The Wizarding World franchise of author J.K. Rowling has found a new way to bring Harry Potter into fans’ homes.
A team of celebrities including Daniel Radcliffe, who played the boy wizard in the Harry Potter films, will be posting videos of themselves reading from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the first novel in Rowling’s fantasy book series.
Other stars slated to read chapters from the novel include Stephen Fry, who narrated the U.K. versions of the Harry Potter audio books; David Beckham; Dakota Fanning; Eddie Redmayne, who appeared in the Harry Potter spinoff film Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them; and Noma Dumezweni, a star of the Broadway play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
“Each will be reading different sections of this iconic book—with its themes of family, friendship, courage, and overcoming adversity—to families around the world,” the Wizarding World said on its website.
The video of Radcliffe reading the first chapter of Rowling’s novel is already up on the website, which also notes that audio-only versions of the readings will be available on Spotify for those who “fancy” it. (So get your tea and scones ready.)
“As the figurehead of the Harry Potter films for so many years, we hope you love watching this incredibly special video of Daniel revisiting Harry’s adventure—this time not on a film set, but through the pages of the first book,” the website said.
The videos are part of “Harry Potter at Home,” a project that Rowling and crew launched last month to provide content to young fantasy fans stuck at home during the quarantine.
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
