Harry Potter fans, beware. There isn’t a new Harry Potter novel coming out this summer.
The internet lit up earlier this week when the publisher announced the upcoming London play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The announcements also included mention of the script’s release on the day following the play’s premiere, “as its own book.” Many fans took that to mean a new Harry Potter novel was on its way.
An eighth Harry Potter book is coming out! pic.twitter.com/v4f1sbkc57
— UberFacts (@UberFacts) February 10, 2016
The author took to Twitter earlier on Thursday to clarify the announcement.
To be clear! The SCRIPT of #CursedChild is being published. #NotANovel #NotAPrequel ? https://t.co/3OhdOBIqJt
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) February 11, 2016
This no doubt is incredibly disappointing to Harry Potter fans.
A press release from Scholastic details the plot of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
J.K. Rowling clarifies we're not getting a new "Harry Potter" *novel* https://t.co/tdt8sdi2rf pic.twitter.com/qJCiu1fWHT
— Huffington Post (@HuffingtonPost) February 11, 2016
“It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband, and father of three school-age children. While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes darkness comes from unexpected places,” it reads.
Perhaps Harry Potter fans in this country will one day see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child come to life on a stage in the U.S. For now, however, the most they can hope for is a copy of the script in book form.