EMILY GIBSON
Staff Writer
J.K Rowling announces plans to expand the wizarding world in new film.
“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say
that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last
people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious,
because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense.”
It’s been 16 years since those words were first published in J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” Since then, the seven-part Harry Potter series has resulted in eight films, a website, hundreds of conventions, and a theme park.
The phenomenon that is Harry Potter seemed to take over the world and the hearts of millions who wished they could attend the fictional wizarding school, Hogwarts.
When “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” film was released last year, Harry Potter fans tucked away their robes and hid their wands, thinking their time to pretend they were students alongside Harry Potter and his friends had come to a close.
However, on Sept. 12, Rowling announced plans to expand the Harry Potter film franchise and make her screenwriting debut.
Although the film will include the same customs and aspects of the world that fans got used to seeing in the Harry Potter series, Rowling has been adamant that she is not expanding the Harry Potter series, but rather extending the “wizarding world.”
The story will follow Newt Scamander, author of the Hogwarts textbook, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” which will also be the name of the film. It will take place in 1920s’ New York, nearly 70 years before the Harry Potter story begins in Surrey, England.
One of the things that made the Harry Potter series unique was the detail that author J.K. Rowling put into the magical universe where the characters lived. From Hogwarts to the shops on Diagon Alley and to Hogsmeade, Rowling fashioned herself an entirely new world, complete with sports teams, animals and objects.
The new film aims to flesh out the details of the fantastical world Rowling created in greater depth than ever before.
“I like the diversity,” said freshman Sydney Jones. “You get to see problems we have in our lives, like racism, but with goblins.”
Perhaps more exciting than the fact that a new film is being made is the fact that there are not a million
expectations and angry Potter fans queuing up to tear it down for not being faithful to the novels.
Since J.K Rowling is writing this novel based on the life of a character that was only referenced, the possibilities are nearly endless.
“I feel like people won’t have a chance to be disappointed, since people are always disappointed when the movies don’t follow the books,” said Jones.
Although Warner Brothers has announced the movie, no details have been released concerning director, production or release date. They have, however, succeeded in waking up the sleeping Harry Potter fandom.
“Anything extra Harry Potter is good,” said Jones. “I’m just excited that Harry Potter came back, so really anything extra is good.”
Although there are still many months until the movie is written, filmed, edited and produced, the oncoming storm of obsession is already evident in Potter fans around the nation.
