This year has got to go down as the most exciting in Harry Potter history, Potterheads rejoice! Will we have a new book? Yes! And a new film as well? Yes! What about a play PLAY? Yup! Okay, that is the end? No!
Here’s a roundup of what we’ve got to look forward to this breathtaking season:
17 June: Harry Potter: The Artifact Vault
Chocolate-fantasy feasts, flying brooms, enchanted maps, newspapers with moving photos, vicious textbooks, time turners and Howlers have represented an immense challenge for the designers and craftspeople of the Harry Potter films. In a few days, Harry Potter: The Artifact Vault will be published, continuing the making-of book series written by Jody Revenson for HarperCollins in partnership with Warner Bros.
Permeated by a captivating text with excerpts of interviews by the creative team along never-before-seen art and design concepts, unit photography and other filmmaking secrets from the Warner Bros’ archive, you will not want to miss it. This time, the incredible bonuses are: a booklet showcasing the design of The Tales of Beedle the Bard prop and a Black Family Tapestry poster.
30 June: Harry Potter Magical Places and Characters Colouring Book
We already have had two colouring books from the Wizarding World - Harry Potter Colouring Book and Harry Potter Magical Creatures Colouring Book. On 30 June, the third one, featuring magical places and characters, will hit bookstores, promising fans the opportunity to paint scenes from the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall at Hogwarts to the garish tones of the Dursley’s living room.
To introduce the next news, I give the floor to the lovely Luna Lovegood: “Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect”.
30 July: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (the play script is published on 31 July 2016.)
In two months, we will celebrate Joanne Rowling’s 51st and Harry Potter’s 36th birthday, but, beyond that, for the first time in the history there will be a Potter play! Based on an original new story by JK Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Parts I and II) is the eight Potter story and will make its debut at the Palace Theatre, in London’s West End.
Just in case you have lived the last months stuck at the Chamber of Secrets or inside Mad-Eye Moody’s trunk, let me introduce you to the synopsis: “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.”
But what about those who cannot travel to London to watch the play? Will they have the opportunity to experience the story? There is no known information about the play touring other countries, but the day after its world premiere, on 31 July 2016, the Special Rehearsal Edition of the script will be published as a book by Little Brown, and later they’ll be a Definitive Collector’s Edition. So, yes, there will be an eighth “Harry Potter” book, but this time it will be a script by JK Rowling and the award-winning scriptwriters Jack Thorne and John Tiffany.
4 October 2016: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Illustrated Edition
Last year, fans around the world were mesmerised by the magnificent illustrations of talented artist Jim Kay for the illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Now Jim Kay continues conjuring the wizarding world as we have never seen before: the illustrated edition of “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” will be published 4 October 2016, featuring 115 new images and translated into more than 21 languages.
“Seeing Jim Kay’s illustrations moved me profoundly. I love his interpretation of Harry Potter’s world, and I feel honoured and grateful he has lent his talent to it.” - JK Rowling.
Who is anxious to see Dobby, Aragog, the Chamber of Secrets, the basilisk, Tom Riddle and more of the second book illustrated by Jim Kay? Pottermore has already allowed us a glimpse on Fawkes:
Now let’s take it easy. If your heart has already raced, take a deep breath. OK, let’s go: JK Rowling invites you to explore a new era of the Wizarding World!
18 November 2016: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
After years of waiting since its announcement, Fantastic Beasts and Where to find Them, a prequel for the “Harry Potter” series set in the wizardphobic New York of 1926, hits cinemas around the world on 18 November featuring an original screenplay by JK Rowling, directed by David Yates and produced by David Heyman. In this film, we will find out the story of the Magizoologist Newt Scamander, author of the textbook used by Hogwarts students at the Care of Magical Creatures class.
“When Magizoologist Newt Scamander arrives in New York, he intends his stay to be just a brief stopover. However, when his magical case is misplaced and some of Newt’s fantastic beasts escape, it spells trouble for everyone...”
And yes, you have heard it right, there will be mentions of Albus Dumbledore and other elements that will make fans feel the nostalgia big time!
19 November: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay
One day after the world premiere of the film, the script of “Fantastic Beasts”, written by JK Rowling, will also be published as a book by Little Brown. There is no more information about this news yet.
Ilvermorny: In the beginning of this year, Pottermore published exclusive writing by JK Rowling informing us that there are “eleven long-established and prestigious wizarding schools worldwide”. We always have known three of them through the books: Hogwarts, Durmstrang Institute and Beauxbaton Academy of Magic. In January, though, we discovered four more: Uagadu (Africa), Castelobruxo (Brazil), Mahoutokoro (Japan) and Ilvermorny (North-America), originally discovered by the Brazilian fansite Potterish last year in an article by the same person who discovered Pottermore itself, but the exclusive writing by Rowling about this one hasn’t been published yet. Maybe it will go on air this year!
A lot of things, isn’t it? But this is not everything! The Wizarding World of JK Rowling is very unpredictable, more news will no doubt be announced throughout the year, so, as Professor Moody would say, “Constant vigilance!” P
— Guardian News & Media Ltd.
