Maya Hawke is the Magic: The Gathering movie's first pick, I'm calling Chandra

Matt Johnson made Day 2 at a Pro Tour in Detroit in 2006, then drafted so badly he quit competitive Magic and got serious about filmmaking. Twenty years later, he's directing the Magic: The Gathering movie. He's cracked his first pack of actors and actresses, and his first pick at the table this time is Maya Hawke.

On November 4th, Deadline reported that Hawke is the first actor signed to the live-action film from Legendary Entertainment and Hasbro Entertainment. Her role is under wraps. So is the plot. I have a theory about the first one and a wish about the second: Hawke is playing Chandra Nalaar, but this whole universe should start with two brothers and a broken powerstone.

What do we know about the Magic: The Gathering movie so far?

So the only confirmed details are what we have mentioned already. Legendary and Hasbro are producing the Magic: The Gathering movie, Matt Johnson is directing, and Maya Hawke is the only confirmed cast member.

We also know that the timeline is short. Producers announced in February 2025 that a feature film would kick off a Magic film and TV universe. By April 2025, Deadline reported Johnson as their choice to direct. Noah Gardner (Super 8) and Aidan Fitzgerald (Calls) are writing the screenplay with him. Then this week, Hawke, who most people know as Robin Buckley from Stranger Things, became the first name on the call sheet.

Per Variety's report, Hawke is expected to anchor an ensemble that hasn't been cast yet. That's Hollywood for "she's the lead, and we haven't signed anyone else." No release date and no plot. Word is floating around that they want this to get attention from bigger names, and it should.

So everyone is guessing. Here's mine.

Why Matt Johnson is the right director for this

Johnson is a lifelong Magic player who has called this game his version of what Star Wars was for other filmmakers.

He has said Magic "taught me to read." As a kid he wanted to play professionally, and he means that literally. At that 2006 Pro Tour in Detroit he made Day 2, only to get stomped by Richard Hoaen. He walked away from competitive play and put everything into movies. BlackBerry followed. Now he's making the Magic movie, which is a better redemption arc than most Magic novels.

As a Metro Detroit guy, I love this story. As a player, I love it more. Video game and toy adaptations go sideways when the person in charge treats the source like a logo. Johnson has felt a bad draft in his stomach. He knows why people still sleeve up thirty years in.

That's exactly the kind of director I want.

Is Maya Hawke playing Chandra?

Hawke's role hasn't been announced, but my gut says it's Chandra Nalaar, and I'd bet my next prerelease entry on it.

Start with who Hasbro keeps displaying in the window. Chandra was one of the first five planeswalker cards when Chandra Nalaar showed up in Lorwyn in 2007. IDW built its 2018 comic for Magic's 25th anniversary around her. When Netflix first announced its animated Magic series in 2019, the teaser image was Chandra. Terry Matalas, the current showrunner on that Netflix series, has said the show grew out of his wanting to tell a Chandra story.

That's four separate times Hasbro has handed a new audience Chandra first. A studio launching a cinematic universe picks the face that's already on the box. Wizards still sells this game on planeswalker faces, too: Reality Fracture built a whole set around one, which I broke down in my Empower Jace mechanic explainer.

Then there's the fit. Chandra is a pyromancer from Kaladesh whose temper outruns her judgment, which is exactly why her stories work. She sets things on fire and then feels bad about it. Besides the near-perfect looks match, Hawke built her breakout role on a character who talks fast when she panics and does the brave thing anyway. Picture her playing Chandra, Torch of Defiance and tell me it doesn't track.

Honest caveat: Johnson told IndieWire he has no interest in a movie ten times the size of his last one, and Den of Geek has already pitched a version set on Earth with players at a table. If that's the plan, Hawke could be playing a person, a planeswalker in disguise, or both. That's the open question, and the next casting announcement may help settle it.

The Magic: The Gathering movie should start with the Brothers' War

If I got to pick the story, the first film would be Urza and Mishra, because it's a family drama before it's a fantasy epic.

Quick refresher. Two brothers on Dominaria are apprenticed to an archaeologist named Tocasia. Each one ends up holding half of an ancient Thran powerstone, and neither will give his half up. That grudge turns into a war that strips the continent of Terisiare to the bone. It ends on the island of Argoth, where Urza faces a Mishra who has become part machine under the influence of the Phyrexian demon Gix. Urza's final blast ends the war, and in that moment his planeswalker spark ignites. The two halves of the stone, the Mightstone and the Weakstone, become his eyes.

Think Succession, if the family business were giant walking war engines.

The story first showed up in flavor text on Antiquities in March 1994. Jeff Grubb turned it into a full novel (and a really good one), The Brothers' War, in May 1998. Wizards went back to it in November 2022 with a full set, which gave us Urza, Lord Protector and The Mightstone and Weakstone. Those two meld into Urza, Planeswalker, and Mark Rosewater walked through how that meld came together. It's about as literal as card design gets: the brother and the stones fuse into the man he became.

Here's why it fits Johnson specifically. He wants something smaller than a world-ending epic, and the first act of the Brothers' War is two young apprentices at a desert dig site fighting over a rock. You can shoot that. The war gets big later, but the engine of the story is jealousy between siblings. Every viewer has a sibling or knows one. And in this one, I'd be casting Maya Hawke as Ashnod. You know, the one with the altar?

It also hands a cinematic universe its villain for free. Urza spends thousands of years of story preparing for Phyrexia after Argoth. Start there, and every later movie has a threat with roots.

My theory and my wish don't fit in one movie

Chandra lives thousands of years after the Brothers' War, so a single film can't do both, and if recent history proves anything, Hasbro will open with Chandra.

I know my wish loses this round. A studio putting Hawke at the center of film one is betting on the Gatewatch-era planeswalkers and the Netflix show. That's the commercial call, and maybe it's the right one for a first movie.

The Brothers' War belongs in the TV half of this deal. Legendary announced a series alongside the film from day one, and a limited series gives you room to watch two brothers drift apart over ten episodes instead of ninety minutes. That's the version I want: Urza and Mishra as the prestige show that runs between Chandra movies.

What I'm watching next

Hawke was the first pick. The second casting announcement tells you what deck Legendary is drafting.

Urza and Mishra were born in the same year, so if Legendary casts two actors close in age as brothers, Urza is on the table, and I'll be insufferable about it. If they cast someone for Jace, Gideon, or Nissa, you're looking at a Gatewatch movie with Hawke as Chandra in the middle of it. If the next names are all regular people with regular jobs, Johnson is making his smaller, Earth-side story, and Hawke's character is going to surprise everybody.

One more thing to circle: MagicCon Detroit runs February 26th to 28th, 2027, in the same city where Johnson lost that draft. If Hasbro wants a stage for the next reveal, a hometown homecoming for its director is sitting right there.

Author:

Greg is the founder of The Cardboard Chronicles, covering Magic: The Gathering, Pokemon, Lorcana, Elestrals, and many more of the world's popular TCGs. Greg has been playing and collecting Magic: The Gathering and Pokemon for over 2 decades and covers the TCG space daily while running all of the social channels!

Magic: The Gathering movie FAQ

Who is Maya Hawke playing in the Magic: The Gathering movie?

Maya Hawke's role in the Magic: The Gathering movie has not been announced. Reports from Deadline and Variety say she will anchor an ensemble cast, and plot details remain under wraps.

Who is directing the Magic: The Gathering movie?

Matt Johnson, the director of BlackBerry and Nirvanna the Band the Show, is directing the Magic: The Gathering movie. Johnson is co-writing the screenplay with Noah Gardner and Aidan Fitzgerald.

When is the Magic: The Gathering movie coming out?

The Magic: The Gathering movie does not have a release date. Legendary Entertainment and Hasbro Entertainment have confirmed the director, writers, and Maya Hawke as the first cast member, with no release window announced.

Who is making the Magic: The Gathering movie?

Legendary Entertainment and Hasbro Entertainment are producing the Magic: The Gathering movie. The two companies announced in February 2025 that the film would launch a shared Magic film and television universe.

Who is Chandra Nalaar in Magic: The Gathering?

Chandra Nalaar is a red-mana planeswalker and pyromancer born on the plane of Kaladesh. Chandra Nalaar was one of the first five planeswalker cards printed, in the Lorwyn set in 2007.

What is the Brothers' War in Magic: The Gathering?

The Brothers' War is the war between the brothers Urza and Mishra on the plane of Dominaria after each found half of an ancient Thran powerstone. The Brothers' War story began in the 1994 Antiquities set, was expanded in Jeff Grubb's 1998 novel, and returned in the 2022 set The Brothers' War.

Is the Netflix Magic: The Gathering series connected to the movie?

The Netflix Magic: The Gathering animated series is a separate production from the Legendary movie. The Netflix series is run by showrunner Terry Matalas with Hasbro Entertainment and Wizards of the Coast, and no connection between the two projects has been announced.