We spoke with the cast and executive producers of The Magicians to see what they could tease us about season 4.
In the press room, we were joined by executive producers Sera Gamble and John McNamara, as well as actors Jason Ralph (Quentin), Stella Maeve (Julia), Olivia Taylor Dudley (Alice), Hale Appleman (Eliot), and Summer Bishil (Margo).
Gamble and McNamara couldn’t say too much about the upcoming Magicians season 4, but they did talk about how they didn’t put any pressure on the writers to recreate the magic of season 3.
The actors couldn’t say as much as their producers, for fear of giving something big away, but we did learn a bit more about the monster currently inhabiting Eliot. Check out the video below for all of our interviews.
All seven participants were also on the panel. Arjun Gupta should have been there as well, but he was in India taking care of his sick grandmother and sent his love to everyone in the room. Felicia Day hosted the panel, which was especially nice because not only is she a huge fan of the books and television show, but she guest starred as Poppy in season 3.
We started off the panel with a season 3 recap that only The Magicians could do. It wasn’t any footage we hadn’t seen before, but their unique spin and fourth wall breaking made it hilarious and refreshing.
Both Gamble and McNamara spoke to the end of season 3 and basically said they have a good luck routine when it comes to the end of each season: they try to fuck everyone over in the hopes that it means the network HAS to pick them up for another run.
So far it’s worked pretty well!
Both writers also spoke to the idea that it’s good to be stuck like this because if they don’t know what happens next, then neither does the audience.
After teasing us that there might be some more singing in season 4, we got to see a clip of each of the actors explaining their new roles this season. Jason Ralph will portray Brian, who seems to be a pretty normal guy with a sunny disposition. Stella Maeve will play Kim while Summer Bishil will play Janet, the High King of the fashion world, if you will. Trevor Einhorn will play her Uber driver, Isaac.
Jade Tailor will portray Sam, who looked like she might be a cop. Olivia Taylor Dudley remains as Alice, questioning why no one is acting like themselves. Rick Worthy, who plays Dean Fogg, locks her in her trailer, while Hale Appleman plays the mysterious (and slightly adorable/creepy) monster we met in the season 3 finale.
But the weird part was that none of them knew who their real characters were. That memory wipe is serious business.
A couple other highlights include:
- One of the themes this season appears to be about fascism — what’s well-meaning and what’s authoritarian?
- Eliot’s skin may or may not turn orange in episode 4 (it was honestly hard to tell if this was sarcasm or not).
- The monster and “Brian” have a close bond but it’s a very different relationship from the one between Quentin and Eliot.
- It does sound like Felicia Day is coming back as Poppy, though they didn’t confirm it 100%!
- Olivia just got a horse, and so she’s been begging them to write Alice to come in on horseback to save the day. Sera and John didn’t seem totally against it.
- They kicked back the visual effects for the centaur four or five times because he wasn’t well-hung enough.
- They’re currently filming episode 5 and so far Eliot is nowhere to be found.
- The monster inhabiting Eliot is like a nine-year-old without any impulse control and no moral compass.
- The monster is trying to gain insight and emulate other people’s experiences, but he can’t quite do it because he’s not human.
- John couldn’t write a good enough speech for Summer to read as Margo so he decided to make them sing “One Day More” from Les Mis.
While we didn’t get a ton of information about season 4, it was clear that everybody is excited to work on the upcoming season of The Magicians, which will premiere sometime in 2019.
As always, the cast and producers were a delight to talk to in the press rooms and absolutely hilarious while up on stage. Felicia Day was the perfect moderator for the panel, balancing insider knowledge with her own fan enthusiasm about the show.
I’m sure the shots of tequila they were doing backstage before the panel didn’t hurt either!