Stella Maeve arrives at the premiere of "The Runaways" at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 23, 2010 in Park City, Utah. Photo by Gary C. Caskey |
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NEW YORK, May 6 (UPI) -- Syfy says it has greenlit The Magicians, a series based on Lev Grossman's best-selling fantasy books.
The show will star Jason Ralph as Quentin Coldwater, "a brilliant grad student who enrolls in Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy, a secret upstate New York university specializing in magic," a synopsis said. "He and his 20-something friends soon discover that the magical fantasy world they read about as children is all too real -- and poses grave danger to humanity."
Shooting is to begin in July on the one-hour drama series, which will co-star Stella Maeve, Hale Appleman, Arjun Gupta and Summer Bishil.
Groundswell Productions' Michael London and Janice Williams will executive produce the series. John McNamara and Sera Gamble, writers of the pilot, will serve as executive producers. The pilot was helmed by Mike Cahill.
"The Magicians pilot beautifully delivers a world filled with wonder, fantasy and intrigue," Dave Howe, Syfy's president, said in a statement. "We can't wait to delve deeper into the lives of Quentin and his college friends, as they struggle with the enormity of their burgeoning powers -- and unleash them upon the world."
"Ever since The Magicians was published I've wanted to see this story on-screen," added Grossman. "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."
