Courtney Balcombe

News Editor

clb6264@psu.edu

This November marks the 20th anniversary of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” and director Chris Columbus wants to direct the newest installment for the Harry Potter series, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” with the original trio.

“The Cursed Child” written together by J. K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany as a play picks up directly where Rowling left off in “The Deathly Hallows.”

While it is part of the Harry Potter franchise, the trio are not the main focus but merely side characters to their children. More specifically it follows Albus Severus Potter, the son of Harry and Ginny, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, the son of Draco and Astoria, and Delphini “Delphi” Diggory, the secret daughter of Lord Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange.

In an interview with Variety, Columbus stated, “I would love to direct ‘The Cursed Child.’ It’s a great play and the kids are actually the right age to play those roles. It’s a small fantasy of mine.”

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” premiered in 2011 with much of the cast being in their early 20s but in the film, they are in their late teens. The “Cursed Child” film in the next few years would make them in their early to mid-30s being old enough to have children 11-years-old heading off to Hogwarts.

“The Cursed Child” returned to the Melbourne Stage in March 2021, George Dunford, a Director of Content at ArtsHub and Screenhub, shared his and his daughter’s experience of the production.

“At some point, writers should let their works have their own lives to prevent them from messing up their legacy.” Dunford said in his review. “… Rowling has handed the torch on with ‘The Cursed Child.’ With rumours that the play may be slated for a film, we hope it doesn’t meet the same fate as the Fantastic Beasts films or 2020’s The Ickabog … Rather ‘The Cursed Child’ should serve as Rowling’s Patronus – a brilliant ghostly beast that remembers the brightest moments and roams on its own. It may even be bright enough to scatter the dementors of the pandemic.”

According to Screen Rant, Warner Brothers is working on the third film in the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise, “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” which is scheduled to be in theaters on April 15, 2022.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a Harry Potter live-action TV series is in early development, intended to be released on HBO Max.

Another new Harry Potter show that will be released through TBS and Cartoon Network on November 28, 2021, “Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses” is meant to be a four-part quiz show.

While it is not guaranteed “The Cursed Child” will become a movie, the main trio Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson have not confirmed coming back for another film in the franchise.