy worlds and involves players battling as wizards known as Planeswalkers. It has sold billions of cards and built a global community of tens of millions of players, making it one of the most valuable gaming properties never yet adapted into a live-action film.
A first major casting
Hawke’s casting is the first major announcement for the project, and producers are reported to have made securing her a priority, giving the actress the first opportunity to join the production ahead of the wider casting process. Filming is scheduled to get under way next year.
The 28-year-old, best known as Robin Buckley in Netflix’s Stranger Things, has built a film career that includes Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City. The Magic: The Gathering role would be her biggest franchise lead to date.
For Legendary and Hasbro, the film is the centrepiece of a plan to expand the game into a live-action cinematic and television universe, following the model that has worked for other toy and game properties.
A property finally reaching the screen
Magic: The Gathering has been the subject of adaptation attempts for years, including an animated series that never materialised. The live-action film represents the most serious attempt yet to bring the game’s sprawling fantasy world to cinemas.
The challenge for the filmmakers is considerable: the game has no single protagonist or storyline, but a vast multiverse of characters and settings. Hawke’s casting suggests the film will build its story around a central character, with the wider world unfolding around her. Fans will now wait for the rest of the ensemble — and for the first glimpse of the world she will inhabit.
