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Review: ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ Explores the Power of Time

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By Michiko Kakutani

• Aug. 1, 2016

J. K. Rowling’s magical seven-volume Harry Potter series is the ultimate bildungsroman, tracing that young wizard’s coming of age, as he not only battles evil but also struggles to come to terms with the responsibilities, losses and burdens of adulthood. In the course of those books, we see a plucky schoolboy, torn by adolescent doubts and confusions, grow into an epic hero, kin to King Arthur, Luke Skywalker and Spider-Man.

Now, in a play set 19 years later, we get to see how this legendary hero has settled into middle age as a civil servant in London, working at the Ministry of Magic. More important, we get to see Harry as a father — and his teenage son Albus’s efforts to cope with the suffocating expectations that come with having a famous father. “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” is about the journey Albus takes while growing up, and the roles he and his best friend, Scorpius (Draco Malfoy’s son), play when dark forces, perhaps in league with Voldemort, once again threaten the fate of the planet.

This book version of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” is the script of the hit play that just opened in London , and even though it lacks the play’s much-talked-about special effects, it turns out to be a compelling, stay-up-all-night read.

Written by the playwright Jack Thorne (and based on an original story by Ms. Rowling, Mr. Thorne and the director John Tiffany), the play picks up where the last novel, “ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ” (2007), left off, and it flashes forward to Albus’s later years at Hogwarts. The script is missing the fully imagined, immersive amplitude of Ms. Rowling’s novels, but she did such a remarkable job in those volumes conjuring a fictional universe that this play nimbly sustains itself simply by situating its canny story line in that world and remaining true to its characters and rules.

As in the books, the suspense here is electric and nonstop, and it has been cleverly constructed around developments recalling events in the original Potter novels — scenes from the Triwizard Tournament in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” the penetration of the Ministry of Magic by Harry, Ron and Hermione (using Polyjuice Potion to disguise themselves) in “Deathly Hallows”; and a visit to Godric’s Hollow in that same volume. As a bonus, fans are also given a scattering of interesting new insights into Harry, Dumbledore and Voldemort.

Dumbledore, like Sirius Black, is one of several father figures to Harry, and the Oedipal father-son dynamic is central to “Cursed Child,” much the way the Luke Skywalker-Darth Vader relationship is central to the “Star Wars” films. There are growing tensions not only between Harry and Albus but also between Draco and the insecure Scorpius, who, we learn early on, is actually rumored to be Voldemort’s secret son. Much to Harry’s dismay, Albus quickly bonds with Scorpius over their respective father issues and the fact that both of them are outcasts at Hogwarts (where Albus is startled to find himself sent by the Sorting Hat into the House of Slytherin).

Albus resents being the son of “the Chosen One,” and he’s increasingly filled with anger at the expectations placed on him. And though Albus has a lot in common with young Harry — feelings of being an outsider and a desire to prove himself — he is increasingly at odds with his father, whose worried, overprotective parenting fuels antagonism between them.

“Cursed Child” savvily intuits that Harry’s traumatic youth — losing his mother and father as an infant, growing up with the dreadful Dursleys, and then having to lead a yearslong war against Voldemort — might well have taken a psychological toll, at the very least left him awkward about expressing emotion and deeply afraid of further loss.

Although readers will miss Ms. Rowling’s endlessly inventive imagination, which was continually elaborating the universe she had created in the books, Mr. Thorne has a visceral understanding of the dynamics and themes at work in those novels: the complicated equation between destiny and free will, the pull between duty and love, and the role that loneliness and anger can play in fueling hate. As in those books, the forces of light (kindness, empathy, inclusion) are arrayed against the forces of darkness (fear, rage and an authoritarian will to power) that are threatening to rise again after years of peace — a dynamic, many readers can appreciate, with particular resonance today.

The power of time is central to Ms. Rowling’s books — even as her narratives hurtle forward with an irresistible momentum, Harry’s understanding of Voldemort and himself involved excursions into the past. And the same is true of “Cursed Child.” In the Potter books, journeys in time or space were aided by wondrous devices like the Pensieve and the Portkey. In “Cursed Child,” the key instrument is a Time-Turner, similar to the one Hermione used in “The Prisoner of Azkaban” to squeeze extra classes into her schedule and to save Hagrid’s imperiled hippogriff Buckbeak.

Here, a Time-Turner is used with consequences that will remind some readers of the movie “Back to the Future,” and others of the classic Ray Bradbury story “A Sound of Thunder,” in which a careless time traveler journeys to the days of the dinosaurs and accidentally steps on a butterfly, thereby altering the rest of time.

In this case, it is not giving away too much of the plot of this absorbing and ingenious play to simply recall Dumbledore’s words in “The Prisoner of Azkaban”: “The consequences of our actions are always so complicated, so diverse, that predicting the future is a very difficult business indeed.” And time travel, like the art of fiction writing, affords the possibility of imagining ominous alternate futures and amazing and harrowing alternate worlds.

Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this review misspelled the name of a device referenced in the Harry Potter books. It is Pensieve, not Pensixreve.

How we handle corrections

Follow Michiko Kakutani on Twitter: @michikokakutani .

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Parts One and Two

By Jack Thorne, based on an original story by J. K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Mr. Thorne.

327 pages. Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic. $29.99.

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Harry potter and the cursed child: parts one and two, common sense media reviewers.

Engaging time-travel play satisfying for fans.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

Readers are re-immersed in Harry Potter's world, p

Even as only an imprint of his former self in a ta

Albus and Scorpius are oddball, outcast friends li

A student dies from a killing curse, a boy's mothe

Adults kiss and flirt.

"Bloody hell" and "damn."

Talk of Ron drunk at his wedding and out drinking

Parents need to know that Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two is the script of a play performed first in London in 2016. The story takes place 19 years after the big Hogwarts battle in Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows , the concluding Book 7 of the core Potter series. It's hard to…

Educational Value

Readers are re-immersed in Harry Potter's world, past and present (19 years after Book 7 ), thanks to a Time Turner and some flashback dreams. They can think about how well moments remembered from the book series aid in the storytelling here. Also, readers used to Rowling's fat fiction novels full of detail will need to adjust to the play format and imagine the sets and dialogue performed, a challenging transition for some that takes slower, more careful reading.

Positive Messages

Even as only an imprint of his former self in a talking portrait, Dumbledore offers the best advice, about teaching kids resilience instead of constantly trying to protect them from harm. Professor McGonnagal reminds her charges with her usual candor that "bravery doesn't forgive stupidity." And the lesson in every book about time travel: Don't mess with time travel. The consequences are always dire, no matter the intention.

Positive Role Models

Albus and Scorpius are oddball, outcast friends living in the shadow of their famous parents and some pernicious rumors. Their friendship keeps them grounded most of the time, but Albus' need to be something more than the weird middle child and his impulsive streak cause the pair to make a string of serious mistakes. Both Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy grow here and endeavor to parent without their own issues and needs keeping them from understanding their sons' needs.

Violence & Scariness

A student dies from a killing curse, a boy's mother dies from a long illness. Souls are sucked out of bodies by those nasty black-cloaked Dementors. A curse inflicts pain, an arm is broken and repaired magically, and some magical fighting with wands results in minor injuries. Talk of muggles blown up and tortured and people burned alive. Much talk about the student Cedric Diggory's death from Book 4 and the deaths of Harry's parents from a killing curse.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Talk of Ron drunk at his wedding and out drinking Firewhiskies with Neville (both as adults).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two is the script of a play performed first in London in 2016. The story takes place 19 years after the big Hogwarts battle in Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows , the concluding Book 7 of the core Potter series. It's hard to assign the best age for this play for a few reasons. The play format may be a hard transition for some readers who aren't used to slowing down and imagining characters on a set. Also, with near constant references to the past, readers need to be familiar with the entire Harry Potter series to keep up. We recommend Book 7 for ages 12 and up because of its intense battles and themes. While many of these themes are still present in this play, they get a lighter touch because of this dialogue-heavy format. There's still some violence, however. A student dies from a killing curse, a boy's mother dies from a long illness, Dementors suck out souls, a curse inflicts pain, an arm is broken and repaired magically, and some magical fighting with wands results in minor injuries. Flashes to the past or alternate presents talk of muggles blown up and tortured, and there's much talk of the death of the student Cedric Diggory from Book 4 and the death of Harry's parents at the hands of Voldemort when he was a baby. Despite Harry Potter hogging the title, the main characters here are his son, Albus, and Draco Malfoy's son, Scorpius. Their friendship keeps them grounded most of the time, but Albus' need to be something more than the weird middle child and his impulsive streak cause the pair to make a string of serious mistakes. Even as only an imprint of his former self in a talking portrait, Dumbledore offers the best advice to floundering parents Harry and Draco about teaching kids resilience instead of constantly trying to protect them from harm.

Where to Read

Community reviews.

• Parents say (7)
• Kids say (82)

Based on 7 parent reviews

Parenting- the ultimate HP adventure

How though, what's the story.

IN HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD, middle child Albus Potter just doesn't fit in at Hogwarts. For one thing, who could imagine a Potter in Slytherin? And how could anyone imagine his best friend would be a boy named Scorpius, a Malfoy? Albus' dad just doesn't get him and doesn't get what it means to be in the shadow of the famous Harry Potter -- Albus never wanted any of that. The night before the train back to Hogwarts, Albus overhears his father arguing with a now elderly Amos Diggory. Amos heard a rumor that a Time Turner was found and implores that they use it to go back and save his son Cedric, whose murder was ordered by Voldemort decades ago. Harry won't even hear him out or admit that the Time Turner exists. Albus, sure his father is lying, thinks it's unfair and wants to be the one to help. On the train to Hogwarts, Albus and Scorpius make a break for it, intending to find the Time Turner in his Aunt Hermione's office and go back in time to the Triwizard Tournament. If Cedric doesn't win with Harry, he can't be killed and Amos gets his son back. But, of course, with all plans to alter time, even for the right reasons, things can go horribly, horribly wrong. Like, Voldemort-never-died horribly wrong.

Is It Any Good?

Once readers get accustomed to the more sparsely detailed play format, most will come away happy to have spent more time in Harry's world. Reading scripts is a slower business, taking time to imagine how each scene is set before digging into the dialogue; a lot happens with only a few stage directions and scene changes. This story really plays with time, moving forward in Albus' first few years of Hogwarts, exploring Harry Potter's nightmares of the past, and eventually visiting scenes from past books and scary alternate presents. (Voldemort is back? Nooooo!)

Seeing it all come together onstage would be a marvel. Getting to the climax of the story without actors in front of you is still nail-biting. It's always hard to imagine how any time travel screwup can really be fixed, and the stakes are pretty high here. Mix that with a bit of humor (one alternate present isn't so kind to Ron and Hermione) and some poignant parenting lessons (even for Draco!), and there's quite a bit to take away from four acts. Plus there are plenty of "how on earth would they do that on a stage?" moments to ponder until readers get lucky enough to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child performed onstage.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the Harry Potter world in play form. Was Harry Potter and the Cursed Child easy to follow as a play or much harder? Did you feel as engaged as you were with the book format? Did you have to change the way you read the play versus the novels to take it all in?

How have Harry, Ron, Hermione, and even Draco changed as adults? Are you still interested in them as adult characters, or has your focus shifted more to Albus and Scorpius? Parents reading along: Who are your favorite characters?

Does this script make you want to see this play performed onstage? Are there some stage directions in the script that seem too hard to translate to a stage -- such as, say, transfiguration? How do you think they did it in performance?

Book Details

• Authors : J. K. Rowling , John Tiffany , Jack Thorne
• Genre : Fantasy
• Topics : Magic and Fantasy , Friendship
• Book type : Fiction
• Publisher : Arthur A. Levine
• Publication date : July 31, 2016
• Publisher's recommended age(s) : 9 - 12
• Number of pages : 320
• Available on : Nook, Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
• Last updated : October 5, 2018

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Harry potter and the cursed child |book review.

Posted by: Editor September 20, 2016 in Books , English Leave a comment Updated: September 21, 2016

Is there such a thing as ‘ Happily Ever After ‘?

When J K Rowling showed us a glimpse of the life of older Harry Potter on the platform 9 3/4 long after the battle of Hogwarts was over, it did give an impression of being something very close to a happily ever after, if not perfect. But, life at its best is episodic….every generation seems to inherit the moral quest of their ancestors in some way and have to go through similar emotions and questions before they can make peace with their lives.

So, when the introduction to J K Rowling ‘s latest work starts with : “It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employed of the Ministry of Magic, a husband, and father of three school-age children….” we do get into it with a sigh of apprehension. Yes, we are talking about ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’, released with a world premier in London’s West End on 30/07/2016.

Harry Potter And The Cursed Child – Book Cover

She thought of this prophecy as the center thought of the new book:

When spares are spared, When time is turned, When unseen children murder their fathers, Then will the Dark Lord return…

As has been widely advertised, while the original story is by J K Rowling, it has been adapted by John Tiffany and Jack Thorne into a script for a new play by Jack Thorne . Both John Tiffany and Jack Thorne are well-known names in the world of theater. However, since the audience for this play on stage would be limited, the rehearsal script has been now published as a hardcover book with a beautifully haunting front page design. Predictably, the book has already been widely sold as the Harry Potter fans couldn’t wait for the next episode into the saga that held them mesmerized over a span of more than a decade.

The book starts with the epilogue from “ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows “, and we soon discover that Ron is now running a joke shop and Hermione is the minister for magic. Harry is the head of magical law enforcement squad and Ginny works as Sports editor at “ Daily Prophet “. What’s different is that the epilogue gave us a distinct impression of Harry being a good father and on very good terms with his children, including his younger son Albus Severus . But, here Albus soon grows into a troubled teen who is best friends with Scorpius Malfoy of all people and whose relationship with Harry Potter is very strained.

While for Harry, Hogwarts was the place where he felt at home, for Albus it is hardly so, especially when he ends up in Slytherin and does not seem to have any marked talent for Quidditch to say the least. It doesn’t help of course that Scorpius has been the center of one of the most widespread rumors in magical world since the Battle of Hogwarts. It is widely believed that Voldemort had a child and that Scorpius is that child. While Draco vehemently rejects these rumors, if Voldemort did have a child, who is it and if the child has survived, what would its outlook on the world be?

If it was difficult to be friends with famous Harry Potter without being jealous, it is nearly impossible to grow up in shadow of a father who destroyed Voldemort and has always been bit of an enigma. Having grown up in limelight, it also means everyone knows everything about Harry’s mistakes and also has an opinion on how he could have done it different, better, how his mistakes cost lives…

So, when a chance seems to present itself to Albus, that looks like an opportunity to right his father’s mistake and prove himself, he takes it. It seems so simple, so appealing, an age old solution: go back in time and change what you did or in this case, what your father did. But, can you really change past? The answers is ‘May be, but not without changing the future and the present’.

Because every decision, every act has long-term consequences. A small change in the course of events may lead to an entirely different future. All Harry’s battles with Voldemort had always evolved around a slim chance, a small and brave decision that eventually led to Harry winning in the battle of Hogwarts. So, if Albus changes any of that- will he also change the outcome of the final battle and the future of their world? And what about the actions of people around Harry, including Albus Dumbledore, who put all his energy into laying out the path for Voldemort’s destruction?

On the other hand, Albus and Scorpius’ disappearances results in strained home lives at all fronts, including Harry’s and Ginny’s. When centaur Bane tells Harry about existence of a dark shadow near his son Albus, naturally Harry thinks of Scorpius as the shadow.

For Albus and Scorpius, the journey proves to be something like an adventure Harry himself would have had and the biggest lesson they learn is the factor of inevitability in all things we do. There is not always an absolute solution / action possible in a human life, especially when fighting an evil. Mistakes are made, chances are mulled, lives are lost and hearts are broken, but sometimes that’s the only way. Sometimes, the whole pattern is so important and yet ambiguous that the simplest action can convert it into either a tangible reality or turn it into utter chaos.

The story essentially has all classic Harry Potter elements – love, friendship, betrayal, victory of good over evil, interconnections of lives, cause and effects, inevitability of the course of every human life. But, the stage adaptation does introduce some new dimensions like dialogues about moody teenagers and so on. The bookworms will also find it a fast read and will miss some of the beautiful and rich detailing by J K Rowling in the original books.

As with other harry potter books, there are some fantastic quotes in this book as well. Here are some of them (however we have tried to not to included the ones which contain the plot spoilers, but you may find some 🙂 )

Friendship, the most favored form of love by the author is mentioned as:

That’s the thing, isn’t it? About friendships. You don’t know what he needs. You only know he needs it.

A teenager’s dilemma:

My father thought he was protecting me. Most of the time. I think you have to make a choice – at a certain point – of the man you want to be. And I tell you that at that time you need a parent or a friend. And if you’ve learnt to hate your parent by then and you have no friends…then you’re all alone. And being alone – that’s so hard. I was alone. And it sent me to a truly dark place. For a long time. Tom Riddle was also a lonely child…”

Words of wisdom, which are grounded to reality:

“They were great men, with huge flaws, and you know what – those flaws almost made them greater.”

Character defining lines:

He’s Dumbledore! He can cope with anything.

About love:

Those that we love never truly leave us, Harry. There are things that death cannont touch. Paint….and memory….and love. Love blinds. We have both tried to give our sons not what they needed, but what we needed. We’ve been so busy trying to rewrite our own pasts, we’ve blighted their presents.

The book could have been much better and can explore the story with more integrity and versatility if written as a story book rather than a play. The canvas of the book gives even more opportunities (than the explored ones) to explore.

The book price is the only factor which is discouraging to buy it. It is very costly. So it is advisable to wait for a couple of months till the paperback edition is available at cheaper rates.

A must read of course for all Harry Potter fans and whoever wants to add a bit of magic in life …

Tagged with: Books English Harry Potter j k rowling Literature Reviews Views

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HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD

The official script book of the original west end production.

by Jack Thorne with J.K. Rowling & John Tiffany ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 31, 2016

Rowling’s name on the cover will guarantee mad sales, even for an unadventurous spinoff like this.

The Boy Who Lived may be done with Voldemort, but Voldemort’s not done with him.

Blocked out by all three co-authors but written by Thorne, this play script starts up where Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007) leaves off, then fast-forwards three years. As the plot involves multiple jaunts into the past to right certain wrongs (with all but the last changing the future in disastrous ways), the last Triwizard Tournament and other already-familiar events and locales figure prominently. Also, many favorite characters, even Dumbledore and Snape, trot back onstage to mingle with the now–school-age offspring of Ron, Harry, and Draco. In a fan-fiction–style stretch, the child of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named also plays a part. In the early going at least, the authors faithfully recapture the series’ lively character interplay, and one scene aboard (and atop) the Hogwarts Express particularly echoes some of the original cast’s heady misadventures. And there are measures of banter, tongue-in-cheek dialogue (“HERMIONE: Who are you calling intense?”), and evocative if skimpy stage directions: “[Harry] feels intense pain in his forehead. In his scar. Around him, Dark Magic moves .” But the spellcasting and dramatic crescendos don’t play as well on the page as they might on the stage; the dozens of short, quick-cut scenes chop up the action for readers rather than building dramatic tension. Moreover, the bonding between classmates Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy, two self-described “losers,” and the adult Harry’s labored efforts to connect with his alienated middle child distract from a dark-is-rising-again storyline that already leans on unlikely contrivances as it makes its way to a climactic wizardly duel.

Pub Date: July 31, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-338-09913-3

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Scholastic

Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2016

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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PERCY JACKSON'S GREEK GODS

by Rick Riordan ; illustrated by John Rocco ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 19, 2014

The inevitable go-to for Percy’s legions of fans who want the stories behind his stories.

Percy Jackson takes a break from adventuring to serve up the Greek gods like flapjacks at a church breakfast.

Percy is on form as he debriefs readers concerning Chaos, Gaea, Ouranos and Pontus, Dionysus, Ariadne and Persephone, all in his dude’s patter: “He’d forgotten how beautiful Gaea could be when she wasn’t all yelling up in his face.” Here they are, all 12 Olympians, plus many various offspring and associates: the gold standard of dysfunctional families, whom Percy plays like a lute, sometimes lyrically, sometimes with a more sardonic air. Percy’s gift, which is no great secret, is to breathe new life into the gods. Closest attention is paid to the Olympians, but Riordan has a sure touch when it comes to fitting much into a small space—as does Rocco’s artwork, which smokes and writhes on the page as if hit by lightning—so readers will also meet Makaria, “goddess of blessed peaceful deaths,” and the Theban Teiresias, who accidentally sees Athena bathing. She blinds him but also gives him the ability to understand the language of birds. The atmosphere crackles and then dissolves, again and again: “He could even send the Furies after living people if they committed a truly horrific crime—like killing a family member, desecrating a temple, or singing Journey songs on karaoke night.”

Pub Date: Aug. 19, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-4231-8364-8

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Review Posted Online: June 28, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014

More by Rick Riordan

BOOK REVIEW

by Rick Riordan

by Rick Riordan & Mark Oshiro

by Rick Riordan ; adapted by Ethan Young ; illustrated by Ethan Young ; color by George C. Williams

PERCY JACKSON'S GREEK HEROES

by Rick Riordan ; illustrated by John Rocco ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 18, 2015

Tales that “lay out your options for painful and interesting ways to die.” And to live.

In a similarly hefty companion to Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods (2014), the most voluble of Poseidon’s many sons dishes on a dozen more ancient relatives and fellow demigods.

Riordan averts his young yarn spinner’s eyes from the sex but not the stupidity, violence, malice, or bad choices that drive so many of the old tales. He leavens full, refreshingly tart accounts of the ups and downs of such higher-profile heroes as Theseus, Orpheus, Hercules, and Jason with the lesser-known but often equally awesome exploits of such butt-kicking ladies as Atalanta, Otrera (the first Amazon), and lion-wrestling Cyrene. In thought-provoking contrast, Psyche comes off as no less heroic, even though her story is less about general slaughter than the tough “Iron Housewives quests” Aphrodite forces her to undertake to rescue her beloved Eros. Furthermore, along with snarky chapter heads (“Phaethon Fails Driver’s Ed”), the contemporary labor includes references to Jay-Z, Apple Maps, god-to-god texting, and the like—not to mention the way the narrator makes fun of hard-to-pronounce names and points up such character flaws as ADHD (Theseus) and anger management issues (Hercules). The breezy treatment effectively blows off at least some of the dust obscuring the timeless themes in each hero’s career. In Rocco’s melodramatically murky illustrations, men and women alike display rippling thews and plenty of skin as they battle ravening monsters.

Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-4231-8365-5

Page Count: 416

Review Posted Online: July 21, 2015

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Harry Potter and the Curse of Continuation

The newly published script of Jack Thorne’s play is a compelling read but an uncomfortable fit within J.K. Rowling’s series.

( This review contains plot information regarding Harry Potter and the Cursed Child but only very mild spoilers.)

In 2013, J.K. Rowling wrote a short post (since deleted) on Pottermore, the official Harry Potter website, detailing her thoughts about using time travel as a device in literature. In the third book in the Harry Potter series, The Prisoner of Azkaban , Harry’s friend Hermione Granger uses a device called a Time-Turner to attend multiple classes in a single school hour, and the Time-Turner later factors into the plot when Harry and his friends use it to battle Dementors and help Sirius Black escape execution. “I went far too light-heartedly into the subject of time travel in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ,” Rowling wrote. “While I do not regret it … it opened up a vast number of problems for me, because, after all, if wizards could go back and undo problems, where were my future plots?”

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After Azkaban, Time-Turners were eradicated from Rowling’s magical universe. Hermione returned hers to Professor McGonagall, and all remaining instruments were apparently destroyed in a climactic battle in the Department of Mysteries in the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix , ruling out any more time travel. Rowling concluded the Harry Potter series with a natural leap forward, showing Harry and his wife, Ginny, saying goodbye to their second child, Albus Severus, on the platform at King’s Cross as they sent him off to his first term at Hogwarts. It seemed as definitive an ending as any, but it’s at that exact moment that the newest installment of Harry’s story picks up.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child , the script of a two-part play that recently opened in London’s West End, is a faithful continuation of Rowling’s series that simultaneously breaks many of her rules. Although Rowling was involved in writing the story, the script is written by Jack Thorne, and the plot hinges on time travel in a way that prompts the question of how much Harry’s creator was involved, with wizards seeking to undo problems in a way that inevitably backfires. While almost all the major characters from the series return in some form or another, they’re less compelling than the two young heroes of the play, Albus Severus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy, the sons of Harry and his former rival Draco. As Albus and Scorpius struggle with living under the shadows cast by their fathers, Cursed Child too seems to wrestle with its legacy, borrowing heavily from older stories while simultaneously challenging the confines of their world.

Reading the next Harry Potter story in script form rather than in Rowling’s fluid, vivid prose was always going to be challenging for readers, so what’s most remarkable about Thorne’s work is how smoothly it flows. At its best, it’s as gripping as many of Rowling’s books were, with suspenseful plotting and twists that are just predictable enough to be gratifying. The stage directions are sometimes sparse, sometimes remarkably descriptive. (Here’s one after a Hogwarts student is drafted by the Sorting Hat: “ There’s a silence. A perfect, profound, silence. One that sits low, twists a bit, and has damage within it. ”)

The awkward hero of the first half is Albus Severus, Harry’s middle child, dwarfed by both his cocky, popular older brother, James, and his father’s impossible fame as The Boy Who Lived. The fourth scene of the first act, set in “a never-world of time change,” reveals glimpses of Albus’s increasing unhappiness after he arrives at Hogwarts, shows a disappointing lack of magical fluency, and is shut out by his fellow students. His one friend is Scorpius, a disarmingly sweet boy (in his first greeting with Albus, he literally sings about candy) who’s also an outcast because of outlandish rumors that he’s actually the son of … well, you know who.

It would be impossible to come up with a villain as cruel, malevolent, and outright fascinating as Lord Voldemort for the Cursed Child heroes to battle, so it’s almost poetic that Albus’s biggest enemy instead is his father. Thorne’s Harry Potter, all grown up, features prominently in the play, and the tension between him and his son is one of the most frustrating plot points, born out of dramatic necessity and riddled with cliché and angsty platitudes. “I didn’t choose, you know that?” Albus glowers in one scene. “I didn’t choose to be his son.” Later, Harry echoes the sentiment, saying, “Well, there are times I wish you weren’t ...” Although he immediately apologizes, why he feels this way is never really made clear; readers are left to intuit simply that the relationship is a troubled one.

Without revealing too much, Albus responds to his father’s outburst by conspiring with a mysterious young woman, Delphini, to go back in time and save one soul lost along the path of his father’s story. His motivation is shaky at best, but the decision pulls Albus, Scorpius, and Delphini into a montage of moments from Harry Potter history: The Tri-Wizard Tournament, a caper involving Polyjuice potion, the Forbidden Forest, a fearsome encounter with dementors. It’s familiar and well-worn territory at this point, and it might seem yawningly predictable if not for the shocking revelations that come in part two, many of which seem to destabilize Rowling’s universe rather than expand it.

Cursed Child , for one thing, seems fixated with chance, and the extraordinary power of twists of fate. The Harry Potter series always seemed to be a firm believer in free will—the power to change destiny by making specific and often difficult decisions. In the first book in the series, the Sorting Hat ponders whether Harry belongs in Gryffindor or Slytherin: “Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind, either. There’s talent, oh my goodness, yes—and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that’s interesting … So where shall I put you?”

“Not Slytherin,” Harry thinks, gripping his chair. The hat goes along with his request. But Albus, by contrast, is given no such choice. And as his tweaks in the space-time continuum play out, futures are similarly reshaped and lines redrawn in the blink of an eye. Good characters go bad. Terrible characters reemerge. “It feels like we were all tested, and we all—failed,” says Scorpius.

The discombobulating influence of going back in time and making tiny changes is one Potter fans are well aware of by now. For years since the release of the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows , Rowling has proffered hints and facts and tidbits that range from the remarkable (the beloved Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore was gay) to the banal (Teddy Lupin became a Hufflepuff). “The more Rowling enhances and embellishes her Harry Potter universe,” my colleague David Sims wrote last year , comparing Rowling to George Lucas, “the less room she leaves for readers to fill in the gaps with their own imaginations.”

Cursed Child , by this measure, is an act of overreach that feels mandated not by Rowling’s desire to fill out details but by an entertainment industry intent on reviving and rebooting anything that’s ever made money. Already, Warner Bros. (who produced all eight Harry Potter movies, which grossed more than $7.7 billion) has filed a film trademark for the title. The West End production is reportedly considering a move to Broadway. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts I and II is expected to become the bestselling book of 2016: an extraordinary achievement for the published script of a play.

Reading Cursed Child , for all its compelling twists and turns, at many points feels like reading well-crafted fan fiction—the names are the same, and the characters feel familiar, but it’s apparent that they’re imitations nonetheless. It’s entirely possible that seeing the stage play, directed by the monumentally talented John Tiffany ( Black Watch ), is a different experience, and certainly there’s no sign of anything but a furious demand for tickets. But for readers, in agreeing to revisit characters whose stories have already been deftly wrapped up, Rowling risks undermining the powerful legacy she gave them in the first place.

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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: EW book review

The Potter series has always stretched the imagination, but a narrative mind is charmed to work overtime in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child , the new stage play from J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany, billed as the eighth Potter story, 19 years later. Released in book form for both posterity and audiences who lack proximity to the current sold-out West End production, Scholastic’s publication of the Cursed Child rehearsal script manages to throw a wild new wrench into the Potter series, unlocking a rarely tapped portal of the reader’s imagination in a way no Potter book has before.

Much of that belongs to the medium of the story: A play which whizzes through locations and tableaus over four disorienting acts. It’s a beast to behold, but Thorne (from a story he conceived with Rowling and Tiffany) writes without limits. The playwright never dares to let the bounds of a proscenium performance limit the magic (or the set pieces) conjured up in the just-enough stage descriptions he includes, and the result is a script that demands to be seen. For perhaps the first time ever, the ceaseless wonders of Rowling’s wizarding world now come accompanied with an indescribable “How?” that cascades over the entire narrative. It’s theatre, plain and simple, and this interrogative purview of Harry’s existence is not a distraction but a gleeful new challenge tasked to readers and their imaginations. (Cynically, it’s also the ultimate marketing tool in getting thee to a box office.)

Heads inflate, bookcases eat, duels detonate in grand fashion, and centaurs and Dementors abound — all the markings of non-restraint on Thorne, Rowling, and Tiffany’s part, and thankfully so. Cursed Child teems with the clever, cerebral thrills we’ve come to demand in a Potter tale, especially one following in the line of succession behind the ur-mature Deathly Hallows . And all this, regardless of the story’s meta medium. Stage directions have been chosen with laser focus, and although the onus to perform the dialogue falls heavy on the reader, the force to think in this classic form does in fact wash away fairly quickly.

On a purely narrative level, this new story introduces captivating arcs and bold theories that immediately place this sequel squarely in Rowling’s world of simmering, slow-burn machinations. Even before the introduction of a byzantine layer of time travel (which admittedly dominates more of this story than is ideal), it’s clear the stakes here have not done much shrinking 19 years after our last encounter with the Potters. If Deathly Hallows offered the series’ most exciting and discombobulating array of back-to-back chapter action, Cursed Child does the same feat with twists and deductions between scenes. Some stick, and others exist perhaps more for shock, but once the (occasionally maddening) time-turning plotline sets in, the story kicks itself free of any assumed direction. By act three, all hell has broken loose, and it’s manic Potter madness. Voldemort may be gone, but all isn’t well — in the most delightful way in which that declaration can be true.

Thrills aside, the emotional core here is a deeply human one, which Rowling should consider a huge achievement decades in the making. As Harry struggles to find his footing as a parent, his youngest son Albus struggles even more to extract his own identity from the shadow of his father. One early, pivotal argument between the two is cutting on its own… and decades of familiarity with our wizened hero only twist the knife deeper.

Such is the case with the other core players. Hermione, now the Minister for Magic, is professionally uneasy but masterfully at home in her new role. Ron, her husband, is more carefree than ever in his freedom from Death Eaters and academia. To Thorne’s credit, his approach to seeing these characters function in the adult world miraculously avoids cynicism and what could have been a jarring leap of faith; they’re grounded here in the gems of familiar personality they get to display (like Hermione checking Harry’s paperwork at the Ministry of Magic). It’s only Draco whose evolution appears the least impactful and believable, owed to an off-stage tragedy that is a key yet unseen impetus for his behavior.

The introduction of primary protagonists Albus and Scorpius is, largely, perfect. Both characters immediately spring from the page and stake their claim as the wizarding world’s greatest new (yes, new) creations. Albus is rebellious, inquisitive, and foolhardy, but lovable despite his Order of the Phoenix levels of angst; Scorpius Malfoy is dryly funny and winningly sanguine, despite having every reason not to be. Rose, the daughter of Hermione and Ron, is underused but finely crafted, and a handful of other new characters are smartly conceived.

Cursed Child bears its flaws openly, but the lightest offenses are excused; forgive it its exposition, and its frequent returns to such language when the plot demands explanation as shock (which is often). Thorne offers some fine tributes to Rowling’s biting humor, but also strays on occasion; most noticeably, he errs in his homages to fallen characters. With such limited stage direction guiding the dialogue, the premise of figuring out emotion falls on the reader more than previous Potter books, but still, some exchanges read as sterile and unnatural. Of no fault to the playwright, that straight-play trope of awarding a meaty monologue to every character doesn’t quite lend itself to every arc in this tale; similarly, a handful of act-four scenes are detrimentally heavy-handed.

As is the nature of this modern age of revivals and reboots, Cursed Child reads — maybe even exists — as a field guide of cameos and surprises. Each one bears delights and induces smiles, but the play’s story device and its ability to summon up familiar faces feels like the likely reason Rowling and company felt the piece could and should in fact work now, here, in 2016. On that note, Cursed Child is also the series’ least standalone entry. It’s almost akin to Rowling’s complement works ( Quidditch Through the Ages , Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them , etc.), serving more as an experiment in hypothetical world development than in definitive measure. The punch of its revelations about the happenings at Hogwarts would no doubt have hit harder had Rowling not continued the story to such lengths on Pottermore or through her social media unveilings of character details.

Admittedly, it’s tempting to write off the work as Rowling-approved fan-fiction, rather than her own defining mythos. Certainly with time, fans will accept the story as canon, but some of the Cursed Child finality feels presently dubious — not insomuch as where characters have ended up, but in why their fates have almost been perfunctorily defined. It’s almost the Potter series’ response to the nostalgia-mania that’s defined this generation of regeneration — a condition Potter surprisingly subscribed to just nine years after its purported end. On one hand, the reprise helps uncover important new layers that only serve the greater, grander story; but on the other, certain moments in the series have been untied and hastily re-packaged here. (Coyly: Some portraits are best left silent.)

One wonders what Rowling would have done had Cursed Child manifested itself in her home medium, with her inimitable mode of description guiding readers rather than leaving them to fill in the acting blanks in their vision of how this piece operates on a stage (which, to be sure, is an adventure that Rowling, Thorne, Tiffany, and rights-holders Warner Bros. should be commended for embarking upon). But then, we have essentially already read these scenes in Rowling’s prose, and Cursed Child is all about ingenious experiments in the unseen. Here, the reader dares to enact a stretch of logic, imagination, and ethos, borne from Harry’s arrival in both the real world and the “real world.” This is Harry Potter like you’ve never experienced it before. Welcome to the theatre, where participants are asked to fall deeply into the hypnosis of a narrative while also being made wholly aware that they’re watching from the outside. It’s a dastardly strange, magical beast, but it’s one Rowling’s readers have been known — trained, even — to conquer. A

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Book Review

Harry potter and the cursed child.

• Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne; a new play by Jack Thorne
• Adventure , Fantasy , Play

Readability Age Range

• Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.
• Goodreads Choice Award, 2016; Holden-Crowther Award Nominee, 2016

Year Published

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne has been reviewed by Focus on the Family’s marriage and parenting magazine . It is the eighth “Harry Potter” book, but first play, and comes after the seven books in the “Harry Potter” series.

Plot Summary

Nineteen years have passed since the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. Harry is now a grown man and an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic. He’s married to Ginny Weasley, and their children are James, Albus and Lily. As the story begins, the Potter family is taking the nervous Albus to catch the train for his first year at Hogwarts.

The school’s students are divided into four houses, and Albus fears he may be chosen for the Slytherin house. Represented by a snake, Slytherin is known as a house of Dark Magic. Albus doesn’t believe it is a fitting place for brave wizards. At the train station, the Potters run into Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, who are now married and have two children. Hermione is the Minister of Magic. Their daughter, Rose Weasley-Granger, is also attending Hogwarts for the first time.

On the train ride, Rose lectures Albus about the importance of falling in with the right people at school. She’s distraught when Albus immediately befriends Scorpius Malfoy. Scorpius is the son of Harry’s Hogwarts rival, Draco. Rumor has it that Scorpius may be the biological son of Voldemort, the evil wizard who killed Harry’s parents and tried to kill Harry.

Some suggest Draco and his wife couldn’t have children, so they used a Time-Turner to send Scorpius’ mother back to Voldemort’s time. They supposedly did this to provide a powerful heir to the Malfoy line. At Hogwarts, the sorting hat chooses both Scorpius and Albus to be in the Slytherin house.

The next few years are only briefly depicted. Albus continues to dislike Hogwarts, where he repeatedly fails to live up to his famous father’s legacy. The relationship between Harry and Albus grows increasingly tense. When a man with an illegal Time-Turner is arrested, Harry and Hermione secretly ponder how to handle the situation. Hermione hides the time travel device in her office.

One evening, an elderly Amos Diggery comes to visit Harry at home. Nearly two decades earlier, Voldemort killed Diggory’s son, Cedric, simply because Cedric was with Harry. Amos plays on Harry’s guilt by mentioning he’s heard the ministry has seized a Time-Turner. He asks Harry to allow him to use it and get his son back. Harry denies the Time-Turner rumors. Albus overhears the conversation. As he eavesdrops, he meets Amos’ niece, Delphi, who is also listening.

As Albus starts packing to return to school, Harry gives him a small blanket. It is the last thing Harry has from his mother. Albus complains that it’s a useless gift. In anger, Harry and Albus tell each other they sometimes wish they weren’t related. Albus runs from the room as Harry pleads for him to come back. Harry begins having bad dreams, and his scar begins to ache again.

On the way back to school, Scorpius tells Albus about the Triwizard Tournament, which hasn’t taken place in two decades. Scorpius says during the last one, Harry and Cedric Diggory were transported to Voldemort. Voldemort called Cedric a spare , or a useless extra person in the situation, and killed him. Albus grows indignant, convinced his father lied to Amos about the Time-Turner. He decides he will help right one of the wrongs of the past by saving Cedric. Albus and Scorpius sneak off the train and make their way to St. Oswald’s Home for Old Witches and Wizards. They find Delphi and Amos and vow to get Cedric back.

Delphi makes a potion of Polyjuice for herself and the boys. After drinking it, she looks just like Hermione. Albus looks like Ron, and Scorpius is the spitting image of Harry. They enter Hermione’s office to search for the Time-Turner. They’re almost caught by the real Harry and Hermione, who are discussing what to do about Hogwarts’ message that Albus and Scorpius are missing. Albus (as Ron) keeps them from discovering their look-alikes. Then the kids rifle through Hermione’s magical bookshelf until they find the Time-Turner.

Based on a dream of Harry’s, the adults head toward the Forbidden Forest to search for the boys. There, Harry runs into a centaur with whom he fought in the Battle of Hogwarts. The centaur tells Harry there is a black cloud around Albus that could endanger everyone.

The boys use the Time-Turner to go into the past. There, they begin to watch the 1995 tournament. They have just managed to disarm Cedric when they are sent back to their normal time. They discover the Time-Turner only allows them to spend a few minutes in the past. They find themselves back in the present with their parents. Albus, who has broken his arm, collapses.

In the next scene, Albus sleeps in a hospital bed with Harry at his side. Professor Dumbledore’s image visits Harry, and Harry asks for advice about how to protect his son. Dumbledore urges him to discover what is wounding Albus. When Albus wakes, he lies to Harry about where he had gone. Harry tells Albus what he’s heard from the centaur. He vows to set measures in place to monitor Albus’ movements. He also says Albus may no longer associate with Scorpius.

As Albus becomes indignant, Ron enters. Albus discovers he and Scorpius have somehow changed the past. In this timeline, Ron isn’t married to Hermione, and Rose was never born. Albus also learns he is now part of the house of Gryffindor.

Harry makes good on his vow to keep Albus under surveillance. A sad Albus and a hurt Scorpius continue to pass each other at school. Delphi convinces Scorpius to talk to Albus and restore their friendship. Together, the boys make another trip to the tournament in 1995 to save Cedric. Scorpius returns to the present, but Albus isn’t with him. Scorpius learns that, because of their actions in their latest time travel, Harry died years ago. Albus does not exist, and Voldemort rules.

In part two, Scorpius tries to get his bearings in his current reality. He learns his father, Draco, has been involved in torturing and killing Mudbloods. He finds out Severus Snape is still alive in this reality, so Scorpius visits him. Snape takes Scorpius to Hermione and Ron, who are members of an underground rebellion. They piece together the reasons the most recent time travel went awry. Snape, Hermione and Ron travel back in time with Scorpius. Dementors appear, and Ron and Hermione distract the creatures so Snape and Scorpius can finish their mission.

The dementors suck out Ron’s and Hermione’s souls. A little later, dementors kill Snape as he helps Scorpius escape. As Scorpius emerges back into the present, Albus is with him once again. Scorpius says the Time-Turner is gone. The headmistress lectures the boys for breaking so many rules and chides Hermione for keeping the Time-Turner in the first place. Scorpius later tells Albus that he still has the Time-Turner. As the boys are deciding how to destroy the device, Delphi appears. They learn she is Voldemort’s daughter. She breaks their wands and steals the Time-Turner.

Harry and Draco visit Amos Diggery and learn Delphi was not his niece as she had said. Meanwhile, Delphi kills one of the boys’ classmates and takes Albus and Scorpius back in time with her. She informs them that she wants the rebirth of the Dark in the form of Voldemort’s return. She wants them to help her humiliate Cedric so that he will become evil and pave the way for Voldemort’s victory. They thwart Delphi’s plans, so she destroys the Time-Turner and traps the boys in 1995.

The adults, having discovered Delphi’s plan to resurrect Voldemort, try to determine what’s happened to the boys. Draco confesses to Harry that his father had a Time-Turner built. They talk about using it, but they realize it won’t do any good since they don’t know where or when to find their sons.

Albus and Scorpius decide they must get a message to their fathers in the future. They leave a magical note on the blanket Harry’s mother gave him, telling Harry where to meet them in the past. Harry discovers Albus’ message. He, Ginny, Ron, Draco and Hermione travel back to the time at which Voldemort killed Harry’s parents.

There, they meet the boys. They believe Delphi will try to meet her father there and change the course of history for the worse. To draw her out, Harry takes on the form of Voldemort. They battle, and he captures Delphi with the help of his friends. Harry must decide whether to change the course of history by stopping Voldemort from killing his parents.

Ultimately he decides to let history play out as it did originally so he and his friends and family can go home. It’s painful for him to watch. Back in the present, Harry and Albus begin to mend their relationship. Harry also starts to deal with some of his crippling memories involving Voldemort.

Christian Beliefs

Other belief systems.

The Harry Potter stories take place in a magical world where people frequently cast spells, transform into other things or people and perform magic. They learn these things in their classes at Hogwarts. Hermione’s bookshelf includes some banned and cursed books. Scorpius is surprised to find books on Divination because he knows Hermione hates Divination.

In an alternate timeline, Hermione is the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. In class, she talks about a magical charm called Patronus, which takes the shape of an animal. A person can conjure one to protect him or herself from the world. On several occasions, characters spar using incantations and wands. Harry is transfigured into the form of Voldemort.

Authority Roles

Harry and Ginny are loving parents, though Harry struggles to connect with his son. Draco cares deeply about his son but sometimes has difficulty expressing himself. Harry often has dreams about his Aunt Petunia. In one dream, she mocks Harry for wetting the bed at night.

Profanity & Violence

The words d–n , h— and frigging appear a time or two.

Sexual Content

Ron kisses Hermione once.

Discussion Topics

Get free discussion questions for this book and others, at FocusOnTheFamily.com/discuss-books .

Additional Comments

Stealing: Albus steals an invisibility cloak from his brother, James. The boys steal the Time-Turner from Hermione’s office.

Alcohol: Ron says he would like to marry Hermione again because he was too drunk to remember much of their original wedding. He says he’d like the opportunity to be sober and tell others how much he loves her.

You can request a review of a title you can’t find at [email protected] .

Book reviews cover the content, themes and worldviews of fiction books, not their literary merit, and equip parents to decide whether a book is appropriate for their children. The inclusion of a book’s review does not constitute an endorsement by Focus on the Family.

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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

By j.k. rowling.

'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' is the play that followed the Harry Potter book series. It premiered on 30 July 2016. A book of the same name containing the script of the play was released on 31 July 2016 on the character Harry Potter’s birthday.

About the Book

Article written by Mohandas Alva

M.A. Degree in English Literature from Manipal University, India.

The story of this play follows from the point the last installment of the book series, ‘ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ left off, where, in the epilogue, 19 years after the Second Wizarding War, Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron are all accompanying their children to King’s Cross Station in London for them to board the Hogwarts Express.

Key Facts about Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

• Title: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
• Published: 31 July 2016
• Literary Period: Contemporary
• Genre: Fantasy
• Point-of-View: Third Person
• Setting: 2010s Great Britain
• Climax: When Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Draco, Scorpius, and Albus face Delphini in Godric’s Hollow
• Antagonist: Delphini

J. K. Rowling and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

J. K. Rowling claimed when she had written the last book of the series, ‘ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ‘ that the story ends there. However, she was also considering writing the last lines of the book in the epilogue with some ambiguity claiming that Harry’s scar hurt, but instead decided to go with the lines “The scar had not pained Harry for 19 years. All was well.”

In ‘ Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,’ the story picks up from the epilogue, and one day, Harry’s scar starts hurting again. J. K. Rowling collaborated on this play with Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne was the major playwright for this play.

J. K. Rowling has stated in interviews that she wanted to write ‘ Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ because it felt like an important story to tell, especially the part where Albus Severus Potter is the major new protagonist of this story. She claimed that she liked Albus Potter a lot and that being sent to Hogwarts with the names Albus and Severus with the surname Potter felt like a very huge responsibility to carry and live up to, and that story needed to be told. Furthermore, it is very refreshing to hear a Harry Potter story where Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and even Draco have to take on roles of responsibility.

Books Related to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

The most obvious books related to ‘ Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ are all the Harry Potter books from the series. However, ‘ Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ is certainly more closely related to ‘ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ and ‘ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire .’ The major connection between ‘ Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ and ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ is that they are connected through the epilogue and are chronologically consecutive. Furthermore, a lot of important details are discussed in ‘ Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’, like Snape being a double agent, Dumbledore’s plan to finally vanquish Voldemort , and the prophecy made by Sybill Trelawney are details from the plot of ‘ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’.

This play is also related closely to ‘ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ because the plot consists of time travel, and the characters of the play , Albus and Scorpius, frequently go back in time to the events that occur during the Triwizard Tournament in an attempt to save Cedric Diggory from dying. Therefore, a lot of events that occur in ‘ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ feature in this play, and all three of the Triwizard Tournament tasks are portrayed in this play.

The Lasting Impact of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

The performance of the play ‘ Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ in the Palace Theatre, London, and later on Broadway and West End, garnered positive acclaim both from audiences and critics alike. It was lauded for its witty humor and fresh take on the wizarding world. Furthermore, the younger generation of characters like Albus Severus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy was well-liked by the audiences.

The book that was published under the same name was also received well but had mixed opinions among fans of the beloved book series. While many readers really liked the character Scorpius and even Albus Potter and the original but now grown characters, several readers found the plot and setting of the novel very plain and unappealing. The trope of Time Travel was seen as a cliché by many readers because it has been used so frequently in the genre of science fiction and fantasy literature.

It won several awards, including the Evening Standard Theatre Award of 2016 in several categories and also the Critics’ Circle Theatre Award in the same year.  It won the Laurence Olivier Award in 2017 in several categories, and its Broadway performance also garnered the Tony Awards in 2018.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Review ⭐

‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ is a very interesting and engrossing play for some fans of the Harry Potter universe, but many purists see it as a not so satisfying addition to a much-beloved book series.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Quotes 💬

‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ is a play with a lot of quotable lines, just like the rest of the Harry Potter books.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Character List 🧙

‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ is known for balancing the nostalgia with the nuance of this Harry Potter story with its wide variety of characters some of whom readers are familiar with and others who are completely new and unknown to readers.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Themes and Analysis 🧙

‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ has several interesting themes including friendship, love, betrayal and legacy that are portrayed very accurately in it.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Summary 🧙

‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ is a standalone play written by Jack Thorne in collaboration with John Tiffany and J. K. Rowling herself. It is directly related to the Harry Potter book series and takes off from the epilogue of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’.

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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child book review: A 10-year-old speed-reader gives his verdict on the scripts

'it’s a really good story. it’s a very complicated story', article bookmarked.

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It’s finally here: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child , the eighth ( and final? ) part of the Harry Potter saga has been released worldwide for fans to enjoy.

Within an hour, the very first review was up, in thanks to 10-year-old speed-reader Toby L’Estrange , who finished the book in 59 minutes and awarded it six out of ten.

His main criticism focuses on the lack of time with each character, saying most scenes are quite short while also pointing out the storyline is confusing at times and requires knowledge of the previous Harry Potter installments.

However, he concludes that, once things get going, it “was a really good story”, just a little complicated at times.

First look at Harry Potter and The Cursed Child

Read the full review below thanks to Amazon .

10-year-old speed-reader Toby L’Estrange's review of The Cursed Child

Phew. Just finished speed reading the new Harry Potter book. My score on a scale of 1-10? I think it’s a 6. My favourite is still Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – it had lots of fun challenges and you got the best glimpse of Hogwarts).This one’s a bit different from all the others.

Firstly it’s the script for a play, so it’s quite different from reading a novel. The whole story is told through what the characters say to each other – plus some stage directions. But once you get over that, you read it just the same as the others – except the play is in two parts, so the book is too.

Secondly Harry and the others are grown ups which is a bit weird. And they’ve got children. So the story is a mixture of grown ups we sort of know, plus children we don’t know, in Hogwarts which we know well (but now Neville Longbottom is a professor of herbology at the school – Hagrid’s still there – and the head is now Prof McGonagall.

I’m not giving anything away (because JK Rowling introduced all these characters at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) by telling you that the story is about Harry and Ginny’s children, Albus, James and Lily – but Lily’s too young to go to Hogwarts – and Ron and Hermione’s children, Rose and Hugo, Bill and Fleur’s daughter Victoire, and Tonks and Lupin’s son Teddy (last seen snogging Victoire), and Draco Malfoy’s son Scorpius (who would call their son Scorpius??? – Draco Malfoy obviously).

But now it gets tricky. What can I write without spoiling the story for you? OK. I’ll try.

It’s a really good story. It’s a very complicated story. It happens in different times, so it’s really helpful if you know all the other books and characters quite well (I do – and so does any other true Harry Potter fan). When I first started it was really difficult to know what was happening because everything was mixed up, but then it all got quite exciting – and a bit (a bit!) clearer.

It’s mostly about Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy – which is odd because Harry and Draco were enemies. And Harry and Albus don’t see eye to eye on – well, pretty much everything.

I haven’t really got a favourite character because not many of the characters appear for long. All the scenes are quite short (they might be longer when you watch them.) There’s a sort of cliff hanger at the end of Part One – but actually the way the story is told everything’s quite jumbled with different realities so it’s quite hard to keep track of which reality you’re in.

Who is the cursed child??? I’ve got three possibilities. I’m not sure – you’ll have to decide. 

If you want to know any more, you’ll have to read it yourself. But that’s the whole point. And I think you’re going to love it."

Book readers were up all night for the launch of the Cursed Child , with many stores holding midnight parties so fans of the series could get hold of the book as soon as it hit shelves.

Meanwhile, JK Rowling has said the Cursed Child will likely be the last story to focus on Harry Potter as the ‘new generation’ take over.

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Book Review: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Harry Potter made a return to the forefront of pop culture at the end of July with the release of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a screenplay of the new stage play that takes us back to the magical wizarding world. It’s a bold new direction for the story, taking place nineteen years after the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (please note that this review will assume that you have read or, at the very least, watched the final entry in the series), and the world is a very different place for Harry and his friends.

Almost two decades have passed since the Battle of Hogwarts. Since Voldemort’s defeat, our original heroes have attempted to move on with their lives. Harry is a Ministry of Magic official now, head of the Office of Magical Law Enforcement. He’s happily married to Ginny, and father of three children. Hermione is Minister of Magic, and married to Ron, who has taken over operation of Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes. At the outset of the play, Harry and Ginny’s second child, Albus, is bound for his first year at Hogwarts. While on the train, he meets his fellow first year, Scorpius Malfoy, and despite their fathers’ history, they become fast friends. In short order, the boys arrive at school and are both sorted into Slytherin, much to Albus’s surprise.

The following years pass quickly (we are only shown hints of events during the first three years that Albus and Scorpius are in school), showing the lack of real communication between Albus and his father. Being the son of The Boy Who Lived, it turns out, is not easy. Albus has Scorpius as a friend, but neither of them seem to be the children their fathers hoped they would be. You see, a rumor has been flying about the wizarding world that Draco Malfoy isn’t actually Scorpius’s dad. Gossip is that Malfoy wasn’t able to have a child, and so he illegally used a Time Turner in order for his wife to conceive a son with Lord Voldemort. This rumor is given more credence when the Ministry of Magic confiscates what is believed to be the last Time Turner in existence, one that doesn’t appear to have the one-hour-back limit of previous ones. But if someone could go back more than one hour in time, what would they seek to do with that power?

In their fourth year, Albus and Scorpius learn about the existence of the Time Turner and ask themselves that question. When Amos Diggory arrives at the Ministry to implore Harry to go back and save his son, Cedric from Voldemort, Harry refuses, for fear of what disrupting the past might do. When given the opportunity, though, Albus and Scorpius leap at a chance to change the world in the hopes of finding their place within it. However, the threat of Lord Voldemort doesn’t only linger in the past.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child isn’t a Harry Potter novel. It’s a play based on a story by J.K. Rowling, but the heavy lifting of the writing was done by Jack Thorne and John Tiffany. It’s a vastly different sort of read because of that, and we don’t get anywhere near the level of insight into each character. It doesn’t move in quite the same way, but it is no less magical. Cursed Child is to the Harry Potter series what The Force Awakens was to Star Wars: a return to a beloved world that retreads some familiar moments while still laying the groundwork for a younger generation. New perspectives on classic moments left me feeling more connected to the characters than I had since first finishing Deathly Hallows.

Having read through the entirety of the screenplay, I only want one more thing from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I want to see it on stage.

(Note: This review orignally appeared here: https://swordsoftheancients.com/2016/08/10/harry-potter-and-the-cursed-… )

Book Review: “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” 

By Ciara Anderson, ‘16

“Harry Potter” fans rejoiced this past summer as the eighth installment of the series was released. J.K. Rowling joined forces with Jack Thorne to create a play and a book to add to the Wizarding World. It was an exciting idea that answered many questions that were left unanswered from previous installments.

The book is simply a script from the play that has garnered much attention. The last we saw Harry was in “The Deathly Hallows.” This book introduced the characters Albus Severus, James Sirius, Lily Luna, and Rose and Hugo Granger-Weasley that are revisited in “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.” The basis of the story surrounds Albus Severus Potter (Harry and Ginny’s son) and Scorpius Malfoy‘s (Draco’s son) quest to save Cedric Diggory. Or rather, simultaneously fix everything they ruined in the process.

Cedric Diggory is a main character in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” the fourth book in the series, who (spoiler alert) dies and leaves Harry feeling guilty for the rest of his life. Cedric is a loveable character, which is why his appearance in this new book was exciting. Book fans knew of Harry’s guilt throughout the rest of the series, but to base an entire script off of that—stroke of genius.

The unanswered questions: what’s going to happen to the children? Where is Harry and the gang now? Has the wizarding world stayed peaceful throughout this entire time?

This is 19 years’ worth of questions of course not in real time, though it feels like it. All of them were answered somewhat and the book was action packed, bringing old characters back to life and making us fall in love with the new ones!

Unfortunately, this book only reached my expectations, it did not exceed them. The other releases left me excited to read the next book, while this one only made me feel content that there was another Harry Potter continuation. I wish the father and son relationship between Harry and Albus was more concise. When we first met Albus it seemed like he and Harry were the closest out of all his children, then this relationship became hazy. They didn’t want to be related at one point, and then Albus suddenly wanted to save Harry’s reputation with Cedric Diggory’s death? Of course this makes for an amazing plot and shows that Harry’s stubbornness that fans have grown to love did not fall far from the tree, but a bit more clarity with their relationship would have made this book an A+.

I would recommend this book to everyone, the only requirement I have is to read the first seven books and fall in love with the greatest pieces of fiction of our time.

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Book review: harry potter and the cursed child.

Priyali Prakash

Priyali is an ardent lover of chocolates, coffee, chicken, mountains, the colour purple, MS Dhoni and Chandler Bing, she is curious and not-so-sensitive, but at the same time knows how to appreciate life in its sheds and forms and all that there is to see, to travel to, to eat and to imbibe. LESS ... MORE

The much-awaited Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was released three days ago and all those who solemnly swore by the ‘Boy who Lived’ till now have a chance to relive the magic.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is definitely the eighth book in the Harry Potter series, picking up from where we left – nineteen years after the Battle of Hogwarts. This book, written by John Tiffany and Jack Thorne is based on a story written by our queen, JK Rowling.

Released as a special rehearsal edition script, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is divided into two parts and is spread across four acts and various scenes. As is common knowledge for the Potter fandom, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child traces the tumultuous relationship between Harry Potter, a thirty-seven-year-old ‘overworked Ministry of Magic employee’, and his son Albus Severus Potter, who has to carry the weight of unwanted popularity and history that comes attached to his last name.

But, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has more than that to offer. It brings our favourites Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny and the much-hated Draco Malfoy together in situations where they can’t escape each other. It also has mentions of many dead characters – Dumbledore, Cedric Diggory, Lord Voldemort, James and Lily Potter – and all of them have something to contribute in their own unique ways. The book is compelling enough, like its predecessors, to force you to not put it down. At the same time, it is a light-reading book with less text, which adds to the ease of reading.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child traverses through our pleasant and unpleasant memories of the wizarding world – students boarding the Hogwarts Express at platform nine and three-quarters, the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, centaurs in the Forbidden Forest, Ministry of Magic, the treacherous floo powder mode of travel, the Godric’s Hollow, the Triwizard Tournament and what not! It juggles between the past and the present in ways that could change their future to extents that are unimaginable and unforeseen.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child brings to the fore the troubles of dealing with both famous and infamous legacies, of fragile human relationships, of having a shot at altering your life and deciding who to put first – yourself or others.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is very much a Potter book – it has all the plot twists and turns and characters and quotes that stay with you long after you have read the book. For anyone who tells you otherwise – don’t let them. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a beautiful rendition.

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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – Parts One and Two

Being Harry Potter has never been easy. And it isn’t much easier now, as we catch up with him nineteen years after the Battle of Hogwarts.

These days, Harry is a husband, father of three school-age children, and an overworked employee at the Ministry of Magic.

While he struggles with a personal history that refuses to stay in the past, his youngest son Albus must grapple with the weight of the family legacy he never asked for.

As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage.

Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne, the play was scripted by Jack and directed by John.

It received its world premiere in London’s West End on 30 July 2016.

Publishers: UK Print – Little, Brown US Print – Scholastic eBook – Pottermore

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After Reading The "Harry Potter" Series 20 Times, Here's Why I'll Never Touch "Cursed Child" Again

J.K. Rowling has cursed us all with this terrible book. 😒

"All was well."

Those were the three words that ended the epic 7-part Harry Potter series when the final book was released in 2007. The three syllables brought closure to millions of fans after years of watching our hero, Harry, suffer unimaginable loss.

Flash forward nine years to the first announcement of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, when fans found out that, actually, all is not well for Harry Potter .

Even though we thought J.K. Rowling had closed the door to the wizarding world, the fandom – me especially – welcomed the new Harry Potter installment with open arms and I pre-ordered it faster than a Firebolt with a nice tailwind.

When I finally got my hands on the play-turned-novel, I actually cried into the crisp new pages – I couldn't believe that after nine years I was finally going home.

As soon as I cracked it open, my excitement deflated. These characters – this world – was nothing like I remembered. It's like J.K. wasn't even a part of the literary process – which, according to the author byline, she wasn't. The bold print clearly states the book was written by Jack Thorne, based on a story he created with J.K. Rowling and John Tiffany – but I still thought J.K. would make sure Harry was done justice.

As I worked my way through the chapters, I got the feeling Thorne didn't read the books thoroughly before writing it. Instead, it seems like he watched two or three movies, then decided to make a farfetched fan fiction based on what he incorrectly thought Harry Potter was.

As a result, the characters aren't true to themselves – it's like Thorne turned the Resurrection Stone thrice in hand and conjured pale imitations of the witches and wizards we love.

Cursed Child- Ron tells jokes, because that's what people who work at joke shops do, don't you know? Draco Malfoy is weirdly affectionate towards the trio he despised. *SPOILER ALERT* Snape is honored that Harry's son is named after him, even though he absolutely despised Harry and anything to do with the Potter name. And Harry can barely have a conversation with his own son, Albus — something I know Harry would never, ever let happen.

Unlike the rest of the Harry Potter books, the entire plot of Cursed Child is random and shallow.

Because he's angry at Harry for a reason that was only lightly touched upon, Albus Potter develops a fixation with Cedric Diggory, which becomes the premise for the entire book. He overhears Amos Diggory talking about his son Cedric's untimely death once (I repeat: ONCE) and suddenly decides that his sole purpose in life is to go back in time and stop Cedric – a stranger who has nothing to do with him and died before Albus was even born – from dying. (Refresher: Cedric accidentally went to the graveyard in Goblet of Fire and was killed by Peter Pettigrew under Voldemort's orders.)

The whole thing leaves me with one question: Why would Albus, who knows nothing about Cedric and has not been effected by his death in the slightest, decide to undergo this random mission to revive him?

Albus gives some feeble excuse about how saving Cedric will make up for the people who died because of their association with Harry, which seems like a disconnected attempt on the author's behalf to invent a dangerous plot line. In the original books, Harry's missions were always 100% necessary (ex: Saving the Sorcerer's Stone from Voldemort, saving Ginny Weasley from the basilisk, saving Sirius from Voldemort, hunting down Horcruxes). But Albus' ridiculously risky decisions could never have a successful outcome, which makes it impossible to root for him. The whole book I was just thinking GO HOME, ALBUS.

Alongside the Cedric narrative, there's a side plot that reveals Delphi, who enters the story as a new friend claiming to be Cedric's cousin, is Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange's daughter, making her the 'bad guy.' It's a desperate attempt to create an antagonist and to a die-hard HP fan, it just doesn't ring true. There was nothing in the first seven books that implied Voldemort and Bellatrix had a child, in fact quite the opposite – true Potterheads remember that Bella is married to a fellow Death Eater.

It seems lazy that Thorne opted out of developing a new character and just decided to keep playing off of the Voldemort's-the-villain story line. Since he couldn't believably revive You-Know-Who, Thorne just settled for the next best thing: Voldemort Jr.

There's a scene in Order of the Phoenix where Harry's beloved pet owl Hedwig gets hurt, so Harry is forced to leave her with the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Professor Grubbly-Plank, for treatment. As the professor walks away with her, Hedwig stares at Harry "as though unable to believe he would give her away like this." And that's exactly how I feel.

I am hurt and angry that J.K. would hand my beloved series away to someone who doesn't even know it or understand it. Thorne didn't grasp that what makes the Harry Potter series a world, and not just a story, is its depth.

In the seven books, three official spin-offs, and countless Pottermore stories J.K. Rowling carefully crafted, each and every plot turn had a rock-solid reason behind it, which often wasn't revealed until four books later. Even now that Harry's story has ended, Potterheads are still finding information about the wizarding world hidden in the tangled web of information J.K. created.

She could have used her own special kind of magic to bring Harry alive again in Cursed Child , but instead she let an outsider conjure up a ghost.

Kelsey is Seventeen.com's fashion expert and resident Harry Potter nerd. At the office, she spends her day writing about style, beauty, and literally every move Kylie Jenner makes. On the weekends, you can find her sifting through vintage shops and hunting for the perfect burger. Follow her on Instagram at @klstieg.

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West End Review: ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’

By Matt Trueman

Matt Trueman

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It is, quite simply, spellbinding: The Show That Lived Up to Expectations — and Then Some. Three years after J. K. Rowling announced her boy wizard would hit the stage, “ Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ” — no mere rehash, but a whole new chapter — proves a proper theatrical blockbuster. Not just at the box office, but onstage as well: a captivating story given a spectacular staging and — Rowling’s specialty — a big, big heart. Twenty years ago, Harry Potter turned a generation onto reading. “The Cursed Child” could do the same for theater.

Its secret is simple: Rowling’s fantastical world is realized not with high-tech wizardry, but through the rough magic of theater. Broomsticks hop into their owners’ hands. Wands spit green jets of fire, blasting wizards ten feet into the air. Bodies vanish, balloon and transfigure. Ears shoot steam. Objects levitate.

Director John Tiffany ’s staging is full of tiny impossibilities, but it’s big on imagination too. Suitcases spring into shape as the Hogwarts Express, and two shifting staircases make a maze of school corridors. Huge iron arches, the ribs of the roof at Kings Cross station, slide in to become the Forbidden Forest. Even scenes changes proceed with the swish of a cloak. The whole thing seems motored by magic.

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Rowling’s sequel picks up where the books left off, with that coda at Kings Cross, 19 years on, as Harry sees his second son, Albus Severus Potter, off to Hogwarts for the first time. He is, as the book suggests, an anxious kid, nervous about leaving home, uncomfortable with attention and scared of being sorted into Slytherin.

If the originals showed one side of adolescence, “The Cursed Child” presents another — not the golden boy fighting for good, but the misfit battling with himself. Sam Clemmett’s Albus is a meek young thing, forever in his father’s shadow and preferring Hogwarts’ dark corners to its limelight. He finds an unlikely friend in Scorpius Malfoy, Draco’s son: geeky, gawky and, in Anthony Boyle’s hands, all fingers and thumbs. The more the pair try to ingratiate themselves with their peers, the more they end up isolated.

It’s the friendship of two bullied boys bound together, and it’s a beautiful, tender thing. The script by Jack Thorne (“Skins,” “Shameless”) recognizes that rejection breeds resentment, and outsiders stew into outcasts. No one’s born a villain, nor sees themselves as such, and where the books gave us stock baddies, “Cursed Child” fleshes them out. Albus and Scorpius only ever try to make good, but their efforts tend to lead to bad.

This is, however, still Harry’s story as much as his son’s, and if, 20 years ago, Rowling shepherded a generation through their teenage years, now she provides parenting lessons. An orphan abused by his foster family, Jamie Parker’s Harry struggles with his son. Their conversations always come back to him; their relationship is stern and serious, never playful or affectionate. The Boy That Lived has become The Man That Frowns — his hero complex is a burden and his childhood a barrier to letting others in. Parker’s superb. When he folds his arms, he seems to hug himself. His own frustrations rebound on his son.

Rowling has found a neat way to revisit her original, allowing for both novelty and nostalgia. Without giving those secrets away, her plot has shades of fan-fiction to it, revealing the past anew and prodding at its possibilities. It’s built for aficionados, of course, and while flashbacks and (clunky) exposition fill in the key plot points, you do need a knowledge of the world itself, from floo networks to Dementors’ Kisses.

Where it retreads old ground, the “Cursed Child” sometimes stutters. Familiar faces make welcome returns, but they’re pale imitations of their old selves. Theater butts up against its limitations too: the evils that seemed so vivid in your head or on screen stray into high camp on stage. That holds back Part Two of this five-hour-plus epic. When plot kicks in, it doesn’t yield the same wonder as the world that’s pulled together in Part One.

The show is far better when it moves things on. As adults, Ron and Hermione are the same as ever. Noma Dumezweni adds a cool authority to the latter’s racing mind, and Paul Thornley finds humor in the old Weasley haplessness. It’s Boyle, though, who really stands out, and his Scorpius is bound to be a new fan favorite, a lovable geek with wits as quick as his voice is screechy.

Beneath the surface, “Cursed Child” is absolutely contemporary. It shows a generation that has known only peace and certainty on the cusp of chaos; its villain isn’t an overlord with an army at hand, but a lone terrorist acting in and out of isolation. Even run by good people, the Ministry of Magic makes mistakes, and the Marauder’s Map, once a mischief maker’s friend, has become a surveillance tool. The answer this time is not solo heroics but collective action.

That’s true of the show itself. Its every element pulls together. Christine Jones’s shapeshifting space, all oak paneling and wrought iron, seems to ripple with Finn Ross’s projections. Jamie Harrison’s illusions, sleight of hand and misdirection would be nothing without Neil Austin’s exquisite lighting. Steven Hoggett’s movement makes the most of Katrina Lindsay’s costumes. It’s total theater. And, yep, it’s magic.

Palace Theater, London; 1,400 seats; £65 (£130 for both parts), $85 ($170) top. Reviewed July 23rd, 2016. Running time: 5 HOURS, 15 MIN.

• Production: A Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender production of two play in two acts by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne.
• Crew: Original story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany; Script by Jack Thorne; Directed by John Tiffany; Set design, Christine Jones; costume design, Katrina Lindsay; Composer, Imogen Heap; lighting, Neil Austin; sound, Gareth Fry; Special Effects, Jeremy Chernick; Illusions and Magic, Jamie Harrison; Musical Supervisor, Martin Lowe; Casting, Julia Horan.
• Cast: Nicola Alexis, Jeremy Ang Jones, Helen Aluko, Rosemary Annabella, Annabel Baldwin, Jack Bennett, Paul Bentall, Anthony Boyle, Zoe Brough, Sam Clemmett, Morag Cross, Noma Dumezweni, Christina Fray, Claudia Grant, James Howard, Christiana Hutchings, Lowri James, Martin Johnston, Chris Jarman, Alfred Jones, Chipo Kureya, James Le Lacheur, Helena Lymbery, Tom Mackley, Barry McCarthy, Sandy McDade, Andrew McDoanld, Adam McNamara, Poppy Miller, Tom Milligan, Jack North, Jamie Parker, Alex Price, Stuart Ramsay, Ewan Rutherford, Nuno Silva, Cherrelle Skeete, Esther Smith, Nathaniel Smith, Dylan Standen, Paul Thornley, Joshua Wyatt.

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Why hbo's harry potter tv remake can't end the same way as the books or movies.

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HBO's Harry Potter TV Show: Updates & Everything We Know

It's time for grey's anatomy to move on from meredith, seal team season 7 risks ruining season 6's perfect ending.

• HBO's Harry Potter remake will give more focus to individual character arcs in a TV format, allowing for a satisfying ending beyond the epilogue.
• The new series aims to correct the simplifications in the final battle and hopefully explore events between Voldemort's downfall and the epilogue.
• While the epilogue was divisive, HBO's remake could go beyond it, potentially covering events from Cursed Child for a unique ending.

HBO's Harry Potter remake will retell the entire magical story, but some changes must be made to the grand finale. The new series' TV format will allow for a more book-faithful adaptation, which is great news considering all the Harry Potter movies had to cut. However, changing a story from one medium to another is no simple task, especially when the plot is already so familiar to fans. Changes will be necessary, but so long as HBO is careful, the upcoming Harry Potter TV show can end with a bang while still aligning with canon.

Warner Bros and HBO plan to begin streaming the Harry Potter remake on Max sometime in 2026 , with entire seasons dedicated to each of author J.K. Rowling's books. The series falls within a 10-year plan established by the two companies, which means that we still have a long way to go before the end of Harry's story is again adapted to the screen. Still, there is a lot to look forward to in this regard since Harry and Voldemort's final battle was simplified for the Harry Potter movies. This and much more will need to be corrected for the remake, but it's the epilogue that may need the bigger adjustments.

Harry Potter is being remade as a television show for HBO Max and every detail about the next adaptation featuring the Boy Wizard can be found here.

The Harry Potter Remake's TV Format Requires A New Ending

Hbo's harry potter remake will need to dedicate more time to wrapping up individual character arcs.

The epilogue of the Harry Potter movies was more or less the same as the books. The story jumped ahead 19 years to the day that Harry and Ginny were bringing their middle son, Albus Severus, to the Hogwarts Express for the first time. It was a heartwarming scene and perfectly demonstrated the safer version of the wizarding world that Harry had helped bring about. However, since those who have read the books and watched the movies have now experienced this ending twice, HBO's remake will need to do something different to keep audiences on their toes.

Still, this isn't the most important reason the Harry Potter remake would need a new ending. As effective as the epilogue was at allowing a peek into a Voldemort-free wizarding world, it did very little to tie up the loose ends of individual character stories. This was acceptable for the book and movie series, but it won't be enough for the Harry Potter remake, which will follow a unique set of unwritten story rules .

Every character arc will need to be wrapped up, and in a TV format, the short Harry Potter epilogue simply won't cut it.

The TV show format of the Harry Potter remake means that far more attention must be placed on the arcs of individual characters. While the books and movies mainly focused on Harry's perspective, it would be strange to stick with this for dozens of hours across seven seasons worth of episodes. We are sure to get more one-on-one time with the other characters of Harry Potter , and this will mean that each of these storylines will need a satisfying ending. Every character arc will need to be wrapped up, and in a TV format, the short Harry Potter epilogue simply won't cut it.

The Harry Potter Epilogue Has Always Been A Divisive Ending

Even for the books & movies, the epilogue didn't quite cut it.

The epilogue of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was undoubtedly heartwarming, but the scene itself has been the topic of heavy debate for years. The movie version was especially frustrating, with almost no time dedicated to what life looked like for these characters in the years following Voldemort's downfall. Additionally, the aging-up makeup used on the Golden Trio was notoriously bad , and after years with these characters, spending the final scene of Harry Potter with their heavily powdered counterparts was a bit of a disappointment.

The book version of the Harry Potter epilogue had a little more to offer, but it still wasn't perfect. While the text did mention that Neville Longbottom had become a Hogwarts teacher and that Hagrid was alive and well, there was very little else offered in the way of a satisfying ending for the plethora of characters Harry Potter had introduced . More focus was put on Harry's children (and their outrageous names) , and while this had value toward the themes of peace in a time without Voldemort, it left many readers unsatisfied.

HBO's Harry Potter Remake Can Go Beyond The Ending (& Still Stay Canon)

The final season of the harry potter tv show can cover the events between voldemort's downfall & the epilogue.

The biggest problem with the ending of Harry Potter is the gap between Harry defeating Lord Voldemort and the epilogue. It was important that audiences see the life that Harry had built for himself 19 years later, but the ending left questions about the days and years following the Battle of Hogwarts a mystery . Answers about how the Weasleys handled Fred's death, when Harry and Ginny got married, what Neville did after becoming a war hero, who took care of Teddy Lupin, and much more were only answered after the series ended. Thankfully, HBO's Harry Potter remake can fix this.

We could see Fred's funeral, Harry and Ginny's wedding, Teddy Lupin's first birthday, and much more.

Though the epilogue must still be featured in the Harry Potter remake, the story can be continued beyond Harry's defeat of Lord Voldemort. Perhaps t he time jump forward 19 years can be balanced by flashbacks of important moments that took place in the years between . We could see Fred's funeral, Harry and Ginny's wedding, Teddy Lupin's first birthday, and much more. The Harry Potter TV show could see Minerva McGonagall bravely step in as headmistress of Hogwarts, and the scene in which Dolores Umbridge is sent to Azkaban could be featured as well. These would all be canon moments finally brought to the screen.

Most questions about what happened between Voldemort's downfall and the Harry Potter epilogue were answered by J.K. Rowling on Wizarding World (originally Pottermore ).

Could The Harry Potter TV Show Cover Cursed Child Too?

The story of cursed child would need a lot of changes to work as a tv show.

After filling in the 19 years of important events, the Harry Potter TV show could still end with the epilogue (preferably with some better aging-up makeup). However, the story doesn't necessarily have to stop here, either. Rowling continued the tale with Harry Potter and the Curse Child , picking up from the epilogue and continuing on to Albus Potter's time at Hogwarts with best friend, Scorpius Malfoy. Of course, like the epilogue, the events of Cursed Child have also been highly divisive , with arguments made regarding whether the story counts as canon.

Of course, HBO's Harry Potter remake could always take inspiration from Cursed Child in its ending rather than directly adapting the play. Albus' story was designed for theatre, and, as yet another medium, this means it differed significantly from both the books and movies. With a shift in tone and some adjustments to some of the more problematic aspects that contradict the rules of Harry Potter , it could make for an interesting 8th season of HBO's series. Regardless of whether the upcoming remake takes this route, a unique ending from the Harry Potter TV remake is a must.

Harry Potter

Harry Potter is HBO's remake of the iconic Wizarding World film series that consisted of eight films between 2001 and 2011. Each season adapts a book from JK Rowling's popular series and provides more book-accurate details than the movies did. Upon the announcement of the Harry Potter TV show, the series received harsh criticism for the involvement of Rowling and for many thinking a reboot was unnecessary.

The Suicide Squad Star Who’s a Big Time Harry Potter Nerd is the Perfect Choice for a Potential ‘Cursed Child’ Movie

A ustralian icon and the talented actress, Margot Robbie, famous for bringing Harley Quinn to life in The Suicide Squad , has a secret passion. In a revelation that has delighted fans, Robbie got candid about her admiration for JK Rowling’s magical book series, Harry Potter , which was later turned into films under Warner Bros.

Claiming to be a self-proclaimed Harry Potter nerd, Margot Robbie recalled incidents from her childhood that revealed her enthusiasm for the franchise. Thus, given her enduring passion for the magical world created by J.K. Rowling, Robbie seems to be the perfect fit for a potential Cursed Child movie.

Margot Robbie Expressed Her Penchant for Harry Potter 

Rising to fame after sharing screen with Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street , to venturing into the DC Universe as Harley Quinn , Margot Robbie catapulted her fame and turned into a global icon. Thereafter, the actress turned into a quintessential part of DC Studios, as she reprised her role in Birds of Prey .

James Gunn Went Back on His Own Word: Creature Commandos Update Confirms Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn is Still DCU Canon

During the press tour for her 2020 DC flick, Margot Robbie appeared on The Graham Norton Show and revealed a fascinating anecdote about her life. Openly expressing her love for J.K. Rowling’s world of magic, Robbie delighted fans by claiming to be a self-proclaimed Harry Potter nerd, while sharing an image from her teenage years .

When it comes to Harry Potter, I’m a massive massive nerd… Do you know what’s particularly pathetic about this picture? A couple of things really. Number one, it’s my birthday, that’s how I chose to spend my birthday. Number two I’m drinking tea. Number three, I’m wearing glasses even though I don’t need glasses. I lied to the optometrist because I wanted to have glasses like Harry Potter.

Moreover, Margot Robbie’s connection to the Harry Potter series extends beyond her own enthusiasm. The actress revealed how her husband, Tom Ackerley, was an extra in Prisoner of Azkaban , who was pushed aside by Tom Felton ’s Draco Malfoy during one scene. This particular bit truly makes Robbie and her husband, a power couple for Wizarding World fans.

The DC Star Might be Perfect for a Potential Cursed Child Movie

Learning about the stories from the actress herself, Margot Robbie’s enthusiasm for Harry Potter seems more than just a casual interest. Her enduring passion for the franchise and her husband’s connection to the films seemingly make her a perfect choice for a potential movie adaptation of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. 

Fantastic Beasts Franchise Reportedly Dead at Warner Brothers, David Zaslav Wants Cursed Child Adaptation as Last Ditch Effort To Save Harry Potter Franchise

Although there have been no reports about Warner Bros. and JK Rowling ‘s plans regarding Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and its big screen adaptation, Margot Robbie seems to be the preferable choice, if someday the project gets a green light.

Given Margot Robbie ‘s penchant for the franchise, it’s only exciting to imagine The Suicide Squad star in a role connected to the Wizarding World. The actress would undoubtedly shine through in any potential performance as a character in the Cursed Child story, which follows the adventures of Harry’s youngest son Albus Severus Potter.

In the end, we can only hope that the stars align to bring this dream casting of Margot Robbie in a possible Cursed Child movie, to life.

Harry Potter movies are available on Max. 

Is A Harry Potter & The Cursed Child Movie Really On The Way?

The trailer circulating on social media is pretty convincing.

Have you seen the trailer for the supposed "new" movie for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ? We all know that everything you read or see on the internet isn't necessarily true, and unfortunately, we've gotten our hopes up before when it comes to reported long-awaited reboots or sequels. So, is this another case of the internet getting ahead of itself? Or could a Harry Potter and the Cursed Child movie really be headed to theaters in 2025?

It's been over a decade since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 hit theaters and even longer since the book's release. Since then, fans have gotten prequels and sequels, promised made-for-television reboots, and even whole theme park areas devoted to the wizarding world of Harry Potter . There's simply no denying the stranglehold Potter and his friends hold over so many people across the globe.

Fans were especially excited with the release of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child . Following the next generation of Hogwarts students , it gave fans a chance to catch up with Harry, Ron, Hermione, and their children. Not surprisingly, the book and subsequent play were both smashing successes. But since then, fans have greedily awaited news of Cursed Child being turned into a film.

Now, with even movie posters and a supposed "first official trailer" circulating across social media, could it be coming to fruition? Here's what may (or may not) be happening with that.

Is a Harry Potter and the Cursed Child movie on the way?

Hate to suck all the joy out of your world like a dementor , but a Harry Potter and the Cursed Child movie is doubtful at this time.

The rumor seems to have started with a photoshopped "movie poster" featuring pictures of the original series' actors as they look now, a decade later. The graphic has popped up on multiple platforms, including Harry Potter fan groups and private pages.

The rumor was bolstered further when a very realistic "trailer" started making the rounds on fan pages.

The trailer was uploaded to YouTube by Teaser Pro, who is known for creating fake trailers using existing videos from other movies. Since then, other fake/fan-made trailers have also gotten some traction.

And while the trailers will probably make you wish a movie was on the way, it likely isn't. No one who would be involved with the film production — from Warner Bros. to the stars of the franchise — has confirmed anything "official."

So, there's no hope?

Oh, come now... there's always hope. Although no Harry Potter and the Cursed Child movie currently appears to be in production, that doesn't mean it won't happen at some point. After all, the Harry Potter universe is a cash cow — and we all know Hollywood likes those.

Rupert Grint isn't ruling out returning to the role of Ron Weasley. Last year, he told This Morning , "Yeah, I think if the timing was right and everyone was kinda coming back, I'd definitely revisit it. It's a character that's important to me. I kinda grew up, and we kinda became the same person. I feel quite protective of him as well."

Daniel Radcliffe seems less enthused but didn't totally obliterate any chance of a reprisal. Speaking to The New York Times in 2022, he said, "I'm never going to say never, but the Star Wars guys had like 30, 40 years before they went back. For me, it's only been 10. It's not something I'm really interested in doing right now."

Given that Emma Watson (along with Radcliffe) have publicly expressed their frustration with J.K. Rowling's beliefs in recent years, it's unclear whether she'd be open to becoming Hermione Granger again.

A film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child would also have to address the absences left by the passing of crucial franchise stars, including Alan Rickman (Severus Snape), Michael Gambon (Albus Dumbledore), and Robbie Coltrane (Rubeus Hagrid).

What is Harry Potter and The Cursed Child about?

The Cursed Child takes place almost two decades after the events in Deathly Hallows .

It follows Albus Potter (Harry's son) as he goes through school and attempts to make a name for himself outside his famous father's legacy. With Harry still clearly embedded in the Wizarding World and working for the Ministry of Magic, that proves rather hard to do. Along the way, more Hogwarts lore unfolds as new friends with familiar last names appear. As you already know, though, nothing in the magical world is as it seems, and plot twists are just part of life.

Could it be part of the Harry Potter reboot on Max?

In April 2023, Max announced a reboot of the Harry Potter world in the form of an upcoming TV series based on all seven books about everyone's favorite boy wizard. According to Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, it's anticipated to premiere in 2026, with plans in place for a decade-long series.

Given the order of the books the show will be drawing from, that would logically mean the Max series wouldn't get to The Deathly Hallows content until sometime in the 2030s.

Considering that The Cursed Child takes place 19 years after the events of The Deathly Hallows , it's practically inconceivable that the same actors cast in the new series could be aged up enough to play the characters of The Cursed Child.

Bottom line: If you want to watch Harry Potter and the Cursed Child , you'll have to see it on stage — at least for now.

HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD to Become 5th Longest Running Play in Broadway History

The other longest running shows include Life with Father (1939-1947), Tobacco Road (1933 - 1941), Abie's Irish Rose (1922 - 1927), and Gemini (1977 - 1981).

​With over 1,793 performances, at tonight's performance the Tony Award-winning Broadway production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child surpasses Deathrap (1978 - 1982) to become the 5th longest running play in Broadway history. The other longest running shows include Life with Father (1939-1947), Tobacco Road (1933 - 1941), Abie's Irish Rose (1922 - 1927), and Gemini (1977 - 1981). Harry Potter and the Cursed Child continues to cast its spell at Broadway's Lyric Theatre.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the first Harry Potter story to be presented on stage and the eighth story in the Harry Potter series, has sold over 10 million tickets worldwide since its world premiere in London in July 2016 and holds a record 60 major honors, with nine Laurence Olivier Awards including Best New Play and six Tony Awards including Best Play. The international phenomenon has cast its spell worldwide with productions currently running in London, New York, Hamburg, and Tokyo. A North American tour launches in Chicago in September 2024.

The most successful non-musical play in Broadway history, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has the unique distinction of being named by the Guinness World Records as the highest-grossing non-musical play in Broadway history with over $330 million total sales and over 2.583 million tickets sold.

More About Harry Potter and the Cursed Child:

Based on an original story by  J.K. Rowling ,  Jack Thorne  and  John Tiffany , Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a play by  Jack Thorne , directed by  John Tiffany .  

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child features movement by Steven Hoggett, set by  Christine Jones , costumes by  Katrina Lindsay , music & arrangements by  Imogen Heap , lighting by  Neil Austin , sound by  Gareth Fry , illusions & magic by  Jamie Harrison , music supervision & arrangements by  Martin Lowe . US Casting by  Jim Carnahan , CSA.

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Interpreting the details behind the 2024 Tony Award nominees for Best Costume Design of a Musical

The artists behind “Hell’s Kitchen,” “Water for Elephants,” “The Great Gatsby,” “Suffs” and “Cabaret” dissect the stories told through clothing.

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All five of this year’s Tony Award nominees for Best Costume Design of a Musical were tasked with transporting audiences to a distinct time period. For “Hell’s Kitchen,” it’s 1990s Manhattan. “Water for Elephants” travels to the Depression era of the 1930s with a traveling circus. Across the pond, “Cabaret” invites audiences to 1929 Berlin. Always idealized, “The Great Gatsby” conjures the Roaring ’20s Jazz Age on a fictionalized cove of Long Island. “Suffs” rewinds even further to 1913 when suffragists fought for women’s right to vote. 

Beyond time and place, the costume design of a musical must also communicate individuality in each character — and serve the practicality of choreography, quick-changes and more. Here, all five nominees — Dede Ayite, David Israel Reynoso, Linda Cho, Paul Tazewell and Tom Scutt — decipher the narratives embedded in the costume designs of their shows. 

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