An upcoming fantasy novel, which started as a Harry Potter fanfiction, just landed a major movie deal.
Movies based on novels that began as fanfic have become an undeniable trend in Hollywood over the past few years, but, really, it started with T.L. James, who turned her Twilight fanfic into the best-selling Fifty Shades novels that inspired a movie series.
Since then, it’s become more common for some fanfic writers to take their story, remove the IP from it, and have it published as a novel. Likewise, Hollywood takes note of these cases to produce them as films. See the upcoming The Hypothesis of Love, for example, which was based on a Star Wars Rey-Kylo romance fic.
SenLinYu's Alchemised lands impressive movie deal
Now we can add Alchemised, an upcoming dark fantasy by author SenLinYu. The Hollywood Reporter shares that the novel, yet to be published, has been optioned by Legendary Films for a whopping $3 million. That puts it among the most expensive book-to-movie deals ever, not adjusted for inflation, more impressive given the novel isn’t even available yet.
“I’m honored by Legendary’s incredible enthusiasm for the project and can’t wait to see the world of Paladia come to life,” said SenLinYu in a statement. Alchemised has been included in multiple recommendation lists here at Winter is Coming, including our books to read in September 2025 roundup.
It’s an intriguing turn for a story that mixes two major literary/TV series together for a wild romance.
What is Alchemised about?
First published in 2018-19 (no longer available online), SenLinYu’s Mancled can best be described as a cross between Harry Potter and The Handmaid's Tale. It imagines that after the events of the fifth book, Harry is killed and Voldemort’s forces rule England. Herimone Granger spends years trapped with manacles preventing her magic until she’s used as a surrogate for Draco Malfoy. As Hermione tries to unlock missing memories, she finds herself growing closer to Draco.
The story has now been adapted to Alchemised, removing the Potter references while keeping to a tale involving necromancers and alchemists battling it out. Read the official synopsis:
"Once a promising alchemist, Helena Marino is now a prisoner—of war and of her own mind. Her Resistance friends and allies have been brutally murdered, her abilities suppressed, and the world she knew destroyed. In the aftermath of a long war, Paladia’s new ruling class of corrupt guild families and depraved necromancers whose vile, undead creatures helped bring about their victory, holds Helena captive. According to Resistance records, she was a healer of little importance within their ranks. But Helena has inexplicable memory loss of the months leading up to her capture, making her enemies wonder: Is she truly as insignificant as she appears, or are her lost memories hiding some vital piece of the Resistance’s final gambit? To uncover the memories buried deep within her mind, Helena is sent to the High Reeve, one of the most powerful and ruthless necromancers in this new world. Trapped on his crumbling estate, Helena’s fight—to protect her lost history and to preserve the last remaining shreds of her former self—is just beginning. For her prison and captor have secrets of their own . . . secrets Helena must unearth, whatever the cost."
The original fanfic has some remarkable numbers, as broken down by USA Today: "Nearly 16 million individual downloads of the author’s works; the 84,000 likes on Archive of Our Own, aka AO3, where it was first published in 2018; the 19 languages to which it’s been translated; the 71,000 ratings on Goodreads; the 470 million collective TikTok views."
This big news, of course, only adds to the hype of the Alchemised, which is set to debut on September 23. With a movie deal already set and the promise that this could be a new fantasy epic to get into, it’s another sign of how the world of fanfic may be the feeding ground for a new generation of fantasy writers.