Posted in: Netflix, streaming, TV | Tagged: bleeding cool, cable, comic books, Comics, Mark Millar, netflix, streaming, television, the magic order, tv

The Magic Order: Mark Millar Project Not Moving Forward at Netflix

Published Fri, 09 Oct 2020 16:12:58 -0500

by Ray Flook

Last updated Fri, 09 Oct 2020 16:15:58 -0500

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Mark Millar's The Magic Order will be pulling a disappearing act (at least for now) from Netflix, with reports that the streaming service is not proceeding with production on the series adaptation. Though early-pre-production was underway and scripts were being written, the 2021 series hadn't cast the project yet. As for why we wrote "at least for now" earlier, Deadline Hollywood reports exclusively that the Netflix bigwigs are still "high on 'The Magic Order' IP" but that the current vision wasn't the one the streamer wanted to move forward on (though reportedly interested in revisiting the IP for a new effort in the future). While the large scale of the project and growing worldwide pandemic issues were factors that were considered, reports are that they were not primary considerations.

Magic Order #1 cover by Olivier Coipel and Dave Stewart

Not that the production wasn't impacted by the COVID spread, with "at least one member of 'The Magic Order' on the ground in the county" becoming infected. While James Wan and Lindsey Beer were executive producers, Wan was forced to step down from directing after COVID shutdown pushed a film he needed to finish so André Øvredal took over the director's chair.

Receiving a greenlight from Netflix in 2017, The Magic Order was part of much larger "Millar-verse" that also included television series adaptations of Jupiter's Legacy and American Jesus and film adaptations of Empress, Huck, and Sharkey The Bounty Hunter (which were greenlighted in 2019). Jupiter's Legacy is expected to premiere on the streaming service in 2021, while the other projects are in various stages of development/production.

Based on designs from the Netflix team, Millar and comic book artist Olivier Coipel's The Magic Order focuses on five families of magicians sworn to protect our world who must battle an enemy who's picking them off one by one. By day, they are our neighbors, friends, and co-workers- but by night they are the sorcerers, magicians, and wizards that protect us from the forces of darkness — that is unless the darkness gets them first.

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