Showcase makes magic with series premiere of critically acclaimed novel The Magicians

An exclusive advance airing of The Magicians' first episode follows
the finale of Childhood's End on December 16

Series kicks off January 25 at 9pm ET/PT with special two-episode
premiere presentation

Watch a trailer here: http://bit.ly/1UczJJx

New drama based on Lev Grossman's best-selling fantasy trilogy
"Sly and lyrical, [The Magicians] captures the magic of childhood and the sobering years beyond." – Entertainment Weekly

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TORONTO, Dec. 11, 2015 /CNW/ - This winter Showcase enrolls in the enchanting Brakebills University with The Magicians, the new series based on Lev Grossman's internationally acclaimed novels. With excitement and anticipation surrounding the premiere, Showcase presents viewers a special advance airing of the first episode of The Magicians on Wednesday, December 16 at 10pm ET/PT following the finale of miniseries Childhood's End. The full season of The Magicians begins Monday, January 25 with a two-episode series premiere at 9pm ET/PT. Filmed on location in Vancouver and based on Lev Grossman's best-selling trilogy of novels, the new scripted fantasy drama from Syfy and Universal Cable Productions (UCP) takes viewers to Brakebills University, an elite, secret college specializing in magic.

Starring Jason Ralph (Quentin Coldwater), Stella Maeve (Julia), Olivia Taylor Dudley (Alice), Hale Appleman (Eliot), Arjun Gupta (Penny), and Summer Bishil (Margo), The Magicians centres on Quentin, a gifted grad student chosen to attend Brakebills University in upstate New York. He and his 20-something friends soon discover that the magical fantasy world they read about as children is all too real – and poses grave danger to humanity.

The season premiere, titled "Unauthorized Magic," airs January 25 at 9pm ET/PT and is immediately followed at 10pm ET/PT by episode two, titled "The Source of Magic." New episodes will air in the series' regular timeslot on Mondays at 9pm ET/PT on Showcase. Episodes will be available to watch the next day on showcase.ca.

Recurring guest stars this season include Rick Worthy as Dean Fogg, Anne Dudek as Professor Sunderland, Jade Tailor as Kady, and Esme Bianco as Eliza.

Groundswell Productions' Michael London and Janice Williams (Milk) will executive produce The Magicians. John McNamara (Aquarius) and Sera Gamble (Supernatural), writers of the pilot, will serve as executive producers. Mike Cahill (I Origins) directed the pilot. Universal Cable Productions will serve as the studio.

Lev Grossman's The Magicians trilogy is an international sensation, published and widely praised in more than twenty countries. The epic conclusion to the series, The Magician's Land, opened at #1 last summer on the New York Times Hardcover Best Seller's list, and was widely acclaimed as one of the best books of the year.

Showcase is available on a National Free Preview from December 28, 2015 to January 31, 2016. Local listings available with television service providers.

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:
Website: showcase.ca/themagicians
Twitter: @showcasedotca
Facebook: facebook.com/showcasedotca
YouTube: youtube.com/user/Showcasedotca
Cast on Twitter: @RasonJalph, @StellaMaeve14, @OliviaDudley, @hale_appleman, @ArjunGuptaBK, @SummerBishil1, @annedudek, @JadeTailor, @esmebianco

Showcase is a Shaw Media Network

About Shaw Communications
Shaw Communications Inc. is a diversified communications and media company. Shaw serves 3.2 million consumers and businesses through a reliable and extensive fibre network. Shaw provides consumers with broadband Internet, WiFi, Digital Phone and Video services. Shaw Business provides businesses with Internet, data, WiFi, telephony, Video and fleet tracking services, and ViaWest provides collocation, cloud and managed services. Shaw Media provides Canadians with engaging programming content through one of Canada's largest conventional television networks, Global Television, and 19 specialty networks, including HGTV Canada, Food Network Canada, HISTORY® and Showcase. Shaw is traded on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges and is included in the S&P/TSX 60 Index (Symbol: TSX – SJR.B, NYSE – SJR). For more information about Shaw, please visit www.shaw.ca.

About Universal Cable Productions:
Universal Cable Productions (UCP) creates innovative and critically acclaimed original scripted and digital content across media platforms for domestic and international distribution. UCP's content library spans classics such as Emmy-award winning, "Monk," and critic and fan favorites "Psych," "Battlestar Galactica" and "Warehouse 13." In the U.S., UCP's programming can be seen across various networks, including: "Colony" (2016), "Dig," "Mr. Robot," "Playing House," "Royal Pains," "Satisfaction" and "Suits" on USA Network; "12 Monkeys," "Childhood's End" (2015), "Hunters" (2016), "Killjoys" and "The Magicians" (2016) on Syfy; "Girlfriends' Guide To Divorce" on Bravo; "The Royals," on E!; "Difficult People" on Hulu; "Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome" on Machinima Prime/YouTube, Syfy and DVD/Blu-Ray; and "Side Effects" on Awesomeness TV/YouTube. Universal Cable Productions is a part of NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, a division of NBCUniversal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies. Follow us @UCPisTV. 

SOURCE Showcase

For media inquiries, please contact: April Lim, Publicity Coordinator, 416-967-8057, april.lim@shawmedia,ca; Meg Campbell, Associate Publicist, 416-966-7220, [email protected]; Michelle McTeague, Publicity Manager, 416-966-7724, [email protected]