From Harry Potter to the Wizarding World: The Transfiguration of a Franchise

The Harry Potter franchise is not confined to just the page or the screen, but has been and continues to be reimagined and reconfigured through a number of extratextual products, texts, and experiences which surround and rework the Harry Potter texts. This book centres around the 2010s, or the ‘post-Potter era’, a period of unprecedented growth and reinvention for the franchise. Many of the franchising developments produced during this time operated according to distinct strategies: to consolidate the legacy of the Harry Potter series, or to extend the fictional universe into new settings, media and cultural forms. This book explores six such developments - J.K. Rowling’s authorship, the website Pottermore, the ‘Wizarding World of Harry Potter’ theme parks, the Warner Bros. Studio Tour in Watford, the Fantastic Beasts films, and the stageplay Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – to shine a spotlight on a franchise in flux.