SyFy has announced that before its fourth episode has even aired that The Magicians has been renewed for a second season. This early approval is not too dissimilar to the recently finished The Expanse, which the network also approved for a second season, of 13 episodes, before the series had concluded.
The network stated on Feb. 8, 2016 that they would be showing another 13 episodes of the Universal Cable Productions program will air in 2017. The show’s production team has an illustrious roster of names that includes: Executive producers John McNamara (Aquarius), Sera Gamble (Supernatural), Henry Alonso Myers (Covert Affairs) and Groundswell Productions’ Michael London and Janice Williams (Milk).
The series is adapted from the bestselling literary franchise written by Lev Grossman. The Magicians has only just started airing its first season, it started in December 2015 and will air episode 104 tonight at 9PM ET/PT.
SyFy & Chiller President Dave Howe said in the released statement that it was down to an “extraordinarily gifted creative team of executive producers” and the networks’ Universal Cable Productions partners that the new show had become such a “buzzed-about” hit. Howe went on to say that the adaptation had caught up the fans of the books and is helping to bring new, younger viewers to the network.
In terms of viewing figures, the series has pulled in, during its first three episodes, an average of 1.7 million viewers per episode. Demographically, out of this number of viewers, 853K were Adults 18-49 and 910K were Adults 25-54 (based on L3 data). The Magicians has also pulled in an impressive amount of a younger demographic, with Adults 18-34 increasing exponentially per episode to average 180% over Syfy’s prime time delivery in that demo.
According to the press release from SyFy Feb 8, 2016, the show’s first episode was digitally, sampled more than 6.7 million times during its pre-linear launch (January 8 to January 25) across Syfy.com and other select partner sites, as well as On Demand cable, satellite and telco TV platforms.
The Magicians stars Jason Ralph (Quentin Coldwater), Stella Maeve (Julia), Olivia Taylor Dudley (Alice) Hale Appleman (Eliot), Arjun Gupta (Penny) and Summer Bishil (Margo). The series is focussed upon Quentin, a brilliant grad student picked to attend Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy, a secret upstate New York university that specializes in magic. Once he begins the young man and his friends learn that the fantasy setting of magic from their childhood is all too real. This lesson is hammered home when they inadvertently bring an evil entity from the “other side” into the real world.
Two other cast members will be returning for season two; Rick Worthy (Dean Fogg) and Jade Tailor (Kady).
The Magicians is yet another popular addition to an impressive 2016 lineup on SyFy that includes the previously mentioned space mystery/thriller The Expanse as well as the upcoming new scripted series Hunters (which was just plugged on another SyFy series Face Off) from “The Walking Dead” executive producer Gale Anne Hurd. Hunters will debut on April 11.
12 Monkeys, a critical success for SyFy is also coming back on April 18 and the science fiction thriller Incorporated, created by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Todd’s Pearl Street Films will air in the Fall of 2016. SyFy has more scripted projects on the burner, including an adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s classic novel Brave New World by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television; and David Goyer’s Superman prequel, Krypton.
The Magicians airs Mondays on SyFy. Tune in and see just why the network has approved a second season before episode number four.
