Particle6 Productions, the UK indie founded by Eline van der Velden, announced that it has acquired the rights to The Madigan Chronicles, Marieke Lexmond’s award-winning*, six-book series comprising titles such as The Dagger, The Magical Tarot Deck and The Wand.

The Madigan Chronicles is a mystical family drama about three generations of headstrong witches and their struggle to work together to keep a centuries-old promise and stop a dark witch from claiming a powerful elemental object…and causing all sorts of magical mayhem. With themes around self-discovery, empowerment and mother-daughter relationships, the addictive books, illustrated by Nicole Ruijgrok, have a loyal and sizeable international following, particularly amongst women.

Particle6 will now be involved in developing the wider Madigan Chronicles world in a bid to further engage the community and grow the audience for the franchise, ahead of moving into production.

While a pilot script for The Dagger, the first book in the series, is currently being written by Lexmond, Particle6 is seeking to drive further demand for the IP by creating viral videos for WitchTok (on TikTok) and by developing unique, collectable Magical Spell necklaces, which will be promoted via social media. Each fashionable necklace comes with a positive spell; examples include for love, wisdom, fertility and warding off evil.

Particle6’s involvement with The Madigan Chronicles’ IP has been facilitated by the receipt of a 2023 Innovate UK Creative Catalyst grant. Part of UK Research and Innovation, this government funded programme supports companies in the creative industries to scale up innovation and grow their business.

Eline van der Velden, founder of Particle6 Productions comments: “I’ve known Marieke for a while and have always been a big fan of her work, so I am thrilled that Innovate UK saw the same potential we did and awarded us a Creative Catalyst grant so that we could explore and extend the world of The Madigan Chronicles.

“Particle6 is big on testing and analytics, and we always work hard to identify the right audience for every project. Given what Marieke and Nicole have already established, we have a brilliant opportunity to build on that and test and grow the market. We know that witches and witchcraft are extremely popular topics right now, but if we can take a beautifully written script into a broadcaster or streamer, along with insightful audience data built around analytics from interactions with bespoke social media content and in-demand merchandise – as well as book sales – we will be presenting a very compelling case to greenlight a (potentially long-running) series. And if that doesn’t work, we can of course resort to a casting a spell on commissioners!”

Marieke Lexmond adds: “In Eline and Particle6 Productions I found the perfect partners to expand The Madigan Chronicles universe. Not only is there infectious support for our stories, but also a real understanding of our brand’s potential and a thoughtful ambition as to how we can develop and take an audience with us. I am thrilled to begin this magical journey with this talented team and can’t wait to see where it might go.”