Potter fans are starting to get riled up as they hear more and more about the continuation of the Harry Potter series.
J.K. Rowling has announced that the play Harry Potter and The Cursed Child is scheduled to debut July 30 at the Palace Theatre in London. The book of Harry Potter and The Cursed Child is the basic script of the play and is expected to be released July 31 following opening night of the play.
“I would have liked to know about Harry Potter’s dad and his mom,” senior Nadeem Sbaiti said. “I don’t mind that [Rowling] continued.”
The announcement of the book marked the 18th anniversary of the publication of the first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, published June 26, 1997. The play is set 19 years after the conclusion of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and follows Harry Potter, now a Ministry of Magic employee, and his youngest son, Albus Severus Potter.
“From what I’ve read, I think it is going to be a lot different from the books,” senior Sierra Teta said. “It talks about how Harry has not exactly lost everything, but he is rundown and tired. The story line I’ve read doesn’t sound as exciting; it’s not how you think his life would go on to be.”
Rowling had earlier said that she was done writing books for the Harry Potter series, so her announcement came as a surprise to the public. Some fans are excited for an eighth book, but others are not so sure how to feel.
“Once you’ve got your stuff out of it, once it’s done with and people love it, don’t risk ruining it by adding more stuff on top of it,” sophomore Nicole Campbell said. “And if it turns out really bad, then everybody is going to have a bad taste in their mouth from the [Harry Potter] series because that is going to be the last one they’ll read.”
The lead cast list for the play has been announced: Jamie Parker, Noma Dumezweni and Paul Thornley will play Harry, Hermione and Ron, respectively.
There has been some disagreement about whether Dumezweni, a black English actress, should be playing the role of Hermione. Some say that Dumezweni shouldn’t be playing Hermione because Emma Watson, a white British actress, played Hermione in the movies.
Other Harry Potter fans on Twitter say that Dumezweni’s race shouldn’t affect the play at all; everyone is equal.
“In books, the character often is white and then if they aren’t white then the writer usually says this person has ‘dark chocolate’ skin,” Campbell said. “White is the default, and that’s weird because it shouldn’t be that way even though that’s just how it is.”
Rowling tweeted about how, in her books, she gave a description of Hermione, but did not specify skin color in her description. Both Watson and Rowling have made clear that they are in full support of having a black Hermione.
“Can’t wait to see Noma Dumezweni as Hermione on stage this year,” said Watson Jan. 2 in one of her many supportive tweets.
Harry Potter fans have said that they stuck with Rowling because there was just something captivating about the magic. Readers like Campbell said that going through this series there were things they would have changed for personal preference. As much as the fans would love to change what happened in earlier books, they loved how Rowling wrote the series and are eager to find out what happens next.
– By Jacqueline Condrey