‘The Magicians’ To End With Current Season 5 On Syfy

The end is just around the corner for The Magicians. The current fifth season of the fantasy drama series will be its last; the April 1 Season 3 finale will serve as series finale.

Created by John McNamara and Sera Gamble based on Lev Grossman’s novels, The Magicians for years was Syfy’s top series. Creators/executive producers McNamara and Gamble have served as showrunners of The Magicians since Day one; at the start of Season 5, fellow exec producer Henry Alonso Myers was named co-showrunner alongside them.

While they did not go into Season 5 knowing that it would definitely will be the show’s final chapter, I hear they wrote the Season 5 finale so it could also work as a series finale.

“The Magicians has been a part of our Syfy family for five fantastic seasons,” Syfy said in a statement to Deadline “As we near the end of this journey, we want to thank John McNamara, Sera Gamble, Henry Alonso Myers, Lev Grossman, and our entire brilliant cast, crew, writers and directors for their beautiful creation. But most of all, we thank the fans for their tremendous support and passion. Because of you, magic will be in our hearts forever.”

In its current fifth season, The Magicians has been averaging 881,000 Live+7 total viewers, 415,000 of them in the adults 18-49 demographic. While that is still healthy for a basic cable series among declining linear ratings, it is half of the viewership The Magicians delivered in its first two seasons. The combination of lower ratings and rising costs was reportedly a factor in the cancellation decision.

Syfy’s series slate has been undergoing a complete overhaul. With Van Helsing also ending this year after five seasons, Wynonna Earp is the only returning Syfy series with a chance to continue beyond 2020 and its much delayed fourth season.

The NBCUniversal network has a slew of new series coming up, including Vagrant Queen, premiering this month, Resident Alien, debuting in the summer and the recently ordered Chucky, Day of the Dead and The Surrealtor.

Syfy also  is making a push in animation with the late-night animation block TZGZ, and has been betting on lower-cost fan-focused franchises that originate on Syfy Wire like The Great Debate.

The Magicians is produced by Syfy sibling UCP, which has a library deal with Netflix where the fantasy drama gets a significant  portion of its viewing. The series is executive produced by McNamara, Gamble, Myers, Chris Fisher and Groundswell Productions’ Michael London and Janice Williams.