Stella Maeve (Chicago PD), Hale Appleman (Smash) and Arjun Gupta (How To Get Away With Murder) have landed key roles in Syfy pilot The Magicians, an adaptation of Lev Grossman’s bestselling fantasy book trilogy. Produced by Universal Cable Prods, The Magicians follows 20-somethings who, while studying magic in New York, discover that the magical fantasy world they read about as children is all too real and poses grave danger to humanity. Production is slated to get underway next month in New Orleans.

Maeve, repped by Paradigm and Principato-Young Entertainment, will play Julia, a wealthy and brilliant Ivy-Leaguer who seems destined for success, but her future plans are forever altered after she is denied admittance to the mysterious Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy. Appleman, repped by Innovative Artists and D2 Management, will play Eliot, a student at the Brakebills who will prove a sometimes frustrating ally in Quentin’s fortunes, and may soon factor into a series of perilous adventures. Gupta, repped by Gersh and Untitled Entertainment, will play Penny, Quentin’s roommate at Brakebills. He is bedeviled by voices that hint at pathways to other worlds.