Hold onto your quidditch broomsticks, Harry Potter fans: J.K. Rowling, queen of all things magical and money-making, has announced that she's releasing a new series within her elaborate wizarding world this week titled Magic in North America.
The series will be released in four installments this week, and will be hosted on Pottermore.com, Rowling's digital publisher. The first installment will debut on Tuesday at 9am ET (squeal), with the following three released daily at the same time through the rest of the week.
The new series is a part a larger exploration by Rowling of the Harry Potter universe in the states. Pottermore announced the name of the North American school of wizarding (Ilvermorny) last month, and the trailer for the New York-based Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them dropped in December. The latter is set 70 years prior to the events of Harry Potter and tells the story of a wizard who brings a case of magical beasts to New York—and releases them.
According to the site, Magic in North America will explore the history leading up to the events of Fantastic Beasts, and will get fans "up to speed before the film comes around in November." So it's...homework?
In any case, the expanded HP universe should have American fans pretty stoked. After all, there was certainly a learning curve for Yankee children when trying to understand British references in the original series (we probably could have handled "Philosopher's", guys), and the new American series ought to keep questions like "What the hell does 'blimey' mean?" at bay.