Maya Hawke Joins Legendary and Hasbro's MAGIC: THE GATHERING Movie in Major Role
Maya Hawke is jumping into the world of magic, monsters, and powerful spells! The Stranger Things star is set to join Legendary Entertainment and Hasbro Entertainment's upcoming live-action Magic: The Gathering movie, marking the first major casting news for the fantasy adaptation.
According to Deadline, Hawke is expected to play a key role in the film, although details about her character are being kept under wraps. The movie will reportedly feature a large ensemble cast, but producers were particularly interested in getting Hawke involved. In fact, she was their first choice to receive an offer before the other roles entered the audition process.
Matt Johnson is directing the film and co-writing the screenplay alongside Noah Gardner and Aidan Fitzgerald. Legendary and Hasbro have some pretty ambitious plans for the franchise, with the movie intended to help launch a larger live-action universe spanning both film and television.
There's certainly plenty of material to work with. First introduced in 1993, Magic: The Gathering created the trading card game genre and has since grown into a billion-dollar franchise with more than 50 million fans worldwide.
The game takes place across a massive multiverse filled with fantasy worlds, powerful beings, legendary creatures, and planeswalkers capable of traveling between different realms. That gives the filmmakers a ton of creative freedom when it comes to building a cinematic universe.
Beyond the cards themselves, Magic has expanded into video games, books, merchandise, live events, and competitive tournaments. Its popularity has also led to major crossover collaborations with franchises including Final Fantasy, Marvel, Star Trek, Dungeons & Dragons, and The Lord of the Rings.
With so many characters, worlds, and stories to explore, it'll be interesting to see which corner of the Magic universe Johnson chooses for the first movie. There's also the big question of whether Hawke will play an established character from the game's mythology or someone created specifically for the film.
The project also comes at an interesting point in Hawke's career. With Netflix's Stranger Things having wrapped up last year, she's moving into a new chapter with several projects on the way, including Lionsgate's The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, Graham Parkes' romantic comedy Wishful Thinking, and Netflix's God of the Woods.
Her previous credits include Pixar's Inside Out 2, Wes Anderson's Asteroid City, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson's Do Revenge, Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Gia Coppola's Mainstream, and Bradley Cooper's Leonard Bernstein drama Maestro.
A live-action Magic: The Gathering movie has a ton of potential, especially with the fantasy worlds and mythology that have been developed over more than three decades. The challenge will be turning all that material into a compelling story that works for longtime players and newcomers alike.
Hawke is a solid first addition to the cast, and I'm curious to see who else Legendary and Hasbro bring aboard as the project moves forward.
Source: Deadline