Starz Renews ‘Magic City’ For Season 2

Starz has done it again — renewing a series before its premiere. The pay cable network has given a second-season pickup to period drama Magic City ahead of its April 6 debut. Word is Starz brass feel good about the series and it’s already been pre-sold into 70 territories internationally, making it a lucrative property for the network. Last fall, Starz renewed drama series Boss for a second season three weeks before the series’ debut. The network has done the same with its flagship drama Spartacus, which received second- and third-season pickups ahead of the series and second-season premieres, respectively.

Magic City examines the collision of mobsters, politicians and entertainers at a posh Miami hotel just as Fidel Castro takes control of Cuba and shuts down Havana as a gambling haven. It stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan as a hotelier and family man with ties to the mob. Co-starring are Olga Kurylenko as his wife and Danny Huston as a mob boss. Magic City was created by Mitch Glazer, who is executive producing with Geyer Kosinski. Starz is giving Magic City a major promotional push: The pilot episode will get a preview after the season finale of Spartacus: Vengeance on March 30. That will be followed by a massive sampling campaign, with the series’ first three episodes made available to some 76 million viewers on a variety of platforms.

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