Robin Buckley is about to roll for initiative.

Stranger Things star Maya Hawke has been cast to lead the live-action film adaptation of Magic: The Gathering, Deadline first reported. Her role and the plot are still under wraps, but Hawke is expected to lead an ensemble cast that has yet to be announced.

The film comes from Legendary Entertainment and Hasbro Entertainment, with Matt Johnson — the director behind Blackberry and creator of Nirvanna the Band the Show — directing and co-writing alongside Noah Gardner (Super 8) and Aidan Fitzgerald (Calls).

Johnson is the real deal when it comes to the source material: he’s a longtime Magic player who nearly went pro, once reaching day two of a Grand Prix in Detroit before a costly misplay ended his run. A Detroit Grand Prix near-miss is about as on-brand as it gets for a director taking on the card game’s first live-action movie.

Hawke is best known as Robin Buckley on Netflix’s Stranger Things, and her résumé keeps stacking up — Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Asteroid City, Do Revenge, Maestro, and the voice of Anxiety in Pixar’s Inside Out 2. Her next project is Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.

No release date has been announced yet, and with the rest of the ensemble still to be revealed, the casting news is just the opening hand. But for a franchise that has lived on cards, novels, and animated series for more than 30 years, landing a star of Hawke’s caliber as its lead is a statement of intent.

Sources: Hypebeast | Deadline (original report, via Hypebeast)

Photo: Beto Pasillas via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0) — Maya Hawke promoting Stranger Things season 5 in 2025.