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In:Children’s Literature Across Media: Concepts and perspectives of transmedia narratives
Edited by Nina Christensen, Ute Dettmar and Sarah Mygind
[Children’s Literature, Culture, and Cognition 21] 2026
► pp. 129–149

Chapter 7
“Trial by TikTok”?

Children’s social negotiation of controversial transmedial characters

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Abstract
This chapter discusses children and adolescents’ engagement with the transmedial Harry Potter world, based on a case study of the replacement of Johnny Depp with Mads Mikkelsen in the role of Grindelwald. It uses transmedial world theory, psychology and cognitive science as well as empirical data to examine how children and adolescents experienced the replacement, focusing on Grindelwald-related material on TikTok and YouTube in 2022–2023. Findings show that online content and commentary focused on the difference in performance and character depiction. However, the prevalence of Depp-positive content on social media during the Heard–Depp trial might have impacted the young audiences’ perception of Depp both as an actor and character performer, demonstrating the impact of social media on the understanding of transmedial world content.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Understanding transmedial world engagement
  • Children and adolescents as Harry Potter transmedial world users
  • Making sense of the real and the fictional
  • Findings: Mapping the field
    • The Depp–Heard controversy and online bias
    • Looking for movie content
  • Discussions of “the best Grindelwald?”
    • TikTok engagement
    • YouTube engagement
  • Reflections of the trial and the moral evaluations of Depp
  • Conclusion
  • Author queries
  • Acknowledgments
  • Note
  • References
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