As the Harry Potter series comes to an end with The Deathly Hallows: Part Two on July 15th, 2011, there will be a major void in the world of teen fantasy franchises. That’s where Fox 2000 is stepping in. According to Variety, Fox has trumped at least two other studios and nabbed the rights to Catherine Fisher’s novel Incarceron. The book was released in the UK back in 2007, hit the states just three weeks ago and already finds itself on the New York Times children’s bestseller list.

It’s about a seventeen-year old named Finn living in Incarceron. Incarceron is exactly what it sounds like, a prison. But this is no ordinary prison. In addition to cells it consists of metal forests and rundown cities. Finn has no memory of his childhood, but believes he’s from Outside Incarceron, a realm most prisoners do not believe even exists. Finn finds this crystal key that lets him communicate with a girl named Claudia who happens to be the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron. She’s also in a prison of her own, a world designed to reflect the 17th century, but controlled by computers. The two team up to break Finn out of Incarceron, but soon realize there’s a lot more in their way than they previously thought.

Wow, that’s complex! Sounds like the making of a series to me. And, of course, it will be. The book’s sequel, Sapphique, already hit stores in the UK and will be available in the U.S. in January of 2011. The story sounds like a promising adaptation, but until Fox finds a writer and director, it’ll be hard to formulate an outlook.

By Perri Nemiroff