What J.K. Rowling said about Harry Potter post-'Cursed Child'
-
Molly Driscoll Staff writer
Almost 20 years after the public first became acquainted with the Boy Who Lived, his creator, author J.K. Rowling, says she believes she鈥檚 done with the story of Harry Potter.聽
Ms. Rowling spoke about the character following the premiere of the stage play 鈥淗arry Potter and the Cursed Child,鈥� which tells the story of an adult Harry and his children, based on a story on which Rowling worked. The two-part play officially opened in the West End in London on July 30.聽
鈥淗e goes on a very big journey during these two plays,鈥� Rowling said in . 鈥淎nd 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.鈥澛�
Fans have seized on the detail that Rowling specifically mentioned only Harry, the original protagonist of her wildly popular book series.
The wizarding world will continue with the 鈥淔antastic Beasts and Where to Find Them鈥� movie series, the first installment of which will open this November. The movie series is based on a 鈥渢extbook鈥� from Harry鈥檚 classroom, later published by Rowling. The film tells the story of the book鈥檚 author, Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), and his adventures. The movie co-stars Katherine Waterston, Ezra Miller, Colin Farrell, and Alison Sudol.聽
This 鈥淔antastic鈥� movie continuation even as Harry鈥檚 story comes to an end reflects how franchises continue to be brought back in Hollywood today, even if the new projects don鈥檛 center on the original characters.聽
Ending a series seems to be more common in the book world 鈥� for example, bestselling series like the "Hunger Games" novels and the "Divergent" series have not been continued in a literary fashion, though Stephanie Meyer has published two followups to the "Twilight" books.
It's often different with movies and TV. For example, this summer鈥檚 鈥淕hostbusters鈥� movie told a familiar story, but the film is not a seque. It depicts all-new characters rather than continuing the story of Dr. Ray Stantz, Dr. Peter Venkman, Dr. Egon Spengler, and Winston Zeddmore.聽
And while the final movie in the 鈥淒ivergent鈥� series, which is based on the bestselling young adult books by Veronica Roth, is reportedly not coming to theaters, the story will be adapted as a TV movie and then a spin-off TV series in the same universe but with new characters, according to industry insiders.聽
