Like many, the Harry Potter books will remain as one of my most cherished series of books that I’ve ever read. They hold so much value in my life and have gotten me through some rough and painful times. I have the upmost respect for J.K Rowling as an author and she’s very much the reason I hold this specific viewpoint that I’m about to elaborate on.
When I read those final words of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows back in 2007, I was content with the conclusion to Harry’s saga. The fandom was still rampant for years after the final book, especially with the final movies still to be released. I also listened to Harry Potter podcasts such as Mugglecast and Alohomora consistently as they both focused on discussions related to the books, and there’s nothing I enjoy more than book discussions. Then Pottermore came along, giving fans another outlet to carry on the fandom.
The movie series came to an end in 2011 and I was still satisfied. Harry Potter was a series that would be cherished for years to come by enthusiasts, and new fans would be bred every day. There were theme parks, studio tours and shops all dedicated to the Harry Potter intellectual property. Money would be continuously made from this epic series without a doubt, and I was happy with my memories of reading each book a dozen times.
Then last year the news broke about a Harry Potter play being released. As the news developed we found out that it would be a continuation of Harry’s story and it would be both a (script) book and an exclusive play. Let me start out by saying that I was okay with the initial idea, even though I personally wouldn’t rush out to experience it (because I was happy with how the series ended). Then marketing started to kick in and they were fully labelling it as the 8th book in the story. I started to take issue with this, simply because J.K Rowling wasn’t the sole writer on the Cursed Child project. This was a story conceptualised by Jack Thorne that was brought to her. She signed off on it but also added some of her own input to the story. But ultimately, the Cursed Child was thought of and written by Jack Thorne. Therefore I had issue with accepting it as cannon, despite the fact they wanted fans to treat it as such.
Is Harry Potter and the Cursed Child a great play? I have absolutely no doubt that its excellent in the form of a play. I have heard nothing but positive things about the play itself, and I have no issues accepting the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child as just a play. But please don’t mess with my cannon when this didn’t come from the mind of the original creator. I happen to know what transpires in the Cursed Child story and there are a few things I’m not happy about. I don’t feel as though past events in the series should be tampered with.
Had Harry Potter and the Cursed Child stayed in the future and not tried to re-write history, then it would have been easier to swallow as cannon. Instead, the marketing behind Cursed Child tries to force it on us as cannon in hopes that we’ll shell out our money for both the book and tickets to both parts of the play.
With the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movies on the other hand, I have no problems accepting these as cannon because J.K Rowling herself is penning the stories. Admittedly, I was a little disappointed when it was revealed that Fantastic Beasts would become a 5-part series and they would feature Dumbledore; mainly because that announcement just screams “money grab”. Warner Bros. has obviously seen the success of multi-part series’ such as Star Wars and the Marvel movies and they want a piece of the pie. Expanding the Wizarding universe makes great business sense, so I’m sure they encouraged J.K Rowling to continue to bank on the series. I just fear that the series will become overly saturated as a result.
All-in-all, I am fine with Fantastic Beasts as a series because whereas Harry’s story was given complete closure at the end of Deathly Hallows, it still feels like there are parts of Dumbledore’s life that remain a mystery. I now look at Fantastic Beasts as the Star Wars Prequel Series for Harry Potter fans. This will hopefully show us everything that led up to the first Wizarding war that is referenced throughout the book series. With J.K Rowling fully behind the writing of these movies, I feel I can trust them.
But in all honestly, I was ready to move on from Harry Potter after Deathly Hallows. While I still enjoyed listening to the podcasts and hearing the thoughts of readers, I was okay with just letting the series exist as 7 books and 8 movies. But money must be made, and all I can do is hope that the money isn’t made at the expense of the one magical series that got me through the entirety of my teenage life.
