Look, we’ve nothing against J.K. Rowling. We love Harry Potter and are glad to see the saga continue. But this is just essentially capitalisation of a reliable product, and there’s something a tad disconcerting about that.

The author behind the world’s most famous wizard, Rowling, announced the news yesterday. Originally, the franchise was going to consist of three films (which for a book about magical creatures with no actual plot was fairly expansive as it was).

‘We set a trilogy as a placeholder because we knew there would be more than one movie, but ... we're pretty sure it's going to be five movies,’ Rowling told participants in London gathered for a global fan event broadcast across the world.

She also indicated that all of the films – including the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them film released this November – will feature a young Albus Dumbledore and his nemesis, the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald. They thus act as prequels to the Harry Potter series.

Rowling has previously said that Dumbledore is gay, and in love with Grindelwald. They had a complex relationship as Grindelwald did not feel the same way, but the two remained friends from boyhood until Grindelwald fell to the forces of evil. The two eventually duelled in 1945.

Fans of Rowling’s wizarding universe were delighted at the news, and as long as they don’t overdo the tie-ins to Harry Potter, as previous prequel series have done (we’re looking at you, The Hobbit), this could work rather nicely as our new favourite fantasy film series.