Winx Club: The Magic Is Back is an Italian animated fantasy television series created by Iginio Straffi and produced by Rainbow, Rai Kids and Netflix. A reboot of the 2004 series Winx Club, the series is set in a magical universe and tells the story of Bloom, a teenage girl from planet Earth who discovers she is a fairy. Enrolling at Alfea College, she befriends five other fairies and forms a group called the Winx Club, fighting a long series of enemies threatening the Magic Dimension.
Iginio Straffi officially announced the reboot in November 2022. In January 2023, Paramount (the owner of Nickelodeon) sold its ownership stake in Rainbow back to Straffi, allowing him full creative control of the reboot.
Before its debut in Italy, the series was first shown in the United Kingdom on 8 September 2025 on BBC iPlayer and CBBC. It later premiered on 2 October 2025 on Netflix in selected international territories.
Contents
Premise
Set in the dimension of Magix, the series follows Bloom, a 16-year-old girl from Earth who discovers her fairy powers, gets saved from a scary, magical creature by Stella, a 17 year old Fairy of the Sun and Moon / Princess of Solaria and Flora, a 16 year old Fairy of Nature and enrolls in Alfea, a boarding school for fairies and witches with Stella and Flora. She befriends 3 other fairies such as Aisha, a 16 year old Fairy of Waves / Princess of Andros, Musa, a 16 year old Fairy of Music and Tecna, a 15 year old Fairy of Technology, ultimately forming the Winx Club to combat dark magical forces while exploring themes of friendship, identity, and empowerment.
Production
On November 6, 2022, Iginio Straffi announced that "a brand new CG Winx animated series reboot is going into production" at the Rainbow studio. In January 2023, Paramount (the owner of Nickelodeon) sold its ownership stake in Rainbow back to Straffi, allowing him full creative control of the reboot/remake.
The project began development as a ninth season soft reboot under the title Winx Club Shorts in as early as 2021, but it was later expanded into a full-length reboot. Originally slated for a 2024 release, it was delayed until September 2025, with the first 13 episodes, and the second half of the season consisting of two parts, 6 episodes premiering in July 2026, and the remaining 7 episodes in Fall 2026. The first official preview debuted at Napoli Comicon 2024.
Rainbow describes the reboot as a "modern fantasy saga" using CGI animation across 26 episodes (~24 minutes each), blending return to original tone with contemporary themes. Based on behind-the-scenes footage, the series appears to primarily utilize Unreal Engine for its production.
The first official trailer premiered on July 19, 2025. The original Italian voice cast reprised their roles for the Italian dub.
Six episodes of the second part of the first season premiered on July 28, 2026 on Netflix.
Seven episodes of the third and final part of the first season are predicted to premiere on September on Netflix. It premiered on BBC iPlayer and CBBC on August 24, 2026
Broadcast
Italy: Rai 2 (on-demand on Rai Play) on 1 October 2025; Rai Yoyo on 27 October 2025
United Kingdom: CBBC (on-demand on BBC iPlayer) on 8 September 2025
International: Netflix (excluding UK territories) on 2 October 2025
Voice cast
The voice recordings were made at the New York-based 3Beep Studio. The voice director was Tom Wayland.
Music
The opening theme of the series, "Under the Sign of Winx", is performed by Clara Soccini and features a remix by Dav and Vvenice. It was released digitally on 8 September 2025.
The transformation theme, "Forever Winx", was performed by Virginia Bocelli and released digitally on 2 May 2025.
The ending theme of the series, "From Now On", is performed by Virginia Bocelli.
Other songs featured in the series include a mix of original tracks by Clara Soccini, Virginia Bocelli, Emily Middlemas and Elisa Rosselli, the singing voices of Bloom and Musa. The following table summarizes the songs, performers, composers, lyricists, and relevant notes:
Merchandise
In June 2024, Rainbow announced a partnership with Giochi Preziosi and Playmates Toys as master licensees for a new toy line inspired by the reboot series. The toy collection will include fashion dolls, accessories, role-play items, and playsets, with Playmates handling distribution across the Americas, Asia, Australia, and more, while Giochi Preziosi covers Europe and the United Kingdom.
Episodes
Reception
Winx Club: The Magic Is Back faced criticism after reports surfaced that generative AI had been used in the series' production, including its concept art, character designs, and promotional material. An article in student newspaper The Beaver argued, "For a show that 'immortalises Y2k fashion' and integrates characters' appearances into their personality and overall story, [using AI instead of artists] comes off as insulting to long-time fans of the franchise." An article in EarlyGame highlighted job listings on Rainbow's CGI studio website, which confirm the use of AI in their productions. Both Rainbow's website and official LinkedIn page publicly announced that the company is hiring AI prompt engineering experts with "skills in designing and optimizing prompts for generative AI models (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini)."
Starting with episode 23, the series added a note to the credits: "Selected sequences enhanced with AI-supported filters."