Harry Potter

Got $1.3 million in golden galleons burning a hole in your pocket?

Twenty years ago today one woman introduced the world to one of the most imaginative stories of all time. The Boy Who Lived was summoned into existence by J.K. Rowling when Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone first hit shelves in 1997, inciting an international fandom among both kids and adults that remains as active as ever today. So how do you go about celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Potter-verse?

Two decades ago, could any of us have predicted the future that awaited Harry Potter? One massively successful book expanded to seven, which begat a theme park, a universe’s worth of merchandising, eight films, a play, and a new tangentially related franchise. And for those fans who still want more Potter, there is Pottermore.

J.K. Rowling is a pretty gracious woman. Beyond giving us the Wizarding World, regularly answering Harry Potter fan questions on Twitter, and annually apologizing for character deaths, she also gives back a little. In 2008, the author wrote an idea for a Potter prequel and auctioned it off to raise funds for a literacy charity. Now someone has stolen that rare prequel, because the world is full of ungrateful muggles.

J.K. Rowling, otherwise known as the lady who wrote those books about the wizard school, has an annual tradition, started in 2015, where she apologizes for a particularly unjust death that has saddened die-hard Harry Potter fans. 2015’s apology was for Fred Weasley, one half of the Weasley twins duo that throughout the series had seemed to be inseparable. Last year’s apology was for Remus Lupin, the werewolf and one-time Defense Against the Dark Arts professor who’d ended up a close ally and friend of Harry’s. Both deaths were tragic, and yet fit with Potter’s theme of victory through self-sacrifice. The apologies both garnered mournful tweets from fans who talked about what great characters they were, and how they miss them. This year’s apology, however, split the fandom right down the middle.

Hearts broke across the world for Harry Potter fans when Richard Harris died in 2002. Warner Bros. was only two movies deep into the eight-film franchise and they’d already lost the perfect Dumbledore. The British actor embodied J.K. Rowling’s beloved character in every way, from his patient and wise demeanor to his half-moon spectacles and long white beard. Then Michael Gambon took over as the Hogwarts headmaster and infamously displeased many fans. (For the record, I still loved Gambon’s Dumbledore so there’s a hot take for ya.) But what if the man behind another iconic wizard had taken over for Harris instead?

Quick, name the quirkiest character Jim Broadbent has played. Are you thinking of his plastic surgeon in Brazil? Or maybe his zany Moulin Rouge! owner. What about his tiny red-haired thief in The Borrowers? But don’t forget all four of his characters in Cloud Atlas. Few actors have a resume as varied as Broadbent’s, who’s worked with everyone from Martin Scorsese to multiple collaborations with Mike Leigh.

While not exactly a household name, Jason Isaacs has very quietly put together an impressive resume of villains over his 30 years in Hollywood. Anyone who was in high school in the late ’90s will remember him from Mel Gibson’s The Patriot  —  I can’t possibly be the only person who had a lazy substitute history teacher, right?  —  but he’s also worked regularly in film and television, from frequent collaborations with Resident Evil director Paul W.S. Anderson to his most memorable role in the Harry Potter franchise. Often evil, always great.

Stocks in magic are down. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was less than fantastic (hey-o), the much-touted stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child won’t come to Broadway for months, and we can assume that the constant onslaught that was 2016 sapped many children of their belief in the wonder of magic. The Harry Potter-industrial complex needs a shot in the arm, and head honchos over at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park may have just the thing to inspire a little excitement.

As limey wizard Newt Scamander continues to traipse about America’s magical underground at the cinema with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, another enchanted British import prepares to cross the Atlantic. Just because mega-selling novels have long since ended, the Harry Potter business hasn’t stopped booming, and its latest gold mine is the stage show Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The production has routinely sold out showings at the Palace Theatre in London’s storied West End, and the producers are now gearing up to bring the play stateside in the hopes that their fabulous success will follow them to the Great White Way.