The Harry Potter saga concluded (on the big screen, at least) back in 2011, and in the years since, fans have been eager for anything and everything they could get their hands on in regards to the Boy Who Lived and the Wizarding world he inhabited. Unfortunately, though, there hasn’t been very much. Aside from a stage play and some supplementary books, the franchise has gone mostly quiet. There is Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, of course, but that series takes place long before Harry was born and for the most part, features brand new characters.
So, with Mr. Potter himself seemingly being left on the shelf for now, it’s up to fans to create their own content, and that’s exactly the reason why Voldemort: Origins of the Heir has come into existence. Headed up by Tryangle Films, the fan-made pic is looking to explore the backstory of the titular and iconic villain before he turned evil. It’s a superb idea, if we’re being honest, and one that, quite frankly, Warner Bros. has been foolish not to dive into.
In fact, the studio even tried to block this project from getting made, until eventually realizing that it was a story that needed to be told, giving Tryangle the green light to move forward with its crowdfunding plans. Now, the non-profit project is on its way and a new teaser trailer has been released online this week to generate some hype. Seen above, it charts the course of one Tom Marvolo Riddle, as he becomes the dark and evil wizard we all know him as today.
Though it obviously has nowhere near the budget that the Harry Potter movies had, what we see here actually looks quite impressive, with some great effects work and polished production design throughout that wouldn’t feel too out of place on the big screen. Unfortunately, this preview doesn’t give us a whole lot, but there’s more than enough here to pique our interest.
As far as the plot goes, as mentioned above, it explores the origins of the famous villain, though seems to be told through the eyes of a new character: a witch named Grisha Mac Laggen (heir to Gryffindor), “who suspects trouble when Hepzibah Smith (descendant of the ancient Hufflepuff family) was found murdered in her residence. The case goes cold, but Laggen feels that there’s something wrong, and she believes that Tom Marvolo Riddle is involved somehow.”
“We wondered, ‘What made Tom Riddle become Voldemort? What happened in those years, and what really went down at Hogwarts when he came back?’”director Gianmaria Pezzato said. “There are some clues in the books which have not been transposed at all in the movies, but a lot goes unspoken. This is the story we want to tell: The rise of the Dark Lord before Harry Potter and his first demise.”
Voldemort: The Origins of the Heir will be with us on January 13th, 2018.
