THE MAGICIANS Casting Is Underway
SyFy's The Magicians series is moving along with a casting announcement today for three principal characterss: Julia, Elliot and Penny.
If you're not familiar with Lev Grossman's Magicians trilogy, well, it's really good and you should read it. Here's my review of the third book (actually only read this if you are familiar with the trilogy), and here's a synopsis of the first book:
Like everyone else, precocious high school senior Quentin Coldwater assumes that magic isn’t real, until he finds himself admitted to a very secretive and exclusive college of magic in upstate New York. There he indulges in joys of college—friendship, love, sex, and booze—and receives a rigorous education in modern sorcery. But magic doesn’t bring the happiness and adventure Quentin thought it would. After graduation, he and his friends stumble upon a secret that sets them on a remarkable journey that may just fulfill Quentin’s yearning. But their journey turns out to be darker and more dangerous than they’d imagined. Psychologically piercing and dazzlingly inventive, The Magicians, the prequel to the New York Times bestselling book The Magician King and the #1 bestseller The Magician’s Land, is an enthralling coming-of-age tale about magic practiced in the real world—where good and evil aren’t black and white and power comes at a terrible price.
Julia is the tempestuous, powerful, tormented woman who doesn't make the cut into Brakebills, the high school Hogwarts of this series, and who then makes her own devastating way through the magical underground. She's by far the best character of the series, and she'll be played by Stella Maeve, from The Runaways, TransAmerica and Chicago P.D. Because this is SyFy, I haven't actually heard of any of these actors, but I like her look.
Elliot's the insouciant, charismatic, gay Brakebills senior who brings Quentin (the main character, as of yet uncast) into his cool, DGAF club, The Physical Kids (they specialize in Physical Magic). He'll be played by Hale Appleman, from Teeth and Smash. This kid looks perfect:
And lastly (poor Penny's always last), we've got Penny: mildly insufferable, erudite, awkward, a touch pitiful. He'll be played by Arjun Gupta, of How to Get Away With Murder, Nurse Jackie and Stand Up Guys. He doesn't look quite as pitiful as I'd like him to, but I bet they can pitiful him up a bit, and I like that they didn't go all-white with the casting.
So - thoughts on this casting? Any other names you'd like to throw in the ring for Quentin, Alice and others? Any hope whatsoever that this will be good, in spite of the network that's producing it?
