Maya Hawke Cast in Magic: The Gathering Movie

Maya Hawke has been cast in a lead role in Legendary Entertainment and Hasbro’s live-action Magic: The Gathering movie, according to two reports. The Stranger Things and Inside Out 2 star’s role in director Matt Johnson’s adaptation of the 33-year-old trading card game has not been announced, though one report describes it as a “key” role.

Deadline and independent reporter Daniel Richtmann reported Hawke’s casting on Wednesday. She is the first cast member attached to the film.

Johnson, who directed Blackberry, Tony, and Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, is directing the adaptation and writing the script with Noah Gardner and Aidan Fitzgerald.

Hawke is known for playing Robin Buckley in Netflix’s Stranger Things, Anxiety in Pixar’s Inside Out 2, and June Douglas/Lucretia Shaver in Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City. She is the daughter of Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke. She will next appear as Wiress in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.

Johnson is a longtime Magic: The Gathering fan. He told The Big Picture podcast earlier this year that his childhood dream “was to be a professional Magic card player.” He said he gave up that dream after competing in a pro tour against Richard Hoaen, “who just beat the shit out of me.”

“To me, [Magic is] my Star Wars,” Johnson said. “Getting to revisit a world that I know so well, that I love so much, that meant so much to me, it’s surreal to be able to do a project like that.”

Vulture reported earlier this year that Johnson’s Magic movie is inheriting “parts of the Dune production apparatus for the project,” including storyboard artists, costume designers, and locations. Legendary is reportedly planning a trilogy of Magic: The Gathering films.

Legendary Entertainment and Hasbro Entertainment announced plans for a “live-action feature film and television universe” based on Magic: The Gathering in February 2025. Hasbro’s plans also include an animated series for Netflix, which is in production under showrunner and executive producer Terry Matalas, whose credits include Star Trek: Picard and VisionQuest.

Related: D&D boss officially named head of Wizards of the Coast

Source: Polygon