The news is everywhere in every corner of the globe: Harry Potter is back! Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is being turned into book/script format. Even though it’s technically not a new book, it might as well be. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the play that will be premiering in London on July 31st, 2016, which is also Harry Potter’s and JK Rowling’s birthday. It follows the story of Harry and his youngest son, Albus. The synopsis we have been given is this:
For months now, the Harry Potter fandom has been pretty adamant in telling their thoughts on the matter at hand: the fact that it’s only in London. Many fans don’t live anywhere near England, so we would have been left in the dark on this new information. Immediately, publishers began bidding over the rights to copy the script of the play. JK Rowling, however, told us to hold our “hippogriff” and ruined our fantasies by saying that it’s not an eighth book nor is it a prequel, which was previously thought. It is just the script in book form. But that’s okay! We know it will be an amazing wealth of information to the Harry Potter community. It’s going to be fascinating to see how the lead actors in the play are going to become the trio we know so well. I personally can’t wait to see a black Hermione!Â
From left to right: Noma Dumezweni as Hermione Granger, Jamie Parker as Harry Potter, and Paul Thornley as Ron Weasley
With the release of the script, we will also be gaining some other new items as well. This year marks the 20th anniversary of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and to commemorate that, Bloomsbury Publishing will be releasing a special 20th anniversary copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in Hogwarts House colors. At the end of this year, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Illustrated Version will be released. There is also talk of a brand new edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them that will include more new information from JKR, and will most likely be released sometime close to the movie release date, which is November 18, 2016.