Lego Harry Potter Sequel is Official, Ends List of Obvious Lego Video Games

Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7, the expected series-closing sequel to last year’s delightful Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4, will be out late this year, according to a Warner Bros. press release this morning.

The company has their Lego specialists Travellers Tales on the case again and will be putting the game out on a ton of platforms, including Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PSP, 3DS, PSP and Sony’s Next Generation Portable, all announced for “holiday 2011.” (That NGP listing is curious, given that Sony has yet to confirm that their super-charged NGP will make it to America by year’s end).

The first Lego Potter focused more on exploration that most of the other popular two-player co-op action games in Travellers Tales hit Lego video game line. It’s not clear what the combat/exploration balance wil be in this one. Here’s an official summary:

Based on the last three Harry Potter books and final four films, LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 takes players through Harry Potter’s heroic adventures in the Muggle and wizarding worlds. From Privet Drive in Little Whinging to Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade and Hogwarts – plus new locations including Grimmauld Place, the Ministry of Magic, and Godric’s Hollow – players will encounter new faces, new challenges and new magic, preparing them for the ultimate face-off against Lord Voldemort™.

The new Lego Potter would be the third major Lego game this year, an unprecedented streak that nearly exhausts the existing movie and book tie-ins available to the franchise’s caretakers. March’s Lego Star Wars III covered the last bit of major Star Wars, the Clone Wars cartoon, that hadn’t been given a Lego video game treatment. May’s Lego Pirates of the Caribbean covered all four Pirates movies in one game. This new Potter finishes that material. What’s left?

A check of the official Lego toy page lists only two major franchises that seem ripe for Lego game tie-ins: Prince of Persia and Pixar (Toy Story and Cars, specifically). Could those be the next Lego games, maybe on tap for 2012? If not, then these Lego people are going to have to make some deals fast. Which books, movies or TV shows—or video game series—should they tap? The Hobbit? Lost? Sonic: The Hedgehog?