The Legend of Harry Potter Continues

It was a long time back, in 1997 when the first book of The Harry Potter series, The philosopher’s stone was released. No one, not even J. K. Rowling would have imagined the success that her books received worldwide. Today, Harry potter series , featuring seven books and eight movies based on them, probably is the most widely acclaimed story of all times.

No matter how many times, you read it, you can never get enough of this book. The story of the wizarding world, where people can perform exceptional tasks by the power of their magic, although appears far too realistic, but the excellent portrayal by Rowling will make it all believable for you. Probably, this is the reason why Harry potter today is not just a book or a movie series, it is a culture. The huge fandom, which finds solace in this work of fiction, actually wants to believe in the existence of magic. Does it not say a lot about the exceptionalism and excellency of this work?

In an interview after the success of the first book of the series, Rowling had stated that she was rejected by almost 12 publishers, because they thought that the idea of her story was too ridiculous to interest the readers. Today, these people must be the ones, who might consider this to be the worst decision of their lives.

Rowling continuously wrote the seven books of the series, with every new part breaking all the records of its predecessor. It was finally in 2007, when the last book ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ was published, and she announced that this would be the end of the Potter’s story.

The books were made into eight successful films, starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson in lead roles. The movies too, just like the books received a lot of appreciation from people, and set new records, one after another at the Hollywood Box office. When the last movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows –Part 2 was released in 2011, the fans were sad, because they did not want the story to end ever.

After years of speculation, finally, Rowling announced that she was working on the eighth part of the story in late 2015. This story, which has been titled ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ is the story of the protagonist’s son, as he starts his journey in the magical world and experiences the pressure of the carrying the legacy of his father. Rowling however clearly stated that a movie would not be made for this story, because she wants to convey it to the audiences through another medium. As a result, The Cursed Child has been set up as a stage play in two parts, which will be premiered in London from July 31, 2016.  The screenplay would also be available in the form of a book, which will be released on the same day.

It would therefore be interesting to see  how much the continued story meets the expectation of it’s readers.


Written by  Avinash Srivastava
A Writer of Stories, Loves Novels and Movies