Lev Grossman’s fantasy book trilogy “The Magicians” is coming to Syfy.
Syfy has greenlit the 12-episode first season of the scripted drama and it will begin filming in July in Vancouver, the network announced Monday.
The series follows grad student Quentin Coldwater and his 20-something friends who attend a secret upstate New York university specializing in magic called Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy.
Maybe we should just call the show “Harry Potter: The College Years.”
According to Syfy, Quentin and his pals will learn the fantasy world they read about as children is all too real—and poses grave danger to Muggles, er, humanity.
“Ever since ‘The Magicians’ was published I’ve wanted to see this story on screen,” Grossman said in a release. “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.”
Jason Ralph, who plays the president’s son in “Madam Secretary” and appears in NBC’s upcoming “Aquarius,” stars as Quentin. Stella Maeve (“Chicago P.D.”), Hale Appleman (“Teeth”), Arjun Gupta (“Nurse Jackie”) and Summer Bishil (“Towelhead”) also star.
“The Magicians,” published in 2009, was followed by two sequels, “The Magician King” in 2011 and “The Magician’s Land” in 2014.
Syfy has several high-profile scripted series coming up, including the December premieres of the new series “The Expanse” and the miniseries based on the Arthur C. Clarke epic “Childhood’s End.” Gale Anne Hurd’s 13-episode thriller “Hunters,” David Goyer’s Superman prequel “Krypton” and “Incorporated,” a pilot from Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, also are in the works.