The search for the next Harry Potter was an industry sentiment that pervaded in the early 2010s. However, time and the ongoing controversy surrounding author J.K. Rowling have diminished this supposed gap in pop culture. Now, British fantasy author Katherine Rundell’s recent children’s series Impossible Creatures could become just that with a seven-figure Disney movie deal.

Disney has announced today (October 7) that the company has won the rights to adapt Rundell’s Impossible Creatures books in a seven-figure deal. Rundell’s Impossible Creatures was published in 2023, and The Poison King followed this year; the author is planning on there being five books. Rundell is adapting these two books into movie screenplays herself.

Impossible Creatures follows Christopher, a boy who discovers the hidden magical world of the Gilmouria Archipelago, a string of unmapped islands where all kinds of magical creatures live. There, he meets Mal and sets out on a quest with her to discover what it is that is causing the islands’ magic to fade, killing the creatures who live there.

Rundell, a Fellow of St Catherine’s College and quondam fellow of Fellow of All Souls College (both at Oxford), has been in talks with studios such as Warner Bros. and Netflix since the release of the second book, when she confirmed that she was looking to sign a movie deal for her work, which is “hailed critically for its cracking dialogue.“

Rundell is also the first U.K. children’s author to reach No. 1 on the children’s book charts in both the U.K. and the U.S. at the same time since Rowling. The Impossible Creatures books have sold more than four million copies worldwide. Thus, it makes sense that the biggest players in the movie industry see the lucrative potential of the series.

Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger in a statement following the deal being struck:

When I read Impossible Creatures, I knew it belonged here at Disney. I was immediately drawn into the vibrant world Katherine imagined and the possibilities of what we could do together with this story. Written by Katherine herself, these movies are in the best of hands with our Walt Disney Studios team, and I can’t wait to see this tale brought to the screen.

Disney will thus be collaborating with Impossible Films, the production company of Rundell and her creative partner Charles Collier. Rundell also released her own statement, saying:

I’m absolutely thrilled to be linking arms with Disney. It’s a privilege to be writing these screenplays and developing these first movies in the franchise together with Charles, my team at Impossible Films, and with the exceptional team at Disney. I’m especially grateful to Bob Iger, whose enthusiasm after reading the book helped set this collaboration in motion, and to Alan Bergman and David Greenbaum for being incredible partners throughout this process. Our ambition is to build Glimouria and Impossible Creatures into a spectacular series of films, so that we can entertain and inspire family audiences across the world.

Clearly, Disney is hoping that its Impossible Creatures venture will go beyond the first two movies, perhaps reaching the heights of success the Harry Potter franchise saw in its heyday. Rundell is also planning to write spinoffs in addition to the initial five-book saga, making this an investment in a possible fantasy cinematic universe.

However, there is also the important argument that pop culture doesn’t need another Harry Potter and should be looking to tell new stories. Impossible Creatures may fulfill a demand for a particular kind of fantasy. Yet Disney also needs to explore what makes the story unique, to create a valuable fantasy series that further evolves our understanding of what the genre can be.