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'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child': Here's how the play fits into the 'Potter' universe

'Potter' fans now know what the upcoming play will be about and it involves more of the characters from the book series than they may have thought. The show is set to open in London in the summer of 2016.

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Jaap Buitendijk/Warner Bros. Pictures/AP
The 'Harry Potter' movie series stars Daniel Radcliffe.

“Harry Potter” fans now know a lot more about the plot of the upcoming “Potter”-based stage play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.”

According to the official “Potter” website Pottermore, the play will be the story of an adult Harry and his son Albus. At the end of the last “Potter” book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” an epilogue revealed that Harry married his schoolmate Ginny Weasley and they had three children. The epilogue also centered on Harry’s son Albus, who was starting at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the first time and who Harry had to reassure on his first day of school.

Now, according to Pottermore, we know that the upcoming London stage play will take place during Harry’s adult life and also involve Albus. The plot summary reads:

“It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children. While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.” 

The play will be mounted in the West End of London in the summer of 2016. Jack Thorne wrote the play (according to Pottermore, it was scripted “in collaboration” with “Potter” author J.K. Rowling) and it’s being directed by “Once” director John Tiffany. Tickets will go on sale later this month. 

“Potter” coming to the stage means there is yet another medium that will tell the story of the boy wizard Harry Potter. The story of Harry was first told in Rowling’s seven-part book series and was then adapted into eight films. More story is often told on the website Pottermore as well, where fans can complete different wizard tasks like potion-making but where they can also often find new writing from Rowling about the “Potter” series.

Another popular fantasy series recently brought its story to another medium earlier this year when episodes of the HBO TV series “Game of Thrones” were screened in movie theaters in anticipation of the show’s next season. While rumors that a “Thrones” movie is in development have long been discussed, “Thrones” writer George R.R. Martin recently wrote, “I don't know where this latest round of ‘there's going to be a GAME OF THRONES movie’ nonsense is coming from … But nothing has changed.” HBO programming president Michael Lombardo had corroborated this in a previous interview, saying, “When you start a series with our subscribers, the promise is that for your HBO fee that we’re going to take you to the end of this. I feel that on some level [a movie would be] changing the rules: Now you have to pay $16 to see how your show ends.”

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