In news that will either delight or terrify you – depending on your thoughts as to SyFy’s low budget shows – the SyFy Channel has ordered a pilot episode for The Magicians, the hugely popular novel by Lev Grossman. The pilot for the potential one-hour drama, from Universal Cable Productions, was written by John McNamara (Prime Suspect) and Sera Gamble (Supernatural). Michael London and Janice Williams are producing.
For those who haven’t read the books, they are kind of like Harry Potter goes to university and starts being ‘a proper young adult’. The main characters are in their early 20s, from New York and attend a university that teaches magic. Whilst there they live a typical university life: studying whilst enjoying drugs, sex, and alcohol. Upon graduation, the protagonist, Quentin, and his friends move to New York City, where they find out that the Narnia-like world they read about as children is in fact very real…
We at Fantasy-Faction are pretty interested to see how they approach this one. Forum users’ comments have ranged from: ‘I really enjoyed it, but it takes a certain type. Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia as if written by Bret Easton Ellis, to sum it up’ to ‘I liked it […] in no way a traditional fantasy. Quite dark. The ending isn’t satisfying. Lots of weirdness.’
In 2011 Fox preemptively looked at it as a series too, but dropped the project at the last hurdle. Grossman revealed then that he was disappointed, but hopeful that another network would pick it up at a later date… looks like patience was the right tact!
Geoff Matthews
Julia Kitvaria Sarene
I had been hearing a lot about this, but the mixed reviews about the ending make me hesitant to buy the book as I like to keep my already prodigious collection as small as possible (buying books from Rothfuss, GRRM, Lynch, and Abercrombie). Perhaps a library checkout before the pilot debuts?
The third book in the trilogy is coming out in a couple weeks. So, the real ending to the story will have to wait a bit.
I like the series. People who say it is like Harry Potter are making an extremely superficial comparison. The only important thing the Magicians series has in common with Harry Potter is that there is a school of magic in both stories. Beyond that, they are very different books.
[…] cei de la SyFy au comandat un episod-pilot al serialului inspirat din The Magicians a lui Lev […]