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Take your dog-eared copy of Lev Grossman's arch, explosive novel and toss it into a water square at your closest welters pitch. You won't want to look back at it now — or you'll recognize just how far astray Syfy's televised adaptation has wandered, and just how much work it will take to grind it back to its sexy, explosive, wild, and imaginative source material.The show's two-part premiere kicks off with just a small ounce of magic: A sad, gray door blasts open to reveal a tall, powerful-looking man striding with purpose towards a chilly, leaf-strewn street — and out of a forest that sparkles with all the promise of summer. It clearly doesn't lead to the your neighborhood Chipotle. This Nattily Dressed Man is on his way to a meeting with Hoity British Lady — seriously, none of these characters get names when they first appear onscreen — as...

Network: Syfy

Episodes: Ongoing (hour)

Seasons: Ongoing

TV show dates: December 16, 2015 — present

Series status: Has not been cancelled

Performers include: Jason Ralph, Stella Maeve, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Hale Appleton, Arjun Gupta, Summer Bishil, Rick Worthy, Anne Dudek, Jade Tailor, and Esme Bianco.

TV show description:

Based upon Lev Grossman’s best-selling books, this supernatural drama is set at the secret, upstate New York, Brakebills University, for students of magical ability.

An outsider, grad student Quentin Coldwater (Jason Ralph), chooses to spend more time immersed in the Fillory and Further fantasy book series -- a favorite since childhood -- than living his life.

When he and his best friend and crush, Julia Wicker (Stella Maeve), are transported to Brakebills for an entrance exam, their world changes, forever. Based...

When Jason Segel found himself in front of audience of book lovers at New York’s BookCon on Sunday, he took the opportunity to discuss his two most bookish projects, which are aimed at very different groups of readers: his Ya series Nightmares!, the second book of which will be published in September, and his role as David Foster Wallace in the upcoming biopic The End of the Tour, out in July. Author Lev Grossman interviewed Segel on stage and asked him how he prepared to play Wallace. Segel said he watched a few Charlie Rose interviews, “but I really feel like the soul of David Foster Wallace is in his writing,” he said. "The short-form shows you just how funny he is. There is a book called Consider the Lobster that if you haven’t read, you should, and A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, which are both brilliant.

The elevator pitch for Lev Grossman's Magicians trilogy is "Harry Potter meets Less Than Zero," and judging from this first trailer, its upcoming Syfy adaptation is doubling down on the latter elements. Quentin and the gang have been aged from high school up to grad school, get hooked on magic, and are very self-consciously "sexy." Here's looking forward to that hot arctic-fox action.

Over the past month, we polled 116 culture creators, mavens, and movers and shakers about the year in movies, TV, books, music, memes, and more. The wide-ranging results showed that the respondents were just as bedazzled by their cohorts’ output as we were—and, sometimes, just as rankled, too.Respondents: Christopher Abbott, Jack Antonoff, Patricia Arquette, Michael Barker, Robert Battle, Leslie Bibb, Michael Bierut, Lisa Birnbach, André Bishop, Kate Bosworth, Katrina Bowden, Lorraine Boyle, Rachel Brosnahan, Amy Brownstein, Mika Brzezinski, Gemma Burgess, Jenna Busch, Robert Caro, Wyatt Cenac, Michael Chernus, Olivia Cheng, Anna Chlumsky, Ellar Coltrane, Ruth Connell, Brady Corbet, Katie Couric, Sloane Crosley, Tyne Daly, Adam David Thompson, Lea DeLaria, Jacopo Della Quercia, Laura Dern, Anna Deavere Smith, Eamon Dolan, Jane Dystel, Scott Eastwood, Mona Fastvold, Chaz Ebert, Louise Erdrich, Julia Fierro, Rupert Friend, Cary Fukunaga, Willie Geist, Betty Gilpin, Jon Glaser, Andy Grammer, Lev Grossman, Chin Han, Jon Hamm,...

Syfy's adaptation of Lev Grossman's Magicians trilogy just started filming in New Orleans, and so today the network announced the actors who will be donning Brakebills uniforms for the hour-long drama. (Brakebills definitely has uniforms, right? You can't have a Harry Potter-with-orgies without uniforms.) Peter and the Starcatcher's Jason Ralph will play Quentin Coldwater, the obnoxious little jerk at the center of the series. Ralph has the kind of face that makes you want to be his friend, but also slap him a little, so as far as we're concerned this is perfect casting. Slightly more controversial may be the choice of former Miss Golden Globe Sosie Bacon to play Alice, a fan-favorite character who taps into powerful magical forces. Still, there's cause for optimism — anchoring a cable series is literally in her genes.In other Magicians news, writer Sera Gamble just shared this shot from the set.

Syfy’s upcoming supernatural drama The Magicians has conjured up its two leads: Jason Ralph (Aquarius) and Sosie Bacon (The Closer).

An adaptation of Lev Grossman’s best-selling book series, The Magicians follows a group of 20-somethings studying magic in New York.

Ralph will star as the brilliant-yet-depressed Quentin, while Bacon — daughter of Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick — will play the shy-yet-powerful Alice.

Ready for more of today’s newsy nuggets? Well…

* Disney Xd has ordered a second season of The 7D, its modern take on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

* Steven Weber (Wings, Chasing Life) will recur on...

For a few years now, book lovers have been hearing buzz about Lev Grossman's "The Magicians" series. Described to me as a smutty, college aged version of Harry Potter, I had very little interest in either Grossman's novel or the forthcoming TV series. And then they went and got Mike Cahill to direct the pilot. Yes, that Mike Cahill. The same Mike Cahill that directed Another Earth (review) and I, Origins (review).

As for what the series is all about, check out the plot for first book in the trilogy:

Quentin Coldwater is bril [Continued ...]...

Presto: Syfy has set its cast for The Magicians. The NBCUniversal-owned cable network has tapped Aquarius' Jason Ralph and The Closer's Sosie Bacon to star in its adaptation of Lev Grossman's best-selling book series, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The Magicians, from Universal Cable Productions, centers on two 20-somethings who, while studying magic in New York, discover that the magical fantasy world they read about as kids is real and poses grave danger to humanity.  Ralph (Looking, Blue Bloods) will star in the pilot as Quentin Coldwater, a brilliant, withdrawn yet strangely compelling man who feels

read more...

Syfy is casting its magicians for its adaptation of Lev Grossman's trilogy, which follows a group of young people who attend Brakebills, a college for magic, and has been labeled "Harry Potter for adults."  Though the pilot has yet to cast its protagonist, it has enlisted Hale Appleman to play Eliot, Quentin's older, wine-loving friend, and Arjun Gupta to play Penny, a prickly, punk student. Stella Maeve, meanwhile, will play Julia, Quentin's crush from his high school days before magic. Julia does not get into Brakebills but becomes plagued upon knowing that magic exists and she does not have access to it.

Syfy knows they messed up. Now they have a plan to win you back. The cable network’s top executives won’t say this in such blunt language, but they acknowledge that somewhere along the line, the network missed an opportunity to have more great scripted dramas. It happened sometime after the name change from Sci Fi Channel to Syfy and the conclusion of Battlestar Galactica—the acclaimed series that was once mentioned by critics alongside titles like Mad Men and The Sopranos as representing TV's top-tier of storytelling. Once the weary Battlestar crew decided to settle on Earth in the show’s 2009 series finale,...

“The questions are the questions, Jeff. You know that,” South African novelist Lauren Beukes said to me, sitting at the Grey Dog Café on Mulberry Street, right before we were supposed to do a gig at Housing Works Bookstore with critic/novelist Lev Grossman titled “We’re All Mad Here.” Her novel Broken Monsters, a great horror-thriller perfect for the Halloween season, had just been featured on the Today Show. She’d come from doing a radio interview and was expressing worry that Amazon’s war with Hachette was going to eat into sales of a novel she thought was her best yet. As we began to talk, she was fielding TV and movie offers for Broken Monsters on her smartphone.The questions might be the questions, but I was a little nervous about what I was asking this time around because Beukes started out as a journalist — and a good journalist,...

Marvel's Agents of Shield

The first photo is out of British actor Nick Blood as Agent Lance Hunter in the upcoming second season of ABC's "Marvel's Agents of Shield". Describing the character, executive producer Maurissa Tancharoen says: "Now that S.H.I.E.L.D. has fallen, Coulson has to look outside of the organization for help, and make uneasy alliances with people like Lance Hunter. Hunter is a mercenary, in it for the money, not the cause. Whether his allegiance is to anyone but himself is still in question." [Source: Et Online]

Son of Sam

Blumhouse Prods. will develop a six-hour mini-series about serial killer 'Son of Sam' for Fox TV Studios ("The Killing"). Steven Katz ("The Knick," "From the Earth to the Moon") penned the script which juxtaposes David Richard Berkowitz’s six killings with the actual police investigation in the mid 1970's in New York City. [Source: Deadline]

The Dangerous Book for...

Lev Grossman’s urban fantasy novel The Magicians has been slowly making its way to the small screen since the book’s 2009 publication, and since Syfy became involved last month, work on the pilot episode of a Magicians series has accelerated. Now, we’re hearing that the network has tapped Another Earth director Mike Cahill to helm the show’s first installment.

Cahill’s past projects make him an intriguing and promising choice for The Magicians. His 2011 film Another Earth was a thought-provoking sci-fi story filled with real human emotion, and his follow-up I, Origins, which arrived earlier this year, worked to cement Cahill’s status as a talented director to watch.

Announcing the director’s involvement in The Magicians, Bill McGoldrick, executive vice president of original content at Syfy, said the following in an official statement:

“We were impressed with Mike’s feature work and his passion for this material.

The Magicians TV show is finally taking shape. Just after the third and final book in author Lev Grossman’s phenomenal The Magicians trilogy debuted atop the New York Times Bestseller list, THR reports that Another Earth and I Origins filmmaker Mike Cahill has been tapped to helm the pilot for Syfy’s TV series adaptation. Crudely described as “Harry Potter for adults”, the books revolve around a group of twentysomethings who, after graduating from a secret magician school hidden away in New York, discover that the magical fantasy world they read about as kids is real and poses a grave danger. The books—The Magicians, The Magician King, and The Magician’s Land—are tremendous, and essentially tackle the premise with a realistic “what would really happen” bent, delving deep into issues of depression, loss, love, and friendship. Seriously, I cannot recommend them highly enough. Hit the jump for...

Syfy is looking to the film world to set the tone for its adaptation of The Magicians. The NBCUniversal-owned cable network has tapped Another Earth's Mike Cahill to direct the pilot for its adaptation of Lev Grossman's best-selling book series, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The Magicians, from Universal Cable Productions, centers on two 20-somethings who, while studying magic in New York, discover that the magical fantasy world they read about as kids is real and poses grave danger to humanity. John McNamara (Prime Suspect) and Sera Gamble (Supernatural) will pen the script, with Michael London (Milk)

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The Magician's Land, out today, concludes Lev Grossman's realist fantasy series — sometimes described as "Harry Potter but with drugs" — about a group of 20-something magicians who find themselves in charge of a Narnia-like land. These are the books, movies, comics, and bands that inspired Grossman while writing the Magicians trilogy.1. Watchmen Watchmen came out when I was in high school, because I’m super old. What Alan Moore did in that comic was he brutally attacked the founding conventions of the superhero story. And the amazing thing was, rather than just demolishing the whole superhero mythos, he wound up writing the greatest superhero story that had ever been written. That was an important lesson for me: When you question the underlying functions of a genre, the genre gets better, not worse. 2. Myth: The Fallen Lords Myth was a real-time strategy game made by Bungie, who were famous but got...

Syfy has snatched up another acclaimed sci-fi novel. John Scalzi’s Hugo Award-nominated Old Man’s War series is being developed into a TV show at the network. Bonus: Syf has brought on a respected heavy-hitter producer for the project—two-time Oscar nominee Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot, Air Force One), along with fellow producer Scott Stuber (Safe House, Ted). Jake Thornton and Ben Lustig (both developing a Winter’s Knight film) have signed to write the pilot.

The project will be titled Ghost Brigades. (You had to figure a title like Old Man’s War would be the first thing...

Starz’s newest show, Outlander, which follows Claire Randall’s (Caitriona Balfe) journey through time, will premiere at Comic-Con.

In 1945, Claire and her husband Frank go on a second honeymoon, trying to rekindle their love after being separated by the events of World War II, when she is somehow transported back to the 1740s. With the help of Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), she may be able to make it back through the time warp to 1945.

At the 2014 Comic-Con in San Diego, fans will get to learn more about the new series based on books by Diana Gabaldon. Cast and crewmembers will sit on their very own panel at Comic-Con and, along with author Gabaldon, will also be on hand to greet fans at several events throughout the weekend.

Thursday, July 24

3 p.m. – 4 p.m.: Ali Kokmen will moderate a solo talk/reading/Q&A by Gabaldon in the Horton Grand Theater.

Starz’s newest show, Outlander, which follows Claire Randall’s (Caitriona Balfe) journey through time, will premiere at Comic-Con.

In 1945, Claire and her husband Frank go on a second honeymoon, trying to rekindle their love after being separated by the events of World War II, when she is somehow transported back to the 1740s. With the help of Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), she may be able to make it back through the time warp to 1945.

At the 2014 Comic-Con in San Diego, fans will get to learn more about the new series based on books by Diana Gabaldon. Cast and crewmembers will sit on their very own panel at Comic-Con and, along with author Gabaldon, will also be on hand to greet fans at several events throughout the weekend.

Thursday, July 24

3 p.m. – 4 p.m.: Ali Kokmen will moderate a solo talk/reading/Q&A by Gabaldon in the Horton Grand Theater.

Kaci offers up Lev Grossman's The Magicians as the latest subject of the Den Of Geek Book Club...

Feature

For a lot of people in the geek community, our introduction to nerdom came through a need for escape. There are lots of reasons we might've needed that escape — maybe a bad situation at home, or bullies at school, or even nothing at all; the knowledge that life is all there is can sometimes be difficult to bear. For whatever reason, many of us needed an "out," a way to be someone different for a while, or a fantasy of living in some other world in some other time, when things could be different. As a culture, we've built up a myth about it — "It gets better." Rather than combat the problem, we wave some other time, some other place, in front of our young people to give them something...

While Shannara has received a full series order, Syfy has only made a pilot commitment for an adaptation of Lev Grossman’s fantasy trilogy, The Magicians. Here's the Press Release: Syfy Greenlights Pilot Of The Magicians, Adaptation Of Lev Grossman’S Best-selling Fantasy Series To Be Produced By Universal Cable Productions Script By John McNamara (Prime Suspect) And Sera Gamble (Supernatural) With Michael London (Milk) As Producer New York – July 10, 2014 – Continuing its strategy to create bold and distinctive sci-fi fantasy drama, Syfy today announced that it has greenlit a pilot of The Magicians, an adaptation of Lev Grossman’s best-selling fantasy book series which has been published in 22 countries. From Universal Cable Productions, the pilot script was written by John McNamara (Prime Suspect) and Sera Gamble (Supernatural). Michael London (Milk) and Janice Williams (All Good Girls) are set to produce. The one-hour drama follows 20-somethings who, while studying magic in New York,...

Doctor Who

There's been numerous on-set photos, but today a new photo from EW appears to be the first official still from an upside of the upcoming new season of "Doctor Who," specifically the eighth season premiere "Deep Breath". [Source: Via Film Divider]

Extant

CBS' high-profile, Halle Berry-led event series "Extant" launched on Wednesday night to a 1.7 rating and 9.4 million total viewers. That's the night’s largest audience and the summer’s most watched and highest-rated series debut.

It matched the total second season premiere numbers of "Under the Dome," but wasn't quite as high in the key demo ('Dome' scored a 2.1). [Source: TV Line]

The Magicians

Syfy has given the green light for a one-hour drama pilot based on Lev Grossman's best-selling fantasy book trilogy "The Magicians". John McNamara ("Prime Suspect") and Sera Gamble ("Supernatural") will pen the adaptation.

The story follows a group of New York twentysomethings who, while studying magic, discover the...

Evil has already come to Sleepy Hollow. Next up? War!

So declares Abbie in a new teaser for Season 2 of the Fox hit, which returns Monday, Sept. 22 at 9/8c.

Related Sleepy Hollow Season 2: Look Who’s Playing Ichabod’s Psycho Ex!

Press Play for a sneak peek at the action awaiting the Sleepy ‘burb (then keep scrolling down for more news):

Ready for more of today’s newsy nuggets? Well…

* Syfy has given a pilot order to The Magicians, an adaptation of author Lev Grossman’s popular fantasy book trilogy penned by John McNamara (Prime Suspect, In Plain Sight...

Syfy announced on Wednesday that it is moving forward with a pilot for The Magicians, an adaptation of Lev Grossman’s fantasy series, Deadline reports. The pilot was written by John McNamara (Prime Suspect) and Sera Gamble (Supernatural), with Michael London and Janice Williams onboard to produce.

Perhaps best described as Harry Potter for adults, The Magicians is the first book in a series focused on high-schooler Quentin Coldwater, who is surprised when he’s admitted to an exclusive college to study magic in upstate New York. While studying at the prestigious magic school, he and his friends indulge in drugs,...

This month's film and TV non-fiction book choice is Mark Harris' Pictures At A Revolution...

Feature

Liking a film is a really subjective business. No top ten lists are the same, and one person's masterpiece is another person's numb posterior. But since 1927 Hollywood has awarded one film the Academy Award for Best Picture. The surprise is not so much that they like to hand out such prizes than that anyone can get seriously fired up over the result. We all know the Oscars don't often get it right, but the reasons why they get it wrong are so varied and interesting that Pictures At A Revolution is a fascinating read. Mark Harris peels back the layers of Hollywood studio tactics and reveals something so messy and frenetic that you wonder how any films get made at all.

In 1967 five films were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. They were The Graduate,...

In this installment of 10 Stories You Might Have Missed: Hugh Jackman says he's 99.9% sure that the next Wolverine movie -- if he makes it -- will be his last time playing the X-Men character. Also: Sandra Bullock in talks to star in Tupperware biopic, Baz Luhrmann may take on Elvis Presley in a biopic,"The Mindy Project" loses a cast member, Lev Grossman's "The Magicians" heading to Syfy, SundanceTV renews "The Red Road, "Judge Judy" heading to primetime, Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande hit the studio together, Paul Simon and Edie Brickell follow arrest with a new song, and more. Catch up here:...

At last year’s Comic-Con, it was revealed that a deal had been sealed with Universal Television to develop a TV series based on Clone, one of Robert Kirkman’s latest comic book series. We haven’t heard much since then, but Syfy just announced that a number of original programming projects, including Clone, are part of their upcoming development slate:

“New York – April 30, 2014 – Building on the momentum of Syfy’s growing slate of cutting edge, provocative original programming, Syfy today announced it was developing adaptations of the graphic novels Clone, from Robert Kirkman and David Alpert (The Walking Dead) and Letter 44, from Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3), as well as the popular novels The Magicians, based on the book series by Lev Grossman.

New Scripted Series Development

Clone – Based on the best-selling graphic novel. When retired soldier Luke Taylor investigates a break-in at his house, he never expected who the burglar...

Building on its original programming, Syfy has announced several new projects in development, including adaptations of works by Frank Miller and Jonathan Mostow, a series from "The Walking Dead's" Robert Kirkman and David Alpert, plus the return of "Supernatural's" Sera Gamble!

From the Press Releases:

Syfy will develop as longform programming (i.e., miniseries) "Pax Romana," Jonathan Hickman’s graphic novel about a time traveling clash of ages and arms, and "Ronin," based on Frank Miller’s (300) comic book series about an avenging samurai.

"Pax Romana" is about a Special Forces team that travels back in time on the eve of World War III to “fix” the future by altering the past. Their destination: Ancient Rome. Roman legions battle modern day attack helicopters, tanks, and soldiers while thought-provoking themes are explored as the leaders of the expedition fight over their vision for civilization. Writers: Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia ("Jericho,...

Syfy is expanding its scripted universe: The network announced the space bounty hunter drama “Killjoys” Wednesday, and said it will develop the Frank Miller comic book series “Ronin” and the Jonathan Hickman graphic novel “Pax Romana” into shows. It is also developing “Letter 44,” based on the graphic novels from Jonathan Mostow (“Terminator 3”) about secrets in the letters each president leaves for the next, and “Magicians,” based on Lev Grossman's books about twentysomething New Yorkers who study magic. Also read: Syfy Developing ‘Clone’ From ‘Walking Dead’ Creator Robert Kirkman (Exclusive) On the unscripted front, it also plans the comedic docuseries “Town.

Syfy said today that it has given a green light to Sharknado 3 to air in summer 2015, and it looks like more of the same except in a new city — which is being kept under wraps. The network also revealed its first unscripted slate (see the list of projects below) and announced it is developing adaptations of the graphic novels Clone, from Robert Kirkman and David Alpert (The Walking Dead), and Letter 44 from Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3). That is in addition to The Magicians based on the Lev Grossman novels that we broke here first. On the miniseries front, Syfy is developing Pax Romana, based on Jonathan Hickman’s comic book limited series published in 2007 about a Special Forces team that travels back in time to Ancient Rome on the eve of World War III to “fix” the future by altering the past. Roman legions battle modern day attack helicopters, tanks and...

Syfy has just announced a whole bunch of new projects they have begun developing, the most high-profile being a potential miniseries based on Frank Miller's six-issue DC Comic series "Ronin". A search is under way for a writer, and the number of episodes is undetermined at this point.

The story centers on a dishonored, masterless 13th century samurai who awakens in a futuristic, nihilistic 21st century New York where he must defeat an ancient demon who is the reincarnation of his master's killer.

Syfy is also developing "Letter 44," a series based on the political space drama comic which Jonathan Mostow ("Terminator 3") will write, executive produce and direct the pilot for.

The story revolves around a new U.S. President who learns, via a letter from his predecessor, that Nasa discovered an alien construction project in the asteroid belt seven years ago. A crew of heroic astronauts have been sent...

Long ago, in 2011, an adaptation of Lev Grossman's delightful fantasy series The Magicians was in the works at Fox. That project has moved to Syfy, with new writers, which is great with us as long as they keep the hard drinking and the demon tattoos. And the sex. Oooh, and Cozy Horse. Also, friendly reminder: The third book comes out this August, so start reading now, if you haven't.

Exclusive: Ahead of its upfront presentation today, Syfy has put in development Pax Romana, a miniseries based on the graphic novel by Jonathan Hickman, and The Magicians, a drama series based on Lev Grossman’s popular fantasy novels. Pax Romana is being adapted by writers Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia (Warehouse 13) and Circle of Confusion, while The Magicians hails from former Supernatural showrunner Sera Gamble, John McNamara (In Plain Sight) and producer Michael London. Both projects are set at Universal Cable Prods. Related: Syfy Picks Up Adventure Series ‘Killjoys’ Based on Hickman’s comic book limited series published in 2007, Pax Romana is about a Special Forces team that travels back in time to Ancient Rome on the eve of World War III to “fix” the future by altering the past. Roman legions battle modern day attack helicopters, tanks and soldier as the leaders of the expedition fight over their vision for civilization.

Following their announcement of a number of diverse television projects this morning , Syfy has updated their upcoming slate with two new additions: Adaptations of both Lev Grossman's novel series "The Magicians" and Jonathan Hickman's comic book miniseries "Pax Romana." "Magicians," planned as a one-hour drama, follows a group of 20-somethings in New York who study magic and discover that the magical fantasy world they read about as children is real and poses a grave danger to Earth. Sera Gamble ("Supernatural") and John McNamara ("Common Law," "In Plain Sight") are attached to executive produce and write while Michael London ( Lola Versus , Milk ) will also produce through Universal Cable Productions. "Pax...