The number of fantasy films and TV series devoted to magic grew tenfold in the first decades of the 21st century. Yes, computer effects make anything possible. Yes, political and economic crises and the pandemic shook the people into waiting for a miracle. But the love of magic in the age of technology is still wildly irrational.

Magical movies dominate the fantasy market and hold a prominent place in child and family entertainment. Just think of the Harry Potter franchise with its spin-off Fantastic Beasts. Those are paragons of films that are totally into magic. TV production on this topic also has noticeable examples, such as The Magicians (2015–2020), Legacies (2018–2022), and Motherland: Fort Salem (2020–2022). All three of these series continue the Hogwarts theme of a school of magic but treat it very differently.

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Magicians is the closest to the Harry Potter prototype but without a single archenemy, as Voldemort was for Harry Potter’s Wizarding World. Legacies is a spin-off of The Originals with more magic than vampires, while in Motherland, the magic school is rather a military academy. Other recent magical series include Charmed (2018–2022), Locke & Key (2020–2022), Australian teen series The Bureau of Magical Things (2018–2022), A Discovery of Witches (2018–2022), and perhaps The Witcher (2019–2022) and more.

Let’s see what is so cool about magic.

Harry Potter Movies

     Warner Bros. Pictures

British writer J. K. Rowling came up with the idea of a magic school. Her books became popular and their cinematographic renditions famous. The thought of regular boys and girls developing magical abilities was thrilling. But Rowling set some limits: oops, your parents or ancestry had to be wizards. Otherwise… sorry, just a muggle.

If you are lucky, though, you can do practically anything. Fly? Of course! There are brooms, hippogriffs, pegasi, flying cars; you name it. Making friends with strange beings? If those flying ones are not enough, there are also Merpeople, giants, centaurs, house elves, and multitudes of other more or less pleasant companions. You want to be invisible? There is an invisibility cloak. You want to fight for the greater good? Use your wand and cast spells. All of these impossible things became fully filmable because of technological advancements: computers, 3d graphics, etc. Do you see the paradox? Technology makes magic possible!

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry housed not only young magicians but also young actors who impersonated them. Emma Watson confessed on Instagram:

Participating in such films is a magical experience, but Hogwarts also became home to millions of Harry Potter fans.

The franchise developed further after the end of its protagonist’s adventures. The Wizarding World lives on in the Fantastic Beasts films, even though they do not achieve the expected success. Maybe a prequel with familiar characters is not always the best answer. A sequel to Harry Potter’s adventures could be a better idea.

Want a pick at what children of Potter and his friends are about now when they don’t have to fight Voldemort? The Wizarding World does not have to resemble a horror movie all the time.

Legacies, The Magicians, and Other Series

     Freeform

Let’s start with Motherland: Fort Salem. This series ends with a universal blast of a witch-bomb combined with the First Song that turns every human on earth into a witch. No more division into wizards and muggles, no more hate and envy. All are more or less equal. The Camarilla problem was solved, as was the issue of witch hanging widespread in early colonial North America. The Magicians, however, still hide in their elite Brakebills University, the same as witches, werewolves, and vampires of Legacies.

The title Motherland indicates that the witches have a matriarchal society because women wield the magic power through their songs. The creators of Fort Salem accomplished a “story rich with female empowerment,” as Freedom president Tom Ascheim said to Deadline. This social aspect is absent in The Magicians and Legacies. Although the Legacies lead role of Hope Mikaelson (Danielle Rose Russell), who is a vampire, witch, and werewolf, indicates that women are the main players in this series as well.

The CW canceled Legacies in 2022, ending the continuous narrative of the Vampire Diaries and the Originals. The Magicians came to a conclusive end in 2020 when the filmmakers played out all their cards: parallel universes, gods, demons, magic leaks, transformations, and golems. Motherland has been concluded in the last episode of the third season.

The best examples of magical movies of the new millennium focus on education for wizards. These films or series end as soon as the protagonists finish school or when magic gets out of school into the regular population. Emphasis on education arises from the target audience: the magic movies are made for young adults, whose main activity happens at school or college.

So, why this obsession with magic? Well, magic offers anything you want, including a different social structure. And digital effects make wizardly movies really spectacular. What more could you want?