This originally appeared on SYFYWire.com in December 2016

When we last left the Magicians, things looked bleak. We were in Fillory, and everyone was dead. Well, Alice was dead, Margo and Eliot were dead, Penny appeared to be dead and without his hands. And Julia had disappeared with the Beast, hell-bent on getting revenge against the Fox for raping her. Only Quentin was left untouched, surrounded by blood and death, with a "what the hell just happened?" look on his face.

It is just before Halloween when I go up to Vancouver to visit the set of The Magicians and interview the surviving Magicians - in other words, all of them. I don't think it's much of a spoiler to tell you that everyone returns in season two. With a show like this, there are a million ways that dead characters could return. They are shooting one of the final episodes of season two, and it rains the entire 18 hours I am in Canada. It seems eerily appropriate because the scene they are shooting today involves a magic storm. Since I can't tell you anything else I saw that day, what can I tell you about season two?

For one thing, we spend a lot more time in Fillory. The season opens right where season one left off, with the bloodshed in Fillory. Alice, still filled with god-like powers after drinking Ember's... special elixir, manages to revive her friends. That "morphs into something a little different as the season goes on," Olivia Taylor Dudley (Alice) tells me. She says that Alice doesn't spend a lot of time in Fillory, but she goes "in and out." Most of our time in Fillory is focused around Eliot, who takes the throne, and Margo, who helps him rule.

"I'm assuming this season takes a few years off of Eliot's life," Hale Appleman (Eliot) says, referencing the stress that ruling a kingdom takes on him. "Eliot is really missing his old life. This persona he has constructed at Brakebills doesn't really apply to the kingdom of Fillory, so he tries to kind of 'form-fit' it, make it feel like he can utilize that persona in this world. It's hard, and it doesn't really work. His old methods are not really dependable here. He's reinventing himself a little bit. There's a real evolution that is happening with him, about assuming responsibility and becoming a man, and not being able to write-off adulthood."

In a moment of panic, Margo finds a way to get Eliot back to Brakebills for a little R&R, "and some help, because he is really struggling," Appleman admits. He asks Dean Fogg how to rule a magical kingdom. "The dean is useless as always!" exclaims Appleman. He tells me the scene is meant to be comical, with the dean not understanding what Eliot really needs - he thinks that Eliot is coming on to him. Rick Worthy (Dean Fogg) tells me that his character does not get to experience Fillory. "I would like to be in Fillory - who wouldn't?" he asks.

"For the dean, he's a self-taught magician, practicing since he was four years old. He's a powerful magician. We haven't really seen him do a lot, but he CAN do a lot. He can do more than [the students] can do. But now they can do things he can't do. They have Fillorian skills." Worthy seems a bit wistful about the students surpassing the master. "It's a sort of role-reversal," Worthy explains, "because in the pilot, [executive producer] Sera [Gamble] told me I was the epitome of Brakebills. I am the walking embodiment of Brakebills itself. Now, after the Beast attack, everything is starting to slip away from him. [The students] are taking a lead with what they can do in Fillory. I think that's a really cool switch. I can't wait to see how that plays out."

"Fillory really is a huge character this year. It's been amazing to play in that world," enthuses Summer Bishil (Margo). "The throne room is pretty mind-blowing. The physical cottage was amazing, but this is just on a larger scale. The majority of this season, my work took place in the throne room, and it really did a lot to create the feeling that you were somewhere ancient, somewhere unpredictable. I think, to me, that's what Fillory is." Eliot tries to take a "measured, intelligent approach" to ruling, while Margo prefers to rule with an iron fist. They must grow up this season. Time to put away childish things like partying, drinking, and casual sex. They have to deal with practical, "adult" issues like bankruptcy and class struggles. "They don't have the emotional tools, the intellectual tools yet," Bishil admits. "On top of all those real-world issues, there are magical issues! So then they have to figure out a way to fast-track their growth as magicians."

Magical issues weigh heavily this season. The Wellspring, the source of all magic, has been tainted and is depleted, which causes ramification everywhere - both in Fillory and Earth. "What once grew magically - all the crops and food sources - are now depleted and unable to produce," Appleman explains. "So Eliot is burdened with having to figure out how to save the people of Fillory." Dudley thinks of Fillory as an "intoxicating place" because nothing like it has ever existed, but points out that it can quickly become old. Jason Ralph (Quentin) doesn't see that as bad; he sees it as normal. "That's what is so disappointing. There are government issues, and issues with money, and wars. All the same kinds of problems we have here, that we were hoping to escape through fantasy still exist in Fillory, and that's one of the major confrontations of this season: there is no escape from your problems."

Everyone's relationships are in flux when we return. As Ralph describes Quentin and Alice's relationship, "The Facebook status is complicated." Dudley expands on this a bit: "No matter how hard they don't want to be around one another, they can't stop being a part of each other's lives. Alice and Quentin are still... managing." Penny and Kady's relationship is non-existent. "I can say that they do see each other again, but [not] in what context," says Jade Tailor (Kady). "I'm really excited for the audience to see their now-journey and what that means. I don't think they have a normal relationship in general. There is a lot of resentment built up from Kady leaving, so you get to see how that has really affected them." Only Eliot and Margo's relationship has any semblance of normalcy. "It's truly a soul connection of two people that are meant to occupy much of the same space, much of their lives," says Appleman of Eliot and Margo's relationship. "It is complex and layered and deep, sometimes friendship, sometimes romantic, fraught with all the complexities of your nearest and dearest."

And what about Penny? Arjun Gupta (Penny) says that, while he interacts with the other characters, most of his story is his alone. Penny is still struggling to decide whether or not he actually wants to be a magician. Gupta says his amputated hands "encapsulate Penny's storyline for the whole season." "Does Penny want magic? I mean, he wants his hands back, but does hewant magic? Those are the conduit for magic. It brings up that choice: whether or not to pursue it." Gupta confesses that later on in the season, we learn that there are "other conduits" for magic.

Despite being "locked into" his own story this season, Penny does get to explore other relationships this season, including a deeper relationship with Margo and a couple scenes with Eliot. "One of my favorite relationships is between Penny and Quentin," says Gupta. "There is a deepening of that relationship, in all the ways you would hope. A lot of clowning, a lot of ribbing, a lot of hatred, too. They will go through some really big shit in the first few episodes. It is cementing a bond that neither of them really wants, but are starting to accept exists."

The Beast is still on the loose. Four of our heroes are now royalty in a fantasy land. We get to visit various other worlds. The Fox returns at some point. Penny's hands are not currently connected to his body. There is a heist to look forward to. And what was that magical storm I saw on a Canadian farm that was substituting as pastoral France? We will have to wait until January 25th to find out where the next chapter of The Magicians will take us!