Fox’s “potential franchise” Magic: The Gathering movie, which we reported on back in January, is a delicate proposition. On the one hand, everybody loved Magic: The Gathering in the ’90s, and the ’90s are cool again, right? On the other, female moviegoers are currently a driving box-office force—and, let’s face it, there aren’t a lot of girls who play Magic. So in order to escort the film across Sweaty Buttcrack Ravine and into the Castle of Mainstream Success, so that it may obtain the legendary Sword of Merchandising Rights, Fox is going to need a brave and battle-tested knight. But what warrior will step forward to defend the franchise, driven solely by honor and a massive paycheck?
That would be Game of Thrones writer Bryan Cogman, who has served as a story editor and producer on the HBO series, as well as written five episodes: season one’s “Cripples, Bastards, And Broken Things;” season two’s “What Is Dead May Never Die;” season three’s “Kissed By Fire;” and season four’s “Oathkeeper” and “The Laws Of Gods And Men.” Cogman has been hired to write the screenplay for Magic: The Gathering, which is being produced by X-Men writer/producer Simon Kinberg forHasbro. Cogman and the rest of the GOT team were able to shepherd George R.R. Martin’s epic from fantasy-nerd obscurity into HBO’s biggest series ever; time will tell if Cogman can gather similar magic for Fox, too.