It’s been a long time since we’ve seen Harry Potter on a movie screen. Over five years have passed since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, and while that may have seemed like the end of the title character’s story, it wasn’t time for author JK Rowling to let him go. That time is now, actually, as the two-part play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child opened last weekend in London.
The play features an adult Harry Potter, 19 years after he (spoilers!) defeats Lord Voldemort to end the book series. 37-year-old Harry has three children and works for the Ministry of Magic.
Every author has to go through the experience of saying goodbye to fictional characters that they have created, but few characters have had the kind of extraordinary effect that Harry Potter has had. The once impoverished JK Rowling was elevated to superstar status on the back of The Boy Who Lived, her name becoming one known in every household.
Rowling spoke with Reuters about the play and if it could potentially mean more in the future for Harry Potter. Here’s what she said:
“He goes on a very big journey during these two plays and then, yeah, I think we’re done. This is the next generation, you know. So, I’m thrilled to see it realized so beautifully but, no, Harry is done now.”
Of course, it’s not the end of the Harry Potter universe. This November, the movie adaptation of Rowling’s spin-off book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will open, starring Eddie Redmayne and directed by David Yates, who brought us the final four films in the famed Harry Potter movie series.
Check out a recent featurette on the movie here, which includes commentary from Redmayne and JK Rowling herself:
“My heroes are always people who feel themselves to be set apart, stigmatized, or ‘othered.’ That’s at the heart of most of what I write. And it’s certainly at the heart of this movie.”
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them opens on November 18th of this year.
