Netflix’s Magic: The Gathering animated series has cast Brandon Routh in the lead role.
Routh’s casting was announced during the recent Wizards of the Coast’s Magic Showcase 2021 stream. Though the stream didn’t reveal any new plot details about the series, it did confirm that Routh will voice the character Gideon Jura.
Based on the tabletop card game of the same name, Magic: The Gathering expands on the stories of the game’s magic-wielding heroes and villains called Planeswalkers. In the game, Gideon is a just and charismatic Planewalker who doesn’t hesitate to defend the innocent and takes pride in leading his comrades towards the common good. Physically large and muscular, Gideon is a powerful warrior-mage with the ability to make himself invulnerable.
First announced in 2019, the Magic: The Gathering animated series was supposed to be overseen by the Russo Brothers. But since the siblings exited the project, Jeff Kline has taken the helm with a new team that includes co-executive producer and story editor Steve Melching, supervising director Audu Pade, and writers Nicole Dubuc, Russell Sommer, Dan Frey, and Taneka Stotts. Izzy Medrano will serve as art director, with Snowball Studios making the animation and eOne as the studio.
A Magic: The Gathering prequel novel by Django Wexler will also be released in conjunction with the animated series, which is slated to debut in 2022. Hailing from Del Rey Books, the prequel novel centers on the adventure of Planeswalkers Gideon Jura and Jace Beleren as they right wrongs across the multiverse. But since they have different insights into what they witness, the partnership between the two is under quite a bit of strain.
Created by Richard Garfield and first released in 1993, Magic: The Gathering card game has spawned a digital game, esports league, comic book series, and a best-selling novel. It has been published in 11 languages in over 70 countries.
Best known for his starring role in the 2006 film Superman Returns, Routh recently appeared as Officer Doug Stanton in season 3 of ABC’s The Rookie and as Ray Palmer, aka The Atom, on The CW’s Legends of Tomorrow.