'The Magicians' to end after Season 5, distraught fans want Netflix to pick it up as cast, creators thank them
We wish this was just an elaborate April Fool's joke but it is not. 'The Magicians' Season 5, which is currently airing on Syfy, will be it's last with the series finale airing on April 1.
The network in a statement addressing the cancellation said: "The Magicians has been a part of our Syfy family for five fantastic seasons. As we near the end of this journey, we want to thank John McNamara, Sera Gamble, Henry Alonso Myers, Lev Grossman, and our entire brilliant cast, crew, writers, and directors for their beautiful creation. But most of all, we thank the fans for their tremendous support and passion. Because of you, magic will be in our hearts forever.”
Based on Lev Grossman’s bestselling novels of the same name, 'The Magicians' centers on a group of magicians who discover their powers as they wrestle with young adult coming-of-age themes like love, friendship, and adulting.
Showrunner Sera Gamble addressed fans about the cancellation on Twitter, writing: "Hello, Magicians. Sad news today. Getting to make this show, with a family that is both talented and kind, for a huge-hearted audience, has been one of the greatest privileges of my life. And a true example of epic cooperative magic. I just want to say: thank you. #TheMagicians."
John McNamara, co-creator of the TV show also chimed in, tweeting: "This is rough for all of us. I’m sure we’ll be talking all day and beyond. Many thoughts, a storm of feelings but overwhelmingly: gratitude for having been able to make exactly the series we wanted to, down to the last semi-colon. #TheMagicians." So we can expect that most of the loose ends will be tied up in season 5's finale which will also be the series finale, including the Dark King story arc.
Sean Maguire who plays the Dark King posted a tweet about the show's cancellation as well. He wrote: "All good things must come to an end but it sure was a wonderful show and family to be a part of. Best of luck to every one of the cast, crew & writers team with their next ventures. Love," he wrote, ending his tweet with a pig emoji, referencing how he also plays the talking Fillorian pig, Sir Effingham, who also happens to be a male chauvinist...pig.
For one fan, the cancellation was the final straw that broke the camel's back: "Coronavirus has officially reached Georgia, East Nashville is in shambles thanks to a sudden tornado, and my favorite TV show got canceled. Also my eyes hurt. Today sucks #coronavirus #EastNashville #TheMagicians".
The show currently stars Stella Maeve as Julia Wicker, Olivia Taylor Dudley as Alice Quinn, Hale Appleman as Eliot Waugh, Arjun Gupta as William “Penny” Adiyodi, Summer Bishil as Margo Hanson, Rick Worthy as Henry Fogg, Jade Tailor as Kady Orloff-Diaz, Brittany Curran as Fen and Trevor Einhorn as Josh Hoberman. Jason Ralph, who played Quentin Coldwater and was also the main lead for the first four seasons, was killed off in the season 4 finale, which did lead to a dip in viewing figures in the fifth season.
So, on one hand, fans of Eliot and Margo mourned, like this Margo devotee quoting her catchphrases: "OMG no...I don't think I can live without Margo's @SummerBishil1 banter. She and Eliot are once in a lifetime. Ugh. Please reconsider. #RenewMagicians 'OMG I'm trippin on lizard' 'Maple d**k' 'Grow a cl!t' 'Ovary up'". On the other hand, fans of Quentin Coldwater didn't sound too upset at the cancellation, like this one: "A lot of us mourned the death of the magicians at the end of season 4 so excuse us for not being upset that its cancelation is finally in writing now. The books are The Magicians. Not the TV show. LONG LIVE QUENTIN COLDWATER! #TheMagicians"
However, some fans are already hoping that Netflix will pick up the show and run with it and there are certainly more stories to tell. In an interview discussing the cancellation, McNamara said that they had tried to find another home for the show but nothing has worked out yet: "None of them seemed in the end like a perfect financial or creative fit. And so we reluctantly just decided, 'Well at least we have this season finale that was crafted to also be a series finale.' It was kind of always going to pull double duty," he explained.
Sera Gamble also teased that the finale will feature Josh (Trevor Einhorn) making his greatest sandwich ever, and some thrilling visual effects. "Some stuff does blow up," said Gamble. "But also, we wanted to give really juicy meaty moments to our actors."
Fans can also look forward to a musical episode just before the series finale and of course, the story arc about the Fillorian Apocalypse. So it is time to savor the last five episodes before we bid the show a fond goodbye. The next episode of 'The Magicians' airs on March 4 on Syfy at 10/9c.