Wizards in New York

Does it make me a bad person that I am anxious for the wizarding world as it plans to re-locate to New York?

For booky types who have been inexplicably kept in the dark about JK Rowling’s latest escapades, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is the recently announced film-in-the-making, to be written by the incomparable Ms Rowling and based on her Potter spin-off ‘Hogwarts textbook’ of the same name. Set 70 years before the Potter stories in New York, this new story will focus on Newt Scamander, fictional author of the textbook.

Don’t get me wrong, 1920s New York is a fascinating place, and I trust J K’s vision, not to mention her love for her characters and the integrity of their world, but there is something deeply unsettling about the prospect of Americanising Potter and friends. The wizarding world belongs so deeply, so completely to the British culture – its environment, its psyche, its humour, history and mythology – that I really wonder if something precious and fragile is being exposed and potentially corrupted. Can the subtle quirkiness that we all love so much survive a culture transplant?

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them, by Newt Scamander