I was fourteen when I started writing fanfic in the Marauder world alongside 4 other friends. My favourite character was, and always will be, Sirius, but I loved me a good James obsessed with Lily storyline too. This means I read half a million words of Marauders fanfic during what should have been GCSE revision season, cried over Sirius Black at least four separate times in one sitting, and then went to school the next day like a completely normal person who had definitely been studying.
So when I tell you that All The Young Dudes is getting a publishing deal — a seven-figure publishing deal — I need you to understand that this is the holy grail for me. The more Marauder books, the better.
Yes. This is my teenage years being validated by the London Book Fair in a way I did not anticipate on a Monday afternoon.
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Takeaways
- Wolf Boy is a commercial novel adapted from All The Young Dudes (ATYD), the Marauders fanfic by MsKingBean89 — it’s in a major auction at London Book Fair right now with seven-figure offers reported
- It strips out the Harry Potter IP and reimagines the emotional core as original fantasy — more than just a name swap, apparently
- The agent is Veronique Baxter at David Higham Associates; no final publisher confirmed yet
- This sits alongside Alchemised (adapted from Manacled) in what is rapidly becoming a legitimate fanfic-to-trad pipeline
- There is a real concern that big money deals will spook IP holders into cracking down on fanfiction — but I’d argue original authors should see this as evidence their worlds mattered.
Fast Facts: The All The Young Dudes Book Deal
| Detail | What we know |
| Working title | Wolf Boy (may not be the final shelf title) |
| Origin fic | All The Young Dudes by MsKingBean89 on AO3 |
| Agent | Veronique Baxter, David Higham Associates |
| Stage | Major auction at London Book Fair, March 2026 |
| Deal size | Seven figures reported; £2.5m mentioned in rumours |
| Publisher | Not confirmed yet |
| What it is | Queer coming-of-age fantasy, werewolf romance, emotional damage — now legally original IP |
What Wolf Boy Is
If you somehow didn’t spend a formative chunk of your teens on AO3, here’s the short version: All The Young Dudes is a Marauders-era HP fanfic centred on Remus Lupin, written by MsKingBean89. It’s around 500,000 words, has been read nearly twenty million times, and is the kind of fic that people reference in the same breath as actual published novels they loved. Wolfstar — Remus and Sirius as a couple — is the emotional spine of the whole thing. Squee.
Wolf Boy will take our beloved band of friends and make them into something new. New world, new names, no Hogwarts — but the same queer coming-of-age story with an absolutely devastating relationship at the centre. (If you’re not sure whether this sits in fantasy romance or full romantasy territory, I’ve got a whole breakdown here.) Reports describe it as more thoroughly re-imagined than some of the other pipeline titles floating around right now, which is the bit I’m a little concerned about them getting right. I wished Alchemised had kept some of its original bite, but maybe publishers have learned better…maybe?
The Bit Where I Have Opinions About Alchemised
I loved Manacled. Loved it. Read it in chunks when I knew I shouldn’t, felt awful at the end, immediately told three people to read it. Cried. Read the first half more than once, and revelled in all the feels.
And I wanted Alchemised to absolutely destroy me in the same way.
Unfortunately, it didn’t. Mostly because of the complicated reimagined magic system. I was thoroughly confused throughout most of it. And the structure– it should have kept its flashbacks. Manacled uses HP canon as emotional shorthand in a way that’s deeply satisfying when you have that context, and without it, some of the weight doesn’t make you feel the same. You can feeeel the places where the story used to lean on something that’s no longer there. Fix this in other fanfic books, developmental editors out there, I’m begging!
However, Legendary has paid over $3 million in film rights for it, which is not money you throw at something that doesn’t work. My hope is that this opens the door for more and more writers, and we’re going to see books that get this more and more right.
With this said, I’m watching Wolf Boy so carefully. ATYD’s strength was never really about HP canon in the same way as Manacled. So, what I’m hoping is that the new world is actually built for these characters, not just fitted around them after the fact. But that’s going to take the help of talented Dev Eds, I say…again. As the writer never imagined a different world; those editors will need to find the threads to pull to help the writer see the world within the world that was always there, somewhere hidden in the author’s text.
If Wolf Boy can pull this off, then we’re going to see the start of something big. Both for editors who are good at finding subconscious inserts in text that make the story unique to that writer, and for future authors.
The Awkward Money Conversation
Fanfiction exists in a legally fuzzy zone that most IP holders have tolerated, sometimes even enjoyed, because it’s free marketing from people who love the source material too much to stop. It keeps the fan excitement going while you wait for the next book to drop. But now these writers are getting 2.5 mil at auction…we might see the hounds start sniffing. If these fanfics get big, will it pull attention away from the original IPs mainstream release? These are questions publishing houses will start to ask, and unlike writers who love other writers, they’ll be twitchy enough to put down a big ban hammer.
On top of this, we’re going to see more novice writers flooding the fanfic forums with their own takes on IPs, hoping to make it big. This will water down what was once a niche spot that many nerdy book lovers and fun-time writers enjoyed. In the end, will all fanfic sites become another Wattpad?
Danielle Binks wrote more about what a lot of readers feel about fanfics becoming books.
A big concern for me though, is that publishers could easily start treating fandom archives as a free-for-all, where the books aren’t even put through proper editors but thrown out into the world – mud and all – until there is nothing but a few old viral books we once remembered…and their 50 cousins. Listen, if books start to go the way of movies, think Disney refusing to make anything original and turning to live-action remakes instead, I’m throwing a hissy fit.
This isn’t an isolated event either, we’re already seeing the industry take fantasy romance more seriously, adding dollar signs to every industry insider’s eyes — the Nibbies new categories are proof of that, and I had thoughts on that, too.
What is ridiculous, though, is the idea that a successful ATYD adaptation hurts an original IPs author’s book sales or fandom. This assumes that readers have a finite amount of love to give. They don’t. Have you seen an obsessed reader’s bookshelf lately? They take every prisoner and go back for more.
My guess is that every person who finds Wolf Boy in a Waterstones/Target will fall in love with the originals, and the first author to pout or sue better have a bloody good reason to pull attention away from their next releases.
Preferably one that saves books as a whole and not their bottom line.
Why Authors Should Be Flattered (A Mildly Idealistic Take)
If I’d written a world compelling enough that someone poured years of their life into expanding it, and that expansion was so good it generated millions at an international book fair — I think my first feeling would be something close to pride. In fact, I bet for a lot of authors it is. They’re obsessed with their little worlds and characters; it’s cool that other writers are too. It props up so many writers, and might even put some of the power back into the author’s hands. Imagine being able to hand over worlds to other trusted authors who can build upon it, we could start to see the beginning of something really unique if this happens.
That’s the version of this I think is worth fighting for. Authors supporting authors in an endless loop, that allows us all to create massive worlds and live in harmony….or something like that.
At the end of the day, I hope this doesn’t cause mass fear for fanfic writers who aren’t ready to build their own worlds yet, who are incredible at character development but haven’t had a good editor to show them how good they could also be at creating a magic system/world building/symbolism/what ever. Those writers need a way to practice what they are fundamentally skilled at and build on their craft in a safe, fun environment…so we can have the likes of Cassandra Clare all over again.
What I Actually Want From This Book
Sirius.
I want a Sirius-coded character, a little mad, a little nuts, a lot loyal, who is reckless and terrible at asking for help and completely magnetic, and I want him to be unambiguously the love interest of the main character without anyone softening the edges to make it more palatable for a general market. Although Remus and Sirius are not my personal match, they make a good one for a reason.
The reason ATYD worked the way it did is that it was written by and for people who were specifically here for queer Marauders tragedy. If Wolf Boy smooths that down, it loses the thing that made it. Because of the success of Heated Rivalry, we might see publishers even lean into that.
Please? My fourteen-year-old self, writing alongside others crafting an amazing Sirius Black on a school night, deserves at least that much.
If Wolf Boy has you in the mood to find your next read right now, while the wait is painful — start here with my blog, What Romantasy Book Should I Read Next?.
Updates coming once a publisher is confirmed — and yes, I’ll be writing about it the second that happens.
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Frequently Asked Questions About Wolf Boy
Wolf Boy is the working title for a commercial novel adapted from the Marauders fanfic All The Young Dudes by MsKingBean89. It’s currently in a seven-figure auction at London Book Fair.
It’s adapted from it, but it removes all Harry Potter IP. New world, new characters, same emotional core.
Veronique Baxter at David Higham Associates.
Both follow the fanfic-to-trad pipeline, but Wolf Boy comes from a Wolfstar/Marauders fic rather than a Dramione one, and is described as more thoroughly re-imagined than some pipeline titles.
Not banned, but there’s genuine concern that big money deals will push IP holders to tighten their policies on derivative works. Nothing confirmed, but worth watching.