John McNamara discusses The Magicians partnerships and loyalties

Photo Credit: The Magicians/Syfy Image by Eiric Milner Acquired from NBC Media Village /

The Magicians season 3 continues and showrunner John McNamara shares some exciting Kady and Josh hints.

The MagiciansSeason 3 is now in full swing. The Quest for the Seven Keys has begun, partnerships are forming and the chance of finding magic has been renewed. Now it’s a case of following the eight misfits through their journey to unlock all the secrets.

Showrunner John McNamara took some time out of his day to chat about the season and things to expect coming up. Of course, it all started with a discussion about Fray (The Tomorrow People’s Madeleine Arthur), Eliot (Hale Appleman) and Fen (Brittney Curren).

"“Without spoilers, you can expect to see that this is a very suddenly cobbled together family,” John shared about the plot moving forward with the three, “which is fragile.” He reminds fans that Fen and Eliot never married out of romantic love and Fray has loyalties to the Fairy Queen, which “is a little unstable and rife with possible reversals and betrayal.”"

When it comes to the actors, John always has praise, but he speaks highly of Madeleine in the next few episodes. There’s going to be a mixture of drama and comedy and “[Madeline]…is terrific.”

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For those who love to see Eliot and Fen take on the parental roles—and their different ways of dealing with the current situation—there will be more of it to come. It’s definitely not going to be easy though. Fray may have gone to her room at the end of Episode 2, but don’t expect to see it happen all the time. She is still loyal to the Fairy Queen.

While Eliot and Fen deal with parenting, the rest of Fillory is dealing with no magic. Showrunner Sera Gamble already shared that Fillory isn’t finding it easy, as magic literally came out of the ground, but John goes into it more and what it’s been like hitting the reset button to many of the worlds without mahic.

"“It’s been fun. It’s challenge because you want it ot have some magic, because it’s called The Magicians, but you want sort of like Mad Max: Fury Road, like what water and fuel are. It’s a rare commodity that’s fought over and kept secret. People will do more desperate things to get it once they find out there is a source. It’s fairly plentiful, but it comes with a great price. It raises all the stakes dramatically. They have to really route around and hunt for it.”"

While magic may be gone for the magicians, there are still some magical creatures around. If you’ve wondered about Penny (Arjun Gupta), there were hints about how he could still travel. He’s a magical creature and not just a magician. People want his magic, so “it’s possible he’s going to be hunted for that.”

Photo Credit: The Magicians/Syfy Image by Eiric Milner Acquired from NBC Media Village /

He’s just one of eight, who will be on the quest for magic; magic that Penny needs to survive the Cancer Plus. John says that he can’t wait for fans to see the “cornucopia of Penny stuff in Episodes 3 and 4.”

It does sound like Penny will make it through, as John shared that all eight characters will be together for a couple of episodes in The Magicians Season 3, which has never happened before. Eight, you’re wondering?

Don’t forget about Josh (Trevor Einhorn)! He’s integrated himself into the bunch of misfits this season and will be part of the quest.

"“He was a Brakebill student and was in a group. Unfortunately, most of his group died in the Neitherlands, so he’s kind of like an orphan looking for a new family and that’s kind of how he’s treated, which is sometimes nicely and sometimes not to nicely, by the group.”"

It’s certainly been fun for the showrunners to put the cast together. Stella Maeve previously shared that there are more unexpected partnerships coming up, and John expanded on that saying. To create the unexpected partnerships, it was a case of looking back over the previous two seasons to figure out who hadn’t had the chance to work together before. The showrunners got the chance to “think who hasn’t been together that much and who would make an interesting mix. What if we introduced a third party? Like a guest star or a recurring character.”

As for favorite partnerships, John can’t wait for more time on Rafe and Abigail the Sloth.

"“I just find them endlessly mysterious and strange. They have a nice mini arc that’s going to be exciting for super fans.”"

He also can’t wait for you to see Episode 9, which was a chance to “dabble into some of the sub-genres of the show.” To avoid spoilers, he wouldn’t elaborate but it’s definitely intriguing.

Photo Credit: The Magicians/ Syfy. Photo by: Eike Schroter/Syfy. Acquired by NBC Media Village/Syfy /

What about the fans of some of the small main characters? Kady (Jade Tailor) is the main one that comes to mind, who started off with a major role and slowly dropped back in the first season. Well, fans will see her more in The Magicians Season 3. He’ll have “her own arc and her own issues, separate from the Penny/Kady relationship.”

There is still going to be some time focused on Penny and Kady together, but it’s time to define them separately, as individuals. John says there are some “pretty unique twists and turns on how to do that coming up.”

The story arc for The Magicians Season 3 is this Quest for the Seven Keys. While it was inspired by the books, John shares that rather than the second of book two that it was, he and Sera have “made it the entire arc for Season 3. It’s going to be bigger and the stakes are higher, but the inspiration and best bits are from the books.”

Next: Hale Appleman talks The Magicians Season 3

Many fans have shared their excitement for the season and praise for the show overall. While most book-to-TV adaptations miss out a lot of crucial or beautiful elements, fans of The Magicians books have stated how the adaptation has beaten the book series. This look at how the quest has been adapted may be the clue to why.

The Magicians season 3 continues on Wednesdays at 9/8c on Syfy.

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