Syfy conjures magic series

US cablenet Syfy has greenlit a series based on Lev Grossman’s best-selling fantasy books about a secret college for magicians in New York.

The Magicians (12×60′) begins shooting in Vancouver in July with NBCUniversal-owned production outfit Universal Cable Productions and LA-based Groundswell Productions.

It stars Jason Ralph (A Most Violent Year) as a brilliant grad student who enrols in a secret Upstate New York university specialising in magic, but discovers that the magical fantasy world poses grave danger to humanity.

John McNamara (Aquarius) and Sera Gamble (Supernatural), who wrote the pilot, will serve as executive producers.

“Ever since The Magicians was published I’ve wanted to see this story on screen,” said Grossman, whose trilogy of books have been published in more than 20 countries. The third instalment, The Magician’s Land, opened at number one last summer on the New York Times Hardcover Best Seller list.

The show bolsters Syfy’s drama offering, which already includes The Expanse, Hunters, Krypton, 12 Monkeys, Childhood’s End and Incorporated, a pilot for a thriller from Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.