SyFy’s The Magicians is Making Magic Cool

The Magicians, a new series adapted from a trilogy of novels by Lev Grossman, follows Quentin Coldwater (Jason Ralph), who finds out that yes, magic is real, and he’s been accepted into a graduate program at Brakebills College to study it.

Ask anyone about The Magicians, and they’ll say it’s Harry Potter for adults. But really, it’s more specific than that. It’s Harry Potter for the kids who grew up on Harry Potter and are now realizing they have to be adults in their own right. It’s for the millennials who are still trying to figure it out and find their place and are maybe still secretly waiting for their Hogwarts letter.

“You’re a teen, and your whole life’s ahead of you and you have these notions about what life is and what it could be, but eventually you have to let all that go,” remarks the protagonist Quentin in the pilot episode. “It’s part of growing up: selling the comic book collection and getting serious.”

Here, the show empathizes with its intended audience: the millennial generation who grew up on the words of authors like J.K. Rowling and C.S. Lewis.

And it doesn’t shy away from its obvious influences. Instead of hiding them away in attempt to convince us this is fresh! and new!, it plays on the nostalgia of the audience. Brakebills College too has its own magical sport and houses of students separated by their personalities, or more specifically in this case, magic specialty. Our protagonist is slightly obsessed with a book series. (Are we getting too meta yet?) A book series where several war-era British children travel to the magical land of Fillory —  which they discover by climbing through a wardrobe. Er, wait, I mean grandfather clock.

Simultaneously tapping into these influences and every twenty-something’s fear of their own future allows The Magicians to act as a fantastical bridge between being a kid and growing up. The characters are learning magic and facing villains like The Beast, but they’re also struggling with self-identity, depression, and relationships.

When translating this story to the screen, Sara Gamble, the executive producer, and her team really know what they’re doing. They’ve created the right mix of childhood nostalgia and unknown adventure. It’s the dark and twisted version of Hogwarts. It’s now sex, magic, and rock ‘n’ roll.

With a soundtrack of MGMT and The XX playing in the background, it’s the instagram-filtered, vintage-clothed, sarcasm-filled magical world of any hipster’s dreams. Our protagonist thinks the Danish version is better. The parties are so underground you need secret tattoos just to get in. There’s even a running Taylor Swift joke. The aesthetic of the show, from the outfits to the locations to the special effects, just exudes cool.

This inherent coolness is what separates the series from others like it. Even the practical application of magic is cool. The complicated hand motions needed to use magic are based on an underground dance style called finger tutting. Too often magic can seem cheesy, childish, or unrealistic when it’s brought to life on screen. Sure, it’s difficult to create impressive special effects on a television budget. It’s even harder to make something imagined look believably real. But The Magicians proves that by connecting to the audience and understanding them visually, real magic can happen.

The Magicians airs Mondays at 9/8c. on SyFy.

Rosie Robinson

Rosie is a journalist, TV obsessive, and vampire lore expert. Her favorite game is sorting TV characters into Hogwarts houses. (She’s a Ravenclaw.) When she’s feeling down she watches “Once More, With Feeling.” Chances are she’s thinking about a fictional character right now. She’ll fight you over Felicity Smoak and Lydia Martin. She lives her life a quarter-mile at a time.