First Edition Philosopher’s Stone Rescued from Rubbish Bin in UK
Warner Bros Adapting ‘Christmas Pig:’ Will It Become Rowling’s Best Loved Book? A Second ‘Christmas Carol’?
Picture from The Rowling Library article, ‘Warner Bros. will produce animated film adaptation for The Christmas Pig,’ 9 December 2024
Three quick thoughts about The Christmas Pig being made into an animated movie, I assume for release at Christmas time this year or next:
(1) It’s Happening. See The Rowling Library article linked above from last December that has the details that are known and rumored about this project. Probably the most important note in it was “Tom Edge, who has previously adapted the Cormoran Strike novels for the BBC, will be responsible for the screenplay adaptation.” Edge clearly has a working relationship with Rowling, so, whatever your thoughts about the teevee adaptations of the Strike-Ellacott novels, we can at least be sure that the animated movie won’t be unrecognizable from the remarkable book.
(2) This Is A Big Deal. We’ve written a lot about The Christmas Pig here at Hogwarts Professor; see ‘Hogwarts Professor Christmas Pig Posts‘ for a one-stop collection of links to articles by Evan Willis, Bea Groves, Elizabeth Baird-Hardy, Nick Jeffery, and myself, work that includes a ‘Rowling Studies’ podcast. If you listen to that conversation, you’ll hear Nick and me argue from contrary starting points — he’s in the Lake, I am in the Shed, as usual — that Christmas Pig is arguably Rowling’s finest work.
It certainly is the shortest show-piece of every signature Rowling point of artistry to be found between two covers: alchemy, ring composition, Christian symbolism, Divine Mother, revelation of the “Real,” you know it, Christmas Pig has got it. I suspect it will be read in future generations as the “representative” work that English students must read for the ‘Age of Rowling’ or ‘Early 21st Century Postmodern Writers’ the way that A Tale of Two Cities is for Dickens, though it is perhaps the least Dickensian of his usually much longer stories.
This animated production is a big deal because Christmas Pig has largely fallen off the radar of even the most serious among Rowling readers. A cartoon version, if it is well done, will bring millions of new readers to the story — and will do so every year there is a Christmas as the film moves to streaming services, television, DVD, airplanes, etc. A Warner Bros/Discovery production of Christmas Pig has the potential, I think, to make Rowling’s shortest stand-alone book the one future generations will think of when they hear her name. Yes, even more than Harry Potter.
(3) Rowling’s Intentional Legacy? Imagine for a moment that Rowling is as savvy, as well read, and as, well, Machiavellian as her brilliant character, Hermione Granger. She’s well aware of English literary history, a big fan of Charles Dickens, and well aware of how readers understand great writers of the past (whence her guiding critical biographers with her repeated ‘Lake and Shed’ comments about how she writes). Is it possible that she wrote Christmas Pig in an attempt not only to one up Dickens’ life-changing Christmas Carol, a story that saved his career at a near nadir of his life, but also to mimic what Carol has meant for Dickens’ legacy?
I know that discussing an author’s intention without his or her expressed intention being known is to forever chase one own’s tail (see Michael Ward’s brilliant Planet Narnia that has this problem as its most notable fault). I’m aware, too, that Rowling is disdainful, at least on Twixter, of those who think about how they will be remembered after they are dead.
I bring up this possibility nonetheless because I can see Rowling’s Christmas Pig becoming her Christmas Carol, even Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
The best-selling English novel of all time? Tale of Two Cities. As noted above, though not really representative as a Dickens novel, as the shortest of his books, it is read by almost every secondary school student in English speaking countries or was read by students for almost two centuries. But what is the most well-known and loved piece by Charles Dickens? His Christmas Carol.
The most watched television show of all time, too, is a Christmas special, the stop-motion animated version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. According to Rick GoldSchmidt, author of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer: The Making of the Rankin/Bass Holiday Classic, “Premiering on NBC December 6th, 1964, Rudolph has become the longest running, highest rated television special in the history of the medium.” See Ronald Lankford’s Rudolph: An American Hero for a much more comprehensive history of the show and my Harry Potter’s Bookshelf for a postmodern reading of the show and its relevance to the Hogwarts Saga.
I think it’s possible that Rowling poured herself into a Christmas tale the way she did with Christmas Pig to create a 21st Century Rudolph and Christmas Carol. Not probable, but possible! And, as noted, whether this was her plan or not, I’m sure it is the hope of Warner Bros/Discovery that this property turns into a perennial favorite, a touchstone of holiday viewing everywhere for years to come.
For my Perennialist notes about Christmas Pig, taken in large part from my PhD thesis in which Pig, Troubled Blood, and Deathly Hallows were the focus of my critical efforts, all the links are available after the jump. Enjoy!
A Story Book to Change a Child’s Life
It has been almost three weeks since ‘Christmas Day’ and maybe you wonder if the presents you bought your children and young friends have already been forgotten.
Sadly, they probably have. The impact or ‘Wow’ element of most gifts for those under ten fades pretty quickly.
I recently learned about a new company online, ProtagonistBook.com, that creates gifts that will almost certainly never be forgotten, which is to say, “always be treasured.”
The owner, founder, and principal of the business has a profound appreciation of story, especially the Harry Potter novels, the Redwall series, and the Chronicles of Narnia. It shows.
I asked him for a description of Protagonist to share with you and this is what he sent:
Every parent, grandparent, god-parent, aunt or uncle wants to avoid getting their special young person a forgettable, boring gift. But finding a unique, personalized present for your child is time consuming and difficult.
PROTAGONIST makes finding an unforgettable gift for birthdays and holidays quick and easy. We write and illustrate uniquely crafted children’s books with your child as the main character — writing and drawing the gift recipient into a personalized, original adventure.
Then we publish and mail it straight to your door.
What we need from you are specifics about your child-hero or heroine, a physical and character description of the loved one you want this unique gift for. After that, you make a few choices.
You choose your book’s length at our website and fill out a story sheet specifying the adventure you want for your child; you choose the genre and setting of the story, and the number and style of hand-drawn illustrations you want. We take it from there.
Go to protagonistbook.com and order your child an unforgettable gift he or she will treasure forever, one that forever added an exciting dimension to reading a story.
I have read six of these books, two of which involved young people I know (ages three and four). They’re a delight. The parents of one and the grandparents of the other I know love reading their child’s story aloud, which is a good thing because the two boys want it read to them again and again.
There is no AI involved in the story writing or in the illustrations within or the cover. There is, consequently, some real time involved so pass this on to friends and family you think might be interested and get your own order in early.
You can read more about the founder and chief writer at ProtagonistBook.com and subscribe to his “Storyletter,” a free biweekly newsletter featuring installments of original short stories and news of his ongoing adventures in the publishing world, here.
Rowling’s Husband Profiled in Daily Mail
I suspect most readers will consider this story click-bait about a click-bait story in the UK Daily Mail.
I’m not sure we really do click-bait stories, if ‘Black Severus’ pieces or posts about the Hallmarked Man publication date would qualify (they draw a lot more readers than, say, Pregnancy Trap deep dives).
But, if we did, I could justify this three-point discussion of the Daily Mail profile of Dr Neil Murray, husband of Joanne Murray, aka ‘J. K. Rowling’ and ‘Robert Galbraith,’ her writing pseudonyms. It fits right into our ‘Lake and Shed’ Fourth Generation focus here at Hogwarts Professor.
My three points are that the article involved more than just a Google search, that it still missed quite a bit, and that it’s importance has little to do what it reported and failed to report.
(1) Not Bad! The article covers almost everything a Google search will reveal — all the information touching on his famous wife — and includes one point that I had only heard from Nick Jeffery in private conversation:
In 2011 he was working as a GP in Ormiston, on the outskirts of Edinburgh, where practice documents noted his interests: ‘Pain management (including acupuncture), dermatology (skin problems), homeopathy and drug misuse management.’
That involved no little digging, so it’s worth a read. Again, here’s the link.
(2) Whoops! Having acknowledged the article wasn’t written in half an hour, I am obliged to note there are notable pieces missing. Three come to mind and I suspect there are many more. Rowling has said, for example, that her husband was raised in a strict Protestant sect in which dancing was not allowed. No mention of that or of his mother Barbara, to whom Troubled Blood is dedicated and who seems a fascinating character: “demon bridge-player and world’s best mother-in-law.” A weird person to leave out of a profile, right? (None of the book dedications or ‘Acknowledgments’ to her husband are mentioned.)
The biggest omission, though, is that the reporter failed to mention Dr Murray’s twixter page, @Slowfinger45, aka ‘Dr Slowfinger.’ Just reading his subtext — “Better to walk alone than with the crowd in the wrong direction. Biology is real. Sex matters, and so does Evidence based Medicine” — would have raised two important question for readers. The good doctor’s interest in acupuncture and homeopathy mentioned above for one thing is unusually broad minded for someone waving the flag for “Evidence based Medicine,” and, for another, Mrs Murray’s resistance to “transgender” activists is not just a view the two share but one which may have its point of origin in her spouse’s professional opinion and experiences as a doctor.
(3) So What? The reason I think this story is of interest to serious readers of Rowling-Galbraith does not spring from its proficiencies and deficiencies as a work of journalism. It’s a ho-hum profile. I write about it because, at long last, even the tabloid press is realizing that J. K. Rowling, uber-author and political activist, is a human being with a background and influential relationships past and present that color what she thinks and writes.
I ‘get’ that the Daily Mail staff writer was probably assigned this story because they must have a new Rowling story twice a month and January has been slow so far on the Twixter end. Her name has to be in competition with the Kardashian Krew for most effective click-bait.
Even allowing for that, however, we’re seeing a drift into the realm of “critical biography” concerns in the public media that we haven’t had before via this profile of Dr Murray, weak as it is. I expect sooner than later better papers will begin to connect the dots between the Murray’s extraordinary marriage in light of gender roles and relative prominence, as we have here, and the theme of vocation vs relationship that dominates the Strike-Ellacott relationship and which is reflected in the “gender identity” controversy and Mrs Murray’s role in it.
The problem is that the reporter who worked on this piece knows relatively little about her work post Potter and is oblivious to its relevance consequently. I hope that soon the legacy media will become aware and realize the importance of Rowling’s repeated discussion of her ‘Lake and Shed’ metaphor for how she writes — and get to work chasing down the unresolved issues in her life or just finding ‘Michael.’
Until they wake up to those far more interesting aspects of the good doctor Murray and of the seeming dea ex machina Rowling-Galbraith (Bea Groves’ discussion of the meaning of ‘Galbraith’ would be a good place to start, I think), we’re left with the encouraging interest in her personal life. Why none of them have gone to Tutshill, Exeter, Manchester, or Porto to get that story I confess to not understanding — but I’ll take this Daily Mail article as an indicator that we’re moving toward a big reveal of her past in due time.
Conflicting Casting Commitments from HBO+ About Harry Potter TV Adaptation
Angie wrote in the comment thread beneath a ‘Black Severus’ post that, if true, the decision to cast Paapa Essiedu as the Hogwarts Potions Master contradicted a commitment made by the production team to be true to the books:
the director/producer stated at a presentation in December that they were Committed to getting top tier British acting talent that FOLLOWED THE BOOKS CANONICAL DESCRIPTIONS OF THE CHARACTERS. Snape is clearly described in the books as a pale, pallid, sallow skinned man with greasy black hair that went to his shoulders, gauntness, uneven yellow teeth, a prominent hooked nose, and black piercing eyes with an intimidating gaze. 83 times throughout the books was he described in some fashion and this man has NONE of those characteristics.
The relevant passage in the ProductionList.com article to which Angie shared a link is:
At a recent Max 2025 slate presentation, showrunner Francesca Gardiner and director/executive producer Mark Mylod shared key updates. Casting is underway, with an impressive 32,000 young actors auditioning for roles, including the iconic Harry Potter. Mylod emphasized the commitment to finding top-tier British acting talent, following the books’ canonical descriptions of the characters. Casting workshops with a shortlist will begin in January, with roles such as Professor Snape, Lily, and James Potter receiving special attention to ensure accuracy in age and character portrayal. [highlighting added]
Angie — and I assume other serious readers as well — hope that this commitment means the Paapa Essiedu rumor “was just ‘reported’ as a sick joke only to start discourse within the community,” i.e., to gin up interest in the new series of shows based on the books.
I would go with “industry standard marketing maneuver” rather than “sick joke,” but I see Angie’s post (and have come to a similar conclusion about the rumors in recent weeks).
I reviewed some of the casting call materials, though, today and I think Angie is wrong to think that Mark Mylod, whatever his preferences and position may be, was speaking for HBO+ or Bronte Studios in making a commitment to follow “the books canonical descriptions.” The casting calls that have yielded 32,000 sets of audition tapes explicitly opened the doors to actors and actresses wanting to play Harry, Ron, or Hermione who did not look like the characters in the novels or the film adaptations. From Deadline‘s ‘Inside HBO’s Harry Potter Sorting Hat:’
The process to find the Boy Who Lived and his two best friends had been running for months prior to Gardiner’s revelation, following a much-publicized open callout published by the show’s casting director Lucy Bevan, which asked for children aged between nine and 11 as of April 2025 who are residents of the UK and Ireland. The call specified a commitment to “inclusive, diverse casting” and asked that, for each role, agents “submit qualified performers, without regard to ethnicity, sex, disability, race, sexual orientation and gender identity.” The initial round asked candidates to submit two videos, one performing a short story or poem and the second asking them to talk about themselves as well as “a family member, friend or pet that you are particularly close to.”
That “commitment,” of course, contradicts the commitment to conform to “the canonical depiction of characters.” And, forgive me, I have to think the DEI commitment made explicitly before the casting call that yielded the 32,000+ responses has to trump the after-the-fact commitment of the executive producer. The child actor playing Harry Potter, then, could be Asian or Italian, a woman or non-binary, ADHD afflicted or without a leg, red or black, autoromatic, and “transgender,” though the author holds that there are no “trans kids.”
The HBO+ CEO made a soft commitment, too, in recent months to a filming schedule that will begin this summer and to a premiere in February 2027. As I wrote yesterday, I don’t think those commitments are ones to take very seriously — and I’ll say here that anyone who thinks Mylod’s “commitment” to faithfully following the written work with respect to casting characters is writ in stone is setting his or herself up for a real disappointment.
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