Syfy Greenlights Full Season of ‘The Magicians’

Syfy announced today that The Magicians, the new series that was previously greenlit for a pilot, has now been ordered for a full season.

The one-hour drama, based upon Lev Grossman’s best-selling books, will star Jason Ralph (A Most Violent Year, Aquarius) as Quentin Coldwater, a brilliant grad student who enrolls in Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy, a secret upstate New York university specializing in magic. He and his 20-something friends soon discover that the magical fantasy world they read about as children is all too real – and poses grave danger to humanity. Stella Maeve (Chicago P.D.), Hale Appleman (Teeth), Arjun Gupta (Nurse Jackie) and Summer Bishil (Towelhead, Lucky 7) also star in the series.

“Ever since ‘The Magicians’ was published I’ve wanted to see this story on screen,” said Lev Grossman in a statement. “The people, the school, the other worlds, the magic. I’m so thrilled that it’s finally happening, and I’m beyond thrilled that we found the right people to do it. Get ready; you’ve never seen anything like this.”

The Magicians fits right in with the network’s strategy to create bold and distinctive sci-fi fantasy drama and joins Syfy’s roster of high-profile scripted and development projects, including the December’s 10-part series The Expanse, starring Thomas Jane; Arthur C. Clarke’s epic mini-series Childhood’s End, also set to premiere this December; The Walking Dead EP Gale Anne Hurd’s 13-episode thriller Hunters; David Goyer’s Superman prequel, Krypton; and Incorporated, a pilot thriller from Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

The twelve episode first season of The Magicians will begin shooting in Vancouver in July.

Photo Credit: Syfy