These two trailers seem to have been swept under the radar a bit. Let’s give them some spotlight. Childhood’s End, adapted from the Arthur C. Clarke book of the same name, sees a seemingly benevolent alien invasion and how it essentially fixes all the world’s problems. But how would the world react to something like that? The Magicians, based on the trilogy of books by Lev Grossman, a grad student enrolls a in a school specializing in magic.
Childhood’s End
Written by Arthur C. Clarke and hailed as a revolutionary work of science fiction since its publishing in 1953, Childhood’s End follows the peaceful alien invasion of Earth by the mysterious “Overlords,” whose arrival begins decades of apparent utopia under indirect alien rule, at the cost of human identity and culture.
Charles Dance (Game of Thrones) will play Karellen, the ambassador for the Overlords. Mike Vogel (Under the Dome) will play Ricky Stormgren, a midwestern farmer whose life is turned upside down when he is named the sole human ambassador for the Overlords. Julian McMahon (Nip/Tuck) will play Rupert Boyce, an enigmatic American entrepeneur.
Akiva Goldsman (Lone Survivor, A Beautiful Mind, I Am Legend) and Mike De Luca (Captain Philips, Moneyball, The Social Network) are attached as executive producers. Childhood’s End will be adapted by Matthew Graham (creator of BBC’s Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes).
This will be a 3-part miniseries.
The Magicians
Based upon Lev Grossman’s best-selling books, The Magicians stars Jason Ralph (A Most Violent Year, Aquarius) as Quentin Coldwater, a brilliant grad student who enrolls in Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy, a secret upstate New York university specializing in magic. 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. Stella Maeve (Chicago P.D.), Hale Appleman (Teeth), Arjun Gupta (Nurse Jackie) and Summer Bishil (Towelhead, Lucky 7) also star in this one hour drama.
Groundswell Productions’ Michael London and Janice Williams (Milk) will executive produce. John McNamara (Aquarius) and Sera Gamble (Supernatural), writers of the pilot, will serve as executive producers.
Lev Grossman’s 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 TimesHardcover Best Seller’s list, and was widely acclaimed as one of the best books of the year.
“Ever since The Magicians was published I’ve wanted to see this story on screen,” said Lev Grossman. “The people, the school, the other worlds, the magic. I’m so thrilled that it’s finally happening, and I’m beyond thrilled that we found the right people to do it. Get ready; you’ve never seen anything like this.”