Syfy has announced that they have cancelled their acclaimed fantasy drama “The Magicians” after five seasons.
Based on the trilogy of books by Lev Grossman, the series initially dubbed an “adult Harry Potter” has grown into one of the best genre shows on television – dealing with adult topics from mental illness, depression, sexual assault and addiction and combining it with darkly savage comedy, fascinating characters, inclusiveness and fan service (albeit a bit too much of it).
The show is in the midst of airing its fifth season with the finale to screen on April 1st. That will now serve as a series finale with Syfy opting not to move forward with another season. That said, the showrunners have penned the season finale to potentially serve as a series finale should the show not continue.
Creators Sera Gamble and John McNamara spoke to TVInsider about the cancellation today, saying the reason for the axing is because the show simply became too expensive. Gamble says: “We had the sense going into this season that Syfy, in particular as our first platform, was kind of hitting the point of ‘The cup is full and there’s no more room’.
Initially, they tried to explore other options to keep the show going on a different platform, but nothing was the right fit. McNamara says: “We were aware that it was definitely not going to go forward in Syfy [when writing the finale] and that we were then going to want at least try to make a run at other platforms… none of them seemed in the end like a perfect financial or creative fit.”
