The Magicians has taken audiences by storm and quickly become one of our favorite Syfy series. Here at Nerdophiles we were huge fans of Lev Grossman’s original book series and the adaptation has been absolutely phenomenal.
We sat down with the cast and show runners – and Lev Grossman himself – to discuss the series and what’s to come in the next season while we were at San Diego Comic-Con this year. One of the coolest things about the experience was seeing just how much everyone involved loved the original novels. As fans, that was really cool to hear.
The adaptation – and the way they explained how this series can exist in tandem with the book series – was incredible. And the season finale ended on a huge cliffhanger for everyone. We had to know what was going to happen next.
Of course, there’s wasn’t too much that the cast could tell us but they told us what they could!
As far as things go for Julia, we last saw her going off with the Beast after basically betraying Quentin and the others. It turns out that according to Stella Mave, Julia will be with the Beast for quite awhile going into the second season. That sounds like it’s going be really cool. While we sort of know some of the Beast’s history now, we haven’t spent too much time with him and it sounds like all that’s going to change soon.
Jade Tailor couldn’t tell us much about Kady beyond the fact that at some point she will be found, she will return to the story, and she’s really going to come into her own this season. That’s great because Kady – while not existing in the books – has turned out to be a phenomenal character.
There were a number of differences between the book and the final television version of the story. Stella Maeve in particular loves the books and she understands that desire for the show to be exactly like the books because she feels the same way sometimes.
She told us she really worries about disappointing the fans and hopes that they can still enjoy the show. Unfortunately, books can’t translate to television exactly, but show does it’s best to expand on things without losing sight of the original source material.
Lev Grossman talked to us a bit about that, too. Television is a completely different medium than the print novel and he talked about how pacing changes. In television, you really have to give up some of the big reveals early on to keep people interested and move the story along. And then, in turn, you have to effectively come up with new reveals once you’ve burned through the others.
While we tried to get some more information of Lev and the show runners about what will come in the next season, we didn’t really get much. We were told that everyone is coming back next season – but that they may not be in a “form” we remember. I suspect that either has something to do with Jane Chatwin’s reappearance in the series after her death or with the librarian’s mention of “Janet” in place of Margo. Only time will tell!
We were also told there will be a lot more Fillory this season – which makes sense – and that there will be both a talking sloth and a centaur in the next season. Also, we’ll be seeing more of Brakebills South, though whether or not that will be through flashbacks or a return to the location remains to be seen!
One thing we know or sure is that there are big changes coming for Arjun Gupta’s character Penny. After all, he has no hands now after his confrontation with the Beast. And unlike Rick Worthy’s character being able to at least fix his hands through gloves it doesn’t sound like there’s a quick fix for Penny. This should have a very interesting effect on the group dynamic now that Penny is going to seemingly become a lot more dependent on them.
Arjun is interested to see how this plays out because he feels like Penny has dealt a lot with vulnerability already. Relationships are going to change and new ones will form. He feels like Quentin and Penny really are brothers – even if they hate each other right now – though whether or not this helps them become closer we don’t know yet. He did tell us, though, he’s really enjoyed playing out these relationship changes and that there is a lot of fun stuff coming up between Quentin and Penny.
Ricky Worthy and Arjun also talked with us about the books and the television series in general. They praised it for turning fantasy tropes on their head and forcing people to look beyond their general expectations. Rick in particular said he is very grateful to be part of this show and that it really allows him to stretch himself and act.
Summer Bishil and Hale Appleman sat down with us to discuss what’s next for Margo and Eliot. Again, they couldn’t tell us too much but we’re hoping to see a lot more development between these two characters going forward. They pointed out that Margo and Eliot were really starting to become more honest in their relationship and, while things might have been falling apart between everyone, they think the team is ultimately going to manage to pull together in the end.
Hale talked some about Eliot and how he had been really lost last season. His story arc in the first season saw him sort of falling deeper and deeper into a funk and now he has this new purpose as the High King of Fillory. He believes that will be an anchor for Eliot moving forward – a way for his character to really start coming into his own.
Since they couldn’t tell us much about what was coming next I asked what they hoped the future held for their characters. Summer really hopes to see Margo on the same quest that Janet went on in the books.
Meanwhile Hale’s primary wish is to at some point be allowed to fence in the series. (According to Summer he actually fences in the background of scenes all the time so hopefully his wish comes true!)
Jason Ralph and Olivia Taylor Dudley talked to us a little bit about what goes into making the series. Specifically, they talked about the finger choreography. As you might expect, it’s just as hard as it looks to get it down and no one really makes fun of anyone else because it’d just come right back at them. Jason said that it’s painful at times – even more so after breaking his finger last year. (Yikes!)
He talked a bit about how he portrays Quentin in other ways, too. He talked about how in the books Quentin is a constant bag of nerves basically who constantly goes through these “thought circles.” In trying to portray that anxiety in person, he couldn’t rely on the internal monologue of the books. Instead it came out in Quentin’s halting speech patterns and uncertain body language which he demonstrated at the table.
Olivia Taylor Dudley also talked a bit about the relationship between the two characters which she called ‘frustrating’ at times. And Jason talked to us about his own childhood Fillory-esque obsession which was, of course, the Harry Potter series.
If you’re like us and just waiting in agony for the next season, watch the videos for the full interviews and just hold on a bit longer! Unfortunately we don’t know yet when the second season will air. The first season premiered in December of 2015 so it’s possible we’ll see the series returning again for a mid-season release.
Until then, the first season is out now on blu-ray and DVD! (And it’s under $25 on blu-ray on Amazon right now so it’s a total steal!)
As soon as we have a release date for the second season you better believe we’ll let you all know!
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