Harry Potter Meets Shadowhunters In Syfy’s 5-Part Fantasy Series

When HBO’s Harry Potter TV show arrives in December, it will undoubtedly reignite interest not only in Hogwarts, but in literary adaptations of hidden-world fantasy as a whole. While swords and sorcery has been the predominant fantasy subgenre on the small screen, stories that bring the magical to the mundane like Harry Potter’s Wizarding World have always been popular.

While HBO’s Harry Potter series will instantly be the most prominent when it arrives, hidden world fantasy shows have existed for a while. For example, another incredibly popular urban fantasy series is Freeform’s Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments, which dropped viewers into a secret world of vampires, werewolves, warlocks, and both celestial and infernal beings. Adapting the novels of Cassandra Clare, Shadowhunters brought the same mundane-meets-magical intrigue that will drive the Harry Potter series throughout its 2016-2019 run.

However, while Shadowhunters may tap into that same intrigue, it is also a very different story to Harry Potter. Fortunately, another show exists that mixes Shadowhunters’ adult edge with Harry Potter’s premise of magical education to make the perfect show to watch during the wait for HBO’s series. That show is Syfy’s The Magicians, and it is a truly underappreciated hidden-world fantasy gem.

The Magicians Gives The Magic Of Harry Potter The Adult Edge Of Shadowhunters

HBO’s Harry Potter TV show may be more faithful to the books than the movies were, and will reportedly have a darker, more grounded tone, but it is still going to be family entertainment. It is not going to have the adult themes HBO is known for in fantasy shows like Game of Thrones, or the mature supernatural edge that gave Freeform’s Shadowhunters much of its appeal. For viewers who want the basic premise of Harry Potter aimed at an older audience, The Magicians is the answer.

Based on Lev Grossman’s novels, The Magicians follows Quentin Coldwater (Jason Ralph), a young man who discovers that magic is real and is accepted into Brakebills University, a secret institution dedicated to magical education exactly like Hogwarts except it is in upstate New York rather than the Scottish Highlands. The similarities to Harry Potter are immediately clear, but The Magicians uses this setup as a launchpad for a much darker, more adult story.

Rather than focusing primarily on childhood wonder, The Magicians explores themes like addiction, sexuality, mental health, and the personal consequences of wielding immense power. Its characters are flawed young adults navigating a magical world that is often as dangerous as it is fascinating. It’s a combination of the magical education and coming-of-age subtext of Harry Potter and the supernatural intensity of Shadowhunters, while still having a distinct identity of its own.

The Magicians Is The Perfect Show To Binge Before HBO’s Harry Potter Series Arrives

Since The Magicians can easily be thought of as Harry Potter with an adult edge, it is also the perfect show to binge in anticipation of HBO’s upcoming series. Its five-season run means there is plenty of material to explore, while its central hidden-world premise captures the same sense of discovery that makes the Wizarding World so enduring. The difference is that Brakebills offers a more mature take on what happens when young people learn that magic is real.

Still, this tonal difference aside, Harry Potter fans will find plenty to enjoy in The Magicians’ sprawling mythology of secret institutions, fantastical creatures, and a notably complex magic system. Like Hogwarts, Brakebills introduces characters to a world hidden from ordinary society, with the key difference being that The Magicians takes that concept into stranger and more unpredictable territory as its story develops.

Like Harry Potter, The Magicians also understands that the entertainment in watching characters undergoing a magical education stems from more than the learning of spells. Its characters also have to deal with relationship troubles and face classic coming-of-age obstacles from any teen drama worth its salt.

That makes The Magicians an especially satisfactory viewing experience for those who have already exhausted the Harry Potter movies and want something that captures a similar sense of magical discovery that doesn’t simply feel like an imitation. Its blend of magical academia, hidden-world fantasy, and mature storytelling makes The Magicians one of the best series to make the wait to return to the Wizarding World feel much shorter.

Release Date

2015 – 2020-00-00

Showrunner

Sera Gamble

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  Jason Ralph

  Quentin Coldwater

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  Olivia Taylor Dudley

  Alice Quinn

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