Harry Potter is now 'done' says J K Rowling

J K Rowling has told fans that Harry Potter is “done” after the release of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child playscript last weekend.

Speaking on the red carpet at the premiere of the play on Saturday (30th July), the author told Reuters that there would be no more stories or novels based on the wizard character after the play, which portrays Harry as a 37-year-old parent.

“He goes on a very big journey in these two plays and then, I think we’re, yeah, I think we’re done,” Rowling said. “This is the next generation, you know, so I’m thrilled to see it realised so beautifully. But no, Harry is done….I never wanted to write another novel, but this I think this will give the fans something special.”

Earlier bookshops told The Bookseller that first day sales on 31st July had been “extraordinary” with Waterstones saying the number sold had been ‘incredible” and Foyles saying the Cursed Child playscript had been the “fastest-selling book we’ve ever sold”.

While Little, Brown, the UK publisher of the play, written by Jack Thorne, has not revealed first day sales and pre-order statistics for the title, indications from across retailers are the book has sold exceptionally well, with Sainsbury’s saying it sold “double” its expectations and Amazon saying it will be its most pre-ordered book of the year.

Meanwhile, Scholastic, the Cursed Child publisher in the US, released a print run of 4.5m for the North American market, with chain retailer Barnes & Noble saying the title will be its “biggest selling book of the year”. 

Bookshops across the country held midnight openings for the title, the likes of which has not been seen since the release of the seventh Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Bloomsbury), which had by far the biggest one-day sales total in the history of the British book trade. The Deathly Hallows children’s edition sold 1,842,063 units (generating just over £15m) on the week ending 21st July 2007 -a 24-hour total seeing as the book was released on that day, while the adult version of the Deathly Hallows also sold 790,622 units that day for a combined take of 2,632,685 copies (£22.3m).