The Biggest Rowling Stories of 2015

With 2015 drawing to a close, we go back and look at the ten biggest stories of the year from the world of J.K. Rowling and the Potterverse.

1. The Casual Vacancy on HBO/BBC: This year started off with Rowling’s other writing taking center stage, as her first adult novel The Causal Vacancy aired on BBC and HBO in February. Starring Michael Gambon (who played Dumbledore in the Potter series) and Emily Bevan, the televised version of Rowling’s book was a success for both networks.

2. Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them: In April, the production, which has been in development since 2013, announced that Eddie Redmayne had been tapped to star at Newt Scamader, the author of the textbook from which the movie gets its title. Filming began in August, and promotion and marketing for the film is already well underway, with the first trailer arriving only a couple of weeks ago. Fantastic Beasts is considered to be one of the most anticipated movie for the coming year when it arrives in November.

3. Harry Potter and The Cursed Child: In June, the “untitled Harry Potter stage project” got itself a name, a theater and a target for opening. Announced as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the project, which had been rumored since 2013 was confirmed as opening in the summer of 2016 at London’s Palace Theater. At first, it was denied that this would not be a direct sequel to the movies, but by October that had been proved false, when the synopsis confirmed that the “Cursed Child” was in fact Albus Severus Potter away at Hogwarts, and Harry Potter (and Hermione and Ron) would be major roles in the production, though now in their late 30s/early 40s.

4. J.K. Rowling on Twitter: Let’s let the lady speak for herself.

To quote the good Doctor, Good Old JK! Havign one Scotland’s Most Influential Author on Twitter for these and other amazing burns, let us hope she does slow her roll next year one bit.

5. New Wizarding World in Hollywood: Over the summer, Universal Studios announced that the long anticipated version of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, one of their biggest attractions in their Orlando theme park, would be opening in Hollywood come 2016. Confirmed to have a recreation not only of Diagon Alley but also of Hogwarts School of Magic, the park was announced in December to be opening this coming April.

6. Cormoran Strike coming to the BBC: In September, as part of the announcement for shows of 2016, the BBC announced they would be putting Rowling’s other-other adult novels, the Cormoran Strike series, written under the pen name Robert Galbaith, into production. The first two novels, The Cuckoo’s Calling and The Silkworn are already being written for the first two series. With pre-production looking promising, HBO is in talks to step in the same way they did with The Casual Vacancy and air it stateside in 2016.

7. Pottermore Redux Roll Out: For the hardcore Potterhead, Pottermore has long been a source of fun and gaming, stories and new content. But in September, with Fantastic Beasts filming underway, Pottermore rolled out and far more causal user friendly redesign, including a news page, a features page and first looks from behind the scenes for both Beasts and Cursed Child. It’s first feature however, was a glimpse into the Potter family past, going back through his genealogy all the way to Linfred of Stinchcombe, who was known as “The Potterer.”

8. Career of Evil: In October, Rowling made more Galbraith news by releasing the third novel in the Cormoran Strike series. Called Career of Evil, it hit the best seller list almost instantly. Though many reviewers noted that it had far more gore and blood than anything she’d written previously, that didn’t seem to stop the book from selling, or making many reader’s choice year end lists.

9. Cursed Child Casts a Hermione of Color: When it was announced earlier this month that Cursed Child has cast Noma Dumezweni as Hermione, it was like J.K. Rolwing showed she’d been listening to her fans. The concept of a black Hermione has been a tumblr meme for years, summed up in a Buzzfeed article that explained why it worked, including the fact that Rowling never explicitly states Hermione is white. Turns out Rowling loved the idea, and when given the chance to recast the role, she went for it. Personally, I ‘m more worried about her marriage to Ron being on the rocks, since Rowling admitted she never should have had the two characters marry…

10. Potter back in the Mainstream: For many of us, Potter never really left the mainstream, as we have carried the torch for this series since it arrived and will continue to carry it long after it finally stops producing new material. But for many 2015 was the year when Potter returned, with even Strictly Come Dancing filming part of their Christmas Special at the Hogwarts display at Warner Brothers Studio London. 2016 can only get better from here. Lumos Maxima!