Forget the Reboot, This Fantasy Magic Series Is a Grittier, More Shocking Harry Potter Replacement
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Harry Potter has been a long-lasting story, with seven books, eight films, and soon, a TV series for HBO Max. The upcoming series promises a ten-season run, with the cast now mostly revealed and an expected 2026 release. But, considering the popularity of the films and the fact that they aren’t that old yet, many fans have questioned the need to reboot the story. Then, of course, there is the ongoing controversy surrounding J. K. Rowling, which raises more doubts about the necessity of the new series. Admittedly, TV will be an interesting format for the story, allowing for more screentime to include fan-favorite moments from the book. Yet while Harry Potter is a classic, there is already a grittier, more mature, and entirely unique series about a school for magic users. Although no one is suggesting it for kids, fans who have grown up with the boy wizard might enjoy this fresh take on the concept.
The Magicians ran on Syfy for five seasons, telling a story based on a book trilogy by Lev Grossman about students at Brakebills University for Magical Pedagogy. With magical studies and world-threatening stakes, The Magicians is in a similar vein to Harry Potter, but featuring adult students rather than 11-year-olds, allows the former to explore more mature themes. The series follows Quentin Coldwater (Jason Ralph), who is tested for magical abilities and accepted into Brakebills, where he learns that magic is real, much like Harry. The story explores adult themes like grief, mental health, and sexual assault, but it mixes the serious subject matter with the whimsy of magic and fantastical worlds.
‘The Magicians’ Shows a More Ruthless Magic School
While both Harry and Quentin discover the existence of magic when they are invited to receive magical education, they have very different experiences. Harry Potter certainly has life-or-death stakes — just look at how many beloved characters are lost during the series, but The Magicians takes that even further, as not every member of the core group makes it to the end. The heartbreaking losses and emotional struggles for the characters make for a mature, thoughtful series, even with the fantastical elements.
Beyond that, magic as a whole is darker. There’s no denying that Harry’s adventures grow in maturity throughout the series, but The Magicians is darker than even the end of Harry’s story. Quentin quickly learns that magic comes with a cost. And, of course, there is the school itself. While Quentin is given the life-changing opportunity to attend Brakebills, his childhood friend, Julia (Stella Maeve), does not pass the test. Brakebills shows its true colors by throwing her out before she learns to use her potential. Though they attempt to wipe her memories of magic’s existence, she manages to remember the test, sending her on a mission to learn magic through more dangerous means, encountering magic users who do not follow Brakebills’ rules and malicious gods, in an especially dark twist.
Even at Brakebills, study isn’t always safe. Quentin meets Alice (Olivia Taylor Dudley), Penny (Arjun Gupta), Kady (Jade Tailor), Margo (Summer Bishil), and Elliot (Hale Appleman) at school, where they learn about different forms of magic, attempt to contact Alice’s dead brother, and discover other realities. But things only get more dire when they encounter The Beast (Charles Mesure), and discover that Fillory, the magical world from Quentin’s favorite novels, is real and darker than they knew, and somehow, in a world full of magicians, these students are the ones left to handle the murderous villain.
‘The Magicians’ Has More Mature Themes Than ‘Harry Potter’
Along with dark content, The Magicians includes several mature themes. Sure, with characters in their twenties, the series is able to include more relationship drama that is more mature than anything Harry Potter ventures into, but even beyond that, the characters face realistic emotional struggles even while they find themselves in fantastical situations. Quentin struggles with his mental health and the loss of his father. Alice has her own journey with the loss of loved ones as she deals with her brother’s death. Elliot has trauma as a gay man raised by a homophobic father. These storylines are not the fantasy elements you expect, but they create deep and lovable characters that the audience can connect to, and add more mature elements to the series.
The Magician thrives in these moments that have something to say about topics that viewers may experience themselves. Ironically for Harry Potter fans, one of the more realistic plotlines in The Magicians sees Quentin and his friends discover that Christopher Plover (Charles Shaughnessy), the Fillory and Further author, whose books they grew up with, is not someone to admire. It’s not exactly an easy thing to come to terms with, especially for Quentin, who has spent so much of his life invested in the books. With relatable issues of grief over the loss of loved ones and struggles with mental health, The Magicians works a lot into the fantasy framework. And even so, it manages to flip between hilarious, lighthearted moments, mature conversations, and dark content with surprising ease.
‘The Magicians’ Is an Unpredictable and Underrated Story
There are many highlights in The Magicians, but the thorough worldbuilding is certainly among them. The series explains everything, creating a detailed world for the story to take place, with laws of magic, the different groups that use it, and various magical talents for the characters. In Harry Potter, most of the abilities are a matter of skill, and each student can learn the same spells or potion recipes. However, The Magicians gives the characters magical specialties, with Penny being able to travel and Alice’s proficiency in manipulating light. This helps each member of the team play a vital role as they solve problems in their own way. With such well-developed worldbuilding and shocking twists, The Magicians deserves more attention than it gets.
There’s no denying that most everyone knows Harry Potter, and the vast majority of those who watch the upcoming series will come in with not only an understanding of what will happen next, but their own expectations for it. However, that isn’t the case for The Magicians. With the adaptation taking bold risks that actually pay off, even those familiar with Lev Grossman’s series are in for some major surprises. The Magicians doesn’t fall into predictability, even though it uses some common tropes of the fantasy genre. The result is an action-packed series that anyone interested in magical stories would enjoy. It may not have the widespread popularity of Harry Potter, but The Magicians is more than worth a watch.
The Magicians
- Release Date
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2015 – 2019
- Directors
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Chris Fisher, James L. Conway, Joshua Butler, John Scott, Carol Banker, Scott Smith, Guy Norman Bee, Rebecca Johnson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Meera Menon, amanda tapping, Bill Eagles, Jan Eliasberg, Kate Woods, Shannon Kohli
- Writers
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John McNamara, Henry Alonso Myers, David Reed, Noga Landau, Christina Strain, Leah Fong, Alex Raiman, Elle Lipson, David Reed
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Olivia Taylor Dudley
Alice Quinn
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