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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child hitting shelves on July 31; here’s what you need to know

Relive and rediscover the magic.

Written by : TNM Staff

Potterheads across the world are brimming with excitement and anticipation because the “boy who lived” is returning after nine long years. The eighth installment of the Harry Potter series is set to release on the midnight of July 31, Harry Potter’s birthday, giving fans something to celebrate.

Mukund of Bengaluru's Blossoms book store says they are expecting a big crowd, which is why they will be opening as 6am on Sunday. He adds that apart from having received 200 pre-orders, they have ordered 1000 copies on the first day and expect them to be sold out by the end of it. 

The digital and print editions of the book will be released simultaneously and while you Potter maniacs cannot wait to get your hands on it, here’s what you need to know about Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

1. The book starts off exactly where Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows left off – 19 years after the battle of Hogwarts, Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione sending off their children to Hogwarts at platform 9 ¾, Kings Cross station.

2. It is NOT the eighth Harry Potter novel. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a script written by British playwright Jack Thorne for a play by the same name being directed by John Tiffany, based on an original story by JK Rowling.

3. Harry is now a 37-year-old man, an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic and a father of three young children.

4. A central theme of the play is how middle-aged Harry, who has been an orphan all his life, deals with being a father to three young children. The eighth story will also chronicle the story of Albus Severus Potter, the youngest of the Potter kids who must bear the weight of a family legacy he never asked for.

5. The play is five hours long and split into two parts. It will premiere at Palace theatre, London on July 30. And while previews of the play have been going on since June and a few spoilers may have found their way on to the web, the characteristic secrecy preceding a new Harry Potter production is mostly intact. Doting fans honoured JK Rowling’s request to “Keep the Secrets” and allow audiences to enjoy the play unspoiled.

6. The play caused a bit of a controversy earlier when Noma Dumezweni was cast as Hermione. The internet burst with reactions over casting a ‘black’ Hermione in the play. Others responded saying that Rowling never specified in the books if Hermione was white. Rowling herself rubbished the objections later, saying that Hermione could be ‘a black woman with my absolute blessing and enthusiasm’.  

7. This edition contains the Special Rehearsal Script of the Cursed Child part I and part II. It will only be available in print for a limited period of time where the play will also premiere in for the first time. Thereafter, the creative team will make changes to the script based on audience reception and reactions. These changes will be incorporated into the Definitive Edition script which should release in early 2017.

While there is no news of the play being performed anywhere else in the world – yet – Potterheads can order their digital and print copies of the script-book and relive the magic, the mystery and a little bit of their childhood.  

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