Pottermore is dead, Wizarding World website comes to life

Once upon a time, Harry Potter was a story about a lonely boy who learned he was a wizard and the friends he made at school. Twenty-odd years on, it’s a massive multi-media franchise with spinoffs, theme parks, plays and towns that turn themselves into Harry Potter-themed wonderlands for the weekend.

On the web, fans had a home away from Hogwarts in Pottermore, the official website for the franchise, featuring news about the series, quizzes put together by J.K. Rowling herself, video, sneak peaks at future writing, you name it. But with the debut of the Fantastic Beasts movies, the franchise has outgrown it. A new website, Wizarding World, has now replaced it.

The new website will feature everything the old one did, plus more. “It’s like a more polished, shiny version of The Burrow,” reads the announcement. “[W]e’ve magically added a few extra floors to our house and thrown in some Extension Charms, brought over the content you know and love from Pottermore.com, and added some new, enhanced experiences.”

It goes on like that, with Harry Potter references dropping like…I don’t know, something that drops in Harry Potter. Broomsticks. Anyway, there’s also a new Sorting Hat ceremony, although you’ll have to make an account to be part of it. Do you need a quiz to tell you which house you belong in, anyway? You know you know.

So Rowling, Warner Bros. and company are clearly intent on including more things under the Harry Potter umbrella. Have they reached the point where they’re milking the franchise dry? The last Fantastic Beasts movie took a beating among audiences and critics both, but there are more to come. On Broadway, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is going strong, but tickets prices have been lowered pretty drastically to ensure that the house stays packed. (Might be a good time to get them if you have a mind, by the by.)

All in all, we’ve come a long way from when adorable moppets were pointing wands and playing the slapping game:

Pottermore is dead. Long live Wizarding World.

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h/t The A.V. Club