'The Magicians' Season 2 Can Go In Many Directions

With the first season coming to an end on Monday night at 9 p.m., I'm already looking forward to The Magicians returning for Season 2. Variety reported that Syfy had renewed the series for another season back in February and confirmed that the main cast will return. While that's all great news, there is a downside: it seems that fans will likely have to wait a while for more. Though an exact premiere date for Season 2 has not been set, according to the Variety, it is "slated to air in 2017," which means we're looking at a hiatus of at least eight months. But hopefully, since The Magicians first premiered in December 2015, it will return in the winter once again, closer to the beginning of 2017.

I can't be the only fan hoping to see the series return as soon as possible. After all, last week's episode left us with Julia and Quentin entering Fillory together, having realized that Julia's exclusion from Brakebills came at the hands of a time-manipulating Jane Chatwin. Penny, Eliot, Alice, and Margo were attempting to access Fillory via the Neitherlands, where they had an unexpected school reunion with a member of the mysteriously missing Brakebills class. And they're all searching for a magical weapon that can kill The Beast... if he doesn't get to them first. With so much at play leading into the finale, we're bound to be left on the edge of our seats.

You would think fans of Lev Grossman's book series (myself included) would have a pretty good idea of how the Season 1 finale, as well as next season, is going to go down. But as my fellow readers will tell you, The Magicians hasn't made it easy for me to guess what's coming next. While the series has stayed faithful to the tone of the books and many of the major plot points, it's definitely not the kind of straightforward adaption of the first book that, say, the first few Harry Potter movies were. Characters from future books have been introduced early, many of the plot lines from the second book are already being explored, and the return of the entire main cast makes me think that a certain death may not occur (or, at least, that we won't be missing that character for too long).

So where does that leave us for Season 2? A lot depends on whether or not The Beast is killed in the finale. While that fight seems to be a logical place for the first season to end, I'm not convinced that it can all be dealt with in one episode. I would have expected a two-part finale dealing with the gang arriving in Fillory and facing The Beast, but since that hasn't happened, it may be that The Beast carries over into Season 2.

For the sake of starting with a clean slate, though, let's say that the gang is able to kill off The Beast in Monday night's season finale. This would mean that Season 2 will probably more or less follow the events of The Magician King, which should start with Quentin being whisked away from Earth to resume his rightful place as King of Fillory alongside Eliot, Margo, and Julia. We should be able to expect dragons, high seas adventures, and the return of some gods who really don't like sharing their magic with mortals anymore.

Beyond the differences already found in the TV show, Julia's role in Season 1 suggests some more changes ahead. A huge portion of The Magician King is dedicated to filling us in on what Julia's been doing while Quentin is at Brakebills, culminating in the horrific arrival of Reynard the Fox. However, on The Magicians we've watched Julia grow from magic addict to member of Free Trader Beowulf throughout the first season, and she appears to have rejoined Quentin before the Fox trauma. That means this scene will either happen in a different way, or it won't be adapted for the TV series at all, which would make sense since it is, again, horrific.

With so much up in the air heading into the Season 1 finale and no way of knowing for sure what will come next, I'm already getting impatient for The Magicians Season 2. But at least we have plenty of time to reread The Magician King to get ready.

Images: Syfy (3)