Forgive me, folks, but I’m just going to get out of the way of this one.
“Today is a very special day for two reasons,” wrote J. K. Rowling on Twitter earlier today. “Firstly, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was published in the UK eighteen years ago! I’m also very excited to confirm today that a new play called Harry Potter and the #CursedChild will be opening in London next year. It will tell a new story, which is the result of a collaboration between writer Jack Thorne, director John Tiffany and myself.”
Contrary to earlier speculation, however, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child won’t be the prequel everyone—including our own Emmet Asher-Perrin—was expecting. So what will it be?
If it isn’t a prequel, then we’re either looking at something like a sequel here, or a narrative that occurs concurrently with the seven-year story of the pre-existing Potter fiction. My money’s on that latter—on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child being a tale that takes place over one of the summers Rowling glossed over.
Either that, or the Harry Potter author might be twisting the truth a touch. As io9’s Katherine Trendacosta suggests, there could even be a touch of time travel in the mix. An interesting idea, agreed… but somehow, I doubt it.
In any event, it’s a real relief to hear that Rowling has taken the time to get Harry’s return right. This play has been in the gestation phase for two and a half years to date, ever since Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender, the producers of The Book of Mormon, came to the bestselling author ever with a vision “which had the sensitivity, intensity and intimacy [Rowling] thought appropriate for bringing Harry’s story to the stage.”
And there’s a whole lot more talent on the table too, including Rowling’s co-writer Jack Thorne, a Fringe First winner for Bunny and the playwright behind the National Theatre of Scotland’s 2013 production of Let the Right One In—which, for what it’s worth, was brought to the stage by the same Tony Award-winning director who’ll be taking the reins of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child when it opens in London sometime in 2016.
This morning’s confirmation begs any number of questions. Will Harry Potter and the Cursed Child be the sequel the world’s been waiting for? Will there be a book of it, too? And will Warner Bros. make a movie of it one day? I’m guessing the answer to at least two of those questions is yes, but what do I know?
Let the speculation commence!
Niall Alexander is an extra-curricular English teacher who reads and writes about all things weird and wonderful for The Speculative Scotsman, Strange Horizons, and Tor.com. He’s been known to tweet, twoo.
I can’t help considering that Daniel Radcliffe has done his share of stage acting. If this is written for the adult Harry, perhaps depicting one of his cases as an auror, then maybe he could reprise his role onstage. Although it could also be interesting to see how other actors would interpret the role of Harry.
Hmm. Matthew Broderick as Harry and Nathan Lane as Ron. With singing! and dancing! Rave reviews. Then after 9 months, Nathan and Matthew move on to the next big thing and the producers bring in Daniel to boost the box office, and everyone is disappointed.
Actually, the lead in “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” could be Daniel Radcliffe’s to turn down. His Broadway debut in “Equus” was somewhat overshadowed by “Oooh, Harry Potter naked”. As a replacement in “How to Succeed in Business,” he was perceived as competent and genuinely admired by his fellow cast and crew. By the time he starred in “The Cripple of Inishmaan” his performance was getting raves from the most august critics.
Now, assuming he turns it down, let’s play the casting game: I nominate Alexander Sharp, who just won a Tony for “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night”.
it will be so fun to get a new story in the HP universe… can’t wait to hear more.
Good new! I’m waiting new chap HP :D