As you may already know, J.K. Rowling is bringing us back to Harry Potter's magical world by penning the feature adaptation of her book Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, but if you're holding out hope that the author will write a sequel to the original Harry Potter series, there's bad news. From what J.K. Rowling said in a recent interview, she doesn't think Harry Potter 8 will happen.
The Harry Potter author sat down with Today's Matt Lauer to talk about Harry Potter and her charity Lumos. When the subject of a Harry Potter sequel novel came up, Rowling first noted that she feels Harry's story was completed...
Well, I keep saying that I feel I wrapped Harry's story up. And you gotta know when to...
She didn't finish her sentence, but I like to imagine she was thinking "say finite incantatem."
(Not that there's any counter-spell that could cause any of us to be any less charmed by the first seven books.)
While Rowling refused to completely close the book on the chance for more Harry Potter, from what she told Matt Lauer, it really doesn't sound like she's plotting another chapter for Harry, Ron and Hermione.
I've always said, I'm not going to say I definitely won't. Because I don't see why I should say that. But I think, Harry Potter 8, as in what happened next to Harry, Ron and Hermione, I don't think that's going to happen.
No complaints here. On one hand, if J.K. Rowling announced that she was writing an eighth Harry Potter book, I'd happily line up to get it. But on the other hand, Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows was such a satisfying conclusion to the story that I don't think an eighth book is necessary. Better the book stay shut on the series, unless she's strongly compelled to continue the story for some reason.
So there's no Harry Potter 8 in the foreseeable future, but as we mentioned, J.K. Rowling is revisiting the Harry Potter universe as Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them heads to the big screen and Rowling is penning the screenplay for that herself. If she's willing to adapt the reference guide for a movie, who's to say she won't feel compelled to revisit the magical world of Harry Potter in some other way down the line? Maybe an indirect sequel, that revisits the world through a new character, much in the way Fantastic Beasts is an indirect prequel, centering on a character who's presumably without a major or direct connection to Harry's story, as it's set some seventy years before Harry arrived at Hogwarts.
While it doesn't sound like J.K. Rowling is planning on writing another Harry Potter book, she did say she plans to write for children again.
Also, it's worth noting that Rowling has offered us updates and essays related to the Harry Potter series over at Pottermore.com. And Deathly Hallows has yet to roll out on the site, so there will hopefully be more content to come from the author eventually.
That is, assuming she has the time. J.K. Rowling is aiming to change the world beyond what she puts on the page by championing Lumos, a charity organization aimed to help institutionalized children around the globe.
You can watch J.K. Rowling's Today interview on the next page...
