Syfy has announced that its fantasy series The Magicians will continue into a fifth season. That show, which has its fourth season debut on Wednesday, has been the network’s highest rated series for the past two seasons, so the early renewal comes as no surprise. NBC Universal–Syfy’s parent company–also has an ownership stake in the show, so they will benefit from future profits on syndication and/or streaming sales. The network has struggled with its more science fiction oriented programming lately, having cancelled the well-received space shows Dark Matter and The Expanse, but has found some success with its fantasy offerings such as The Magicians as well as some of its fringe shows such as last season’s Happy! and Deadly Class which debuted to good ratings last week. Whether this will lead to a shift away from science fiction for the network remains to be seen.
The Magicians follows the students of Brakebills University who are learning to control and properly use their magical powers. It stars Jason Ralph, Stella Maeve, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Hale Appleman, and Arjun Gupta and is based on the books by Lev Grossman.
As we head into Mid-Season, expect to hear more cancellation and renewal announcements, and The CW could be making its blanket renewal statement at any time now. Be sure to stay tuned to this site and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news as well as the latest ratings results.
Quite literally there is noting to compare this show to on any network except maybe for Shadowhunters which has already been canceled.
Urban Grunge Fantasy, thank you sir may I please have another