“The Magicians” Boss Talks Harry Potter Inspiration, Challenges & Changes to Series

“Did you think we’d be like the Weaseley’s?”

That’s the question Alice (Olivia Taylor Dudley) poses in the brand new series The Magicians, premiering tonight on Syfy.

Based on Lev Grossman’s fantasy book trilogy, this TV adaptation revolves around a group of New York twentysomethings who, while studying magic, discover the fantasy world they read about as children is all too real and poses a grave danger to humanity.

It’s a series being called the Harry Potter for grown-ups. Think of it as butterbeer with alcohol, floo powder being snorted, and Wingardium Leviosa‘s levitation charm to literally bring sex to new heights.

In fact, the idea for The Magicians came to Grossman when waiting for the Harry Potter books took too long to be released. So the Potter inspiration was a knowing one.

“It doesn’t have the same kind of black and white ideas of good, evil, destiny, heroism,” Magicians boss Sera Gamble says about the difference between the two properties, in a conference call with the press.

“The question is, what would this be like in actual current day New York City among older people who have the problems of everyday adult life? What does magic mean in that kind of circumstance. I think the emotional life of the story is really complicated and the DNA is much more adult. That was one the core ideas that The Magicians was born out of.”

When adapting the book for the small screen, one of the challenges Gamble and fellow Executive Producer John McNamara faced was trying to do justice to the spirit of the books. “That’s probably the thing that wakes us up in cold sweat the most,” says Gamble.

Luckily for the writing duo, Gamble and McNamara lucked out across the board, being blessed with an “amazing cast” and active involvement from Grossman.

“We ask for his advice at times and he sends us really thoughtful interesting good notes,” she explains. “No one knows the DNA of the world better than he does. He lived in it for 10 years. So, he’s been really helpful in making this TV show.”

“He certainly hasn’t agreed with 100 percent of everything we ever pitched,” she continues, “[but] he’s always very gracious about it. He really does take the ideas of the show on their own merits and understands that we’re making a version of the story and that we’re making kind of an iteration and adaptation and that it will be the same in some ways and it will by necessity and also because it’s sort of an organic growing thing, it will be different in certain ways.”

One of the most obvious differences fans will notice is that the characters have been aged up a bit, which was done for creative and practical reasons.

“Quentin is 17 when you meet him in the book, and he is more like 22 in our television show. The Quentin story is a coming of age story. It’s a story about someone who is young and walking into the problems and the wonders and the challenges of the adult world and becoming the man that he is going to be. And that story is perfect to tell about someone in their early 20s.”

Gamble and McNamara didn’t want to change anything from the books that they didn’t have to, but in the case of upping the ages of the characters, they sat down with Grossman and hashed out the idea. In the end, they realized that they all really loved it.

Throughout Season 1, the series will be hitting the “greatest hits” of book one, which will sometimes happen a bit differently. “We have the same general roadmap but we sometimes take slightly different roads than Lev did in the books.”

Finally, for those who are not familiar with the books, Gamble says you don’t have to have read them to enjoy the show. “I think the books can be enjoyed on their own and the show can be enjoyed on its own or you can do both.”

“Be Warned: This adventure is no mere children’s tale.”

The Magicians premieres Monday, January 25 at 9pm on Syfy.