How The Magicians Turned Margo from Mean Girl to the Shows Best Character

Syfys adaptation of Lev GrossmansThe Magicians has never been overly concerned with hewing closely to its source material. The writers have always cherry-picked the book seriess best story lines, elided some of the rougher bits, and worked to balance the cast of characters into versions that might translate better on screen. One of the most immediate and superficial changes that book fans noticed back in Season 1 is a major name change; because there are lots of J-names in The Magicians (Julia Wicker, Jane Chatwin), the character of Janet became known as Margo. And as portrayed by actress Summer Bishil, Margo then became something extraordinary.

As the show moved further from its original binary leads—Quentin Coldwater and his childhood friend Julia—and became a true ensemble piece, Bishils Margo increasingly stepped up to shine. In the penultimate episode of Season 3, during an emotional story line that served as a fantasy reflection of our own 2016 election, Margo was crowned High King of the magical land of Fillory. Not bad for the snarkiest girl at Brakebills. On the eve of her characters coronation, Bishil spoke to Vanity Fair by phone about her character finally getting her due.

Though books often have room to go deeper than their filmed adaptations, the Magicians novels took their time getting to the heart of Janet/Margo—and still never managed to get as profoundly complex as Bishils portrayal. In the novels, her character is often left behind to manage things in Fillory while her friends go off adventuring; its not until midway through Book 3 that Grossman bothers to wonder whats beneath this girls snappy exterior. Even then, the answer is unsatisfactorily shallow. Her closest friend Eliot Waugh wonders:

For all the years of his life hed spent with Janet, hed never really known her, not deep down. Sometimes he looked at her and thought, “Gosh, I wonder whats underneath all that anger, all that hard glossy armor? Maybe theres just an innocent, wounded little girl in there who wants to come out and play and be loved and get happy.” But now he wondered if maybe that little girl was long gone, or if shed ever been there at all. What was under all that armor, all that anger? More anger, and more armor. Anger and armor, all the way down.

Bishil, however, has never once played Margo as simple as all that. Though she admits her character was firmly in a supporting role in Season 1, Bishil worked in concert with her most frequent scene partner, Hale Appleman (who plays Eliot), to prove that their hard-partying, quip-happy duo could be so much more. “I never really wanted her to feel like the typical mean girl,” Bishil explains. “I didnt want her to be a write-off, and I think she really could have been. I really worked hard with Hale to make sure there was something there that people would be able to connect to, outside of these amazing one-liners, but one-liners, nonetheless.” Their fierce, loving connection—which defied standard definitions of sex, romance, or friendship—quickly made them not only fan favorites, but a reliable emotional core for the show.

That Season 1 groundwork quickly paid off in Season 2, when Margo and Eliot assumed leadership of Fillory—but Bishil was certain, even then, that Margo hadnt achieved her full potential. The role of High Queen, conferred upon her by Eliot, was, in Bishils view, “an arbitrary, assigned power by her best friend, and it really didnt mean anything. Shes been desperate to have it mean something, and to attain power that is lasting and of consequence. She wants to matter.”

Margos ambition to invest herself in ruling Fillory earned her a cute little nickname from the writers in Season 2: “Fillory Clinton.” Eliot teased her with it once onscreen—but after Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, The Magicians writers, unsure whether it would be in good taste, were forced to edit out mentions of the nickname for the rest of the season. But they werent done with Margo and the Clinton parallels.

In this weeks episode titled, cutely, “The Fillorian Candidate,” Eliot attempts to win back the throne he lost earlier in the season by declaring an election for ruler of Fillory. The parallels to real-world American politics are not at all subtle—Eliot says his campaign promises dont have to be realistic or true, he just has to say them. But the most gut-wrenching moment comes when Eliot betrays three seasons of close friendship to tell Margo he doesnt want her on his election ticket. Fillory, he explains, is not ready for a female candidate or ruler. Thats a beat that would have stood out on its own merits, but lands with even more devastation for how both Appleman and Bishil play it out. As Bishil explains, when Margo “realizes her best friend isnt willing to go to bat for her as a woman, her best friend has betrayed her in the way that the world betrays her outside of Fillory.”

And heres where clever parallels to Clinton fall away, allowing Bishil to dive into the parallels between Margo as a character and her own experience as a woman of color in Hollywood. Bishil is of Mexican and Indian descent—an aspect she brings to Margo, who occasionally and casually laces conversation with Spanish phrases—and is very aware of her characters struggles as a woman of color. “She wants to attain power, and thats a hard, almost impossible road sometimes. I think of the ways were all seen, and were all finally talking about.”

Its fitting, then, that Margo should finally earn the recognition and power she craves all on her own, and without Eliots support, by giving voice to another even more marginalized population of Fillory. In a seemingly throwaway comedic bit earlier in the episode, Margo encounters a favorite character from the Magicians novels: Humbledrum the Bear. In the books, Humbledrum can speak for himself; the TV shows writers originally planned to include him way back in the Season 1 finale. But in the version that finally appeared in Season 3, its Margo who has to speak on the bears behalf and explain the nature of his relationship with Eliots (fake) daughter. That Humbledrum winds up being a very important member of a non-vocal majority, in addition to that moment of kindness from Margo, is what ultimately wins her the vote.

That is exactly the kind of silly-yet-profound move The Magicians would pull: bury a story about a disenfranchised majority into a little subplot about magical bestiality. Its very on brand for Margo, too, to support the bear (and, eventually, Abigail the Sloth and Sergio Osunas Rafe) without giving it a second thought. “Margo is a tolerant, open human being,” Bishil says, with evident affection for her fictional counterpart. “Ultimately, that served her in the best way possible when she wasnt looking and she wasnt really expecting it.” Perhaps potential U.S. candidates for the 2020 election can take note.

The Magicians pays off three seasons of Margo being underestimated when, in a twist no one saw coming, Margo wins a write-in campaign to be High King (not token Queen) of Fillory. Even Eliot, acknowledging his earlier mistake in not including her without overplaying it, bows down. “Its almost more important than magic,” Bishil says of Margos new role. “I think she understands that magic is a currency that she needs to have power and retain power, and thats what really means something to her, and is interesting to Margo as a young woman in politics. The politics of Fillory are very similar to a lot of third-world countries.”

That Margo achieved this remarkable emotional growth and ascent to power without a typical love interest, or sacrificing her edgy verbal prowess or killer style, is a testament to what The Magicians thinks young women—and specifically young women of color—can achieve in both Fillory and the real world. So maybe the better parallel for Margo is not Hillary Clinton, but young, outspoken, queer, Latinx Parkland activist Emma González, who comes with her own distinct, personal style.

Speaking of style, Margo got one more treat as she ascended her throne. Candis Caynes Queen of the Fairies returned the eye Margo lost last season—meaning weve seen the end of the parade of stylish patches Bishil wore throughout Season 3. Though the actress admits there were days when the patches were a pain (her preference was for the less elaborately decorated ones, which didnt irritate her over long hours of shooting), shes a little sad to see Margos most defining accessory go: “It was kind of bittersweet, to be honest. I thought Id be ripping it off, and jumping up and down. There definitely was that feeling, but there was also this kind of a feeling of loss. I really enjoyed last year.”

Whats next for High King Margo? Bishil wont tell. But as for that gender-defying title, she says this: “It doesnt really matter, as long as she is the one who now has a voice.”

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