In what should come as a shock to precisely nobody, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, TT Games, and the LEGO Group have announced that there will be a sequel to LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 released later this year. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 is scheduled to be available in Q4 of 2011 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation Portable, and NGP systems. The NGP part is a bit surprising and is either signalling, or more likely hoping for, a holiday release for that platform. They could also just be telling us it’ll be available for NGP, whenever that system eventually comes out.

“In LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7, we are giving gamers a truly epic conclusion to the most successful movie franchise in history with delightful gameplay for fans of all ages,” said Tom Stone, Managing Director, TT Games. “We have built upon the first game and are giving fans even more magical abilities, puzzle solving and exploration, in addition to our distinctive brand of hilarious LEGO humour and charm.”

The game will, of course, be based on the final three books (and four films) of the series. Expect to revisit many locations from the first game, in addition to newer locations like Grimmauld Place, the Ministry of Magic, and Godric’s Hollow. Also expect new characters, magic abilities, and some sort of final showdown with Lord Voldemort.

“LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 offers Harry Potter and LEGO fans an immersive experience that is fun and accessible for players of all ages,” said Samantha Ryan, Senior Vice President, Development and Production, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “With this game, TT Games captures everything fans love about the Harry Potter universe– and adds a distinct LEGO twist.”

Years 1-4 changed the formula for LEGO action games ever so slightly with a bit more of a focus on the exploration side of gameplay. Whether there will be more block-busting action in this game like we’ve seen in other games of the series remains to be seen. Hopefully more details on gameplay will be forthcoming, and given the release schedule, perhaps there will be something at E3 for us to take a look at.

“This game is a game of magic! LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 distils the drama and action of Harry Potter‘s magical world, and then gives players the chance to immerse themselves in their favourite characters and environments, where they can discover new adventures and have great fun,” said Lisbeth Valther Pallesen, Executive Vice President, LEGO CED. “TT Games has successfully combined a deep appreciation of the Harry Potter story with signature LEGO humour and superior production capabilities in another fantastic LEGO video game.”

The announcement has touched off a lot of speculation on what will be LEGOfied next, especially given that Traveller’s Tales were quite aggressive this year, with three separate LEGO action games (along with the Clone Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean games, not to mention being involved with LEGO Battles: Ninjago). It’s obvious that the series has been successful, and there are lots of properties that are candidates. Here is the part of the story where I am required to mention our Editor In Chief Greg’s favourite suggestion of LEGO: Justice League. Which makes tons of sense given that it’s a Warner property and lends itself to LEGO gameplay given that they’ve already done LEGO: Batman.

LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 is being developed by TT Games and will be published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.