On May 22, 2025, Universal Studios opened its eagerly awaited Epic Universe park in Orlando, a new attraction guaranteed to dazzle and amaze! While the
existing park areas already have Harry Potter sections, the new Wizarding World at Epic Universe is its own dedicated trip into the universe of the Wizarding World. The tentpole attraction, for now, anyway, is the Battle of the Ministry, an adventure involving Dolores Umbridge’s escape on the day of her trial and her attempt, via Time-Turner, to change the past, but there is much more to the Wizarding World area.
Follow me after the jump for some links that will allow you to visit the park without leaving your home, and some thoughts on the other attractions to be experienced in this epic universe and beyond!
After the huge box office successes of the five films based on the Hunger Games novels by Suzanne Collins, it should come as no surprise that the Hollywood Gamemakers are already champing at the bit for their chance to bring Sunrise on the Reaping to the big screen. A release date for the film, in November of 2026, is already set, and, with the novel only out for a little over a month, casting rumors are beginning to coalesce into actual contracts. We now have actors in place for three characters, and the media response is lively, if often misguided. Join me after the jump for a few thoughts about the choices surrounding Hollywood’s choices for Haymitch, Lenore Dove Baird, and Maysilee Donner.
film deal is already cemented, and speculation is hot regarding casting and other decisions. But, readers and investors alike are already asking “will she or won’t she” regarding additional books. Earlier this week, our esteemed headmaster, John Granger, 
Those hopes have not been disappointed. In the coming weeks, with re-reads, I’ll be posting more thoughts from my scrappy district, home of rascals and jackasses alike. For my thoughts after a first read, I thought we’d focus on one of my favorite motifs from the original trilogy: plants, particularly those native to Appalachia, both now and in the distant dark future of Panem. Botanicals, both literal and symbolic, crop up all over the novel, and they are a particular favorite of mine, as I research and present historical programs on medicinal plants in particular. So let’s take a tiptoe through the garden. Beware: spoilers abound, so, if you haven’t finished your own first read, wait outside the gate.
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