New J.K. Rowling Stories Include History of Magic in America and Harry Potter’s Future

J.K. Rowling clearly isn’t using her $1B net worth to retire, or even slow down. The best-selling author of the Harry Potter series of novels has begun to release a series of short stories on her website Pottermore, to fill in details about the magical world in North America (and other magic hubs/schools we’ve not yet been introduced to). The stories make use of the mythical elements of Native American legend and the tragically real witch trials that took place in the early colonies. They also establish the existence of a “Magical Congress of the United States of America”.

The release is part of a build-up to the much anticipated movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them–the film adaptation of the book, which was a textbook given to the students of Hogwarts. Rowling actually wrote and published the “textbook” (under the pseudonym Newt Scamander) as an accompanying work in 2001. It was never intended to be developed into a film trilogy, but Warner Brothers approached her about it and she agreed to write a screenplay. It will be set 70 years before the events in the main Harry Potter series.