NBCUniversal acquires TV rights to Harry Potter

NBCUniversal has just nabbed up the TV rights for Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Remember last week when we got all aflutter when a Fantastic Beasts press release stated there was “much more” Wizarding World content coming? Well, consider us afluttered anew!

The Wall Street Journal reports today that NBCUniversal has made a seven-year deal with Warner Bros. for “the commercial television rights” of J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world franchises: Harry Potter and the planned Fantastic Beasts trilogy.

“NBC was willing to step up significantly to acquire the franchise,” said Warner Bros. president of worldwide television distribution Jeffrey Schlesinger. “It made sense to marshal all the assets we have.”

Not only does this mean NBCUniversal has the rights to air both Harry Potter and Fantastic beasts on television, but it also means the company can use the content at its Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme parks.

There is no talk of new content, however, so don’t get your hopes up — but hey, when we hear the words “television rights” and “Harry Potter” in the same sentence, we can’t not get excited! Plus, last week we heard that there is “much more on the horizon.”

After all, even if we don’t get that seven-season Harry Potter TV series reboot any time soon, there are so many stories left to tell in the Wizarding World, and considering that every other big movie franchise, from Marvel and DC to Star Wars, is getting TV series spinoffs… well, it’s not totally out of the realm of possibility, right?

For those of you who feel strongly about the annual Harry Potter weekends on Freeform (formerly ABC Family), we don’t know what’ll happen to these events going forward. According to WSJ, the films will primarily be airing on the USA and Syfy channels.

Source: Hypable