There’s something undeniably magical about this time of year. It’s wintry and festive, inviting friends and family to gleefully sing holiday songs, gather for decadent feasts, revel in the enjoyment of hot beverages, observe long-held and deeply cherished traditions–and even start new ones. It’s a wonderful season, and we can’t help feeling there’s no time …read more!

Christmas Eve has arrived, and guest writer Dr Beatrice Groves (author of Literary Allusion in Harry Potter) returns to unpack more festive themes in the Potter series, including a new discovery of links to Rossetti’s A Christmas Carol, and an analysis of Hermione and Harry’s visit to Godric’s Hollow on Christmas Eve. Read Part 1 here.   Yesterday I argued …read more!

From Harry’s first Christmas at Hogwarts, to Hermione and Harry’s poignant scene in Godric’s Hollow on Christmas Eve, the Holidays are a huge part of the Harry Potter series. As December 25th approaches, guest writer Dr Beatrice Groves (author of Literary Allusion in Harry Potter) returns with an in-depth analysis of festive themes in the Potter series, to help …read more!

Leaky celebrated a few milestones of our own this week, as PotterCast – Leaky’s official podcast, hosted by Melissa, John and Frak – saw the release of four brand new House-themed logos, and a swanky new website! We also covered Arnaud Brisebois on visual effects wizardry in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, and the excellent …read more!

Today, producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender announced the new Broadway cast for the second run of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in New York’s Lyric Theatre. The cast are currently in rehearsals, and due to begin performances on March 20th 2019, following the final performance of the current cast (featuring many of the original core …read more!

PotterCast has been on a roll lately, publishing weekly episodes (it’s like the early 2000s!), Patreon perks, and today the team revealed not one but FOUR new logos, plus a brand new website! In episode 284, Alexa, What is Mr. Blood? John, Melissa and Frak take listeners back to early episodes back in 2006, question Newt’s global travels in the Fantastic Beasts series (and the …read more!

Up until now, most of the theorizing surrounding Credence Barebone has focused on his life up to the Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald storyline, culminating in the question of whether Grindelwald’s claim regarding his parentage is true. But, as we discussed in our feature on the identity of Aurelius Dumbledore, while fans are intensely …read more!

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has revealed shortlists of semifinalists in nine categories for the 2019 Oscars race and composer James Newton Howard’s spellbinding soundtrack for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is included on the list for Best Original Score. This is the first time in 40 years that shortlists have …read more!

We’re going to need something stronger than Mrs. Weasley’s household charms, useful and efficient as they may be, to unpack this suitcase.  The more we try to parse and puzzle out the questions raised by Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, the more questions we have.  In episode #283: The McGonagall of it all, PotterCast …read more!

Visual Effects have long been employed to bring the magic of the wizarding world to life on the silver screen and, as the years pass, the depth and breadth of what studios are able to accomplish becomes all the more impressive. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them garnered two Oscar nominations for efforts in …read more!