An 8th Harry Potter book is coming — with a twist

After years of teases, it's finally been confirmed: There will indeed be another Harry Potter book.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a look at Harry's life 19 years after the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is already set to debut as a stage play in London on July 30. But Pottermore, J.K. Rowling's official publisher of everything Harry Potter, announced today that the script of the play will also be released in book form on July 31.

Note to Muggles: July 31 also happens to be Harry Potter's birthday.

Cursed Child was written by Jack Thorne and is based on a story by Thorne, John Tiffany, and Rowling. So while it will indeed be a play and not a strictly narrative book like we're used to, Pottermore notes that it will still be considered Harry Potter canon (i.e., an official part of Rowling's established universe).

But reader beware: Whereas the original seven Harry Potter books followed Harry, Ron, and Hermione through their tumultuous time at wizarding boarding school, Cursed Child chronicles Harry's trials and tribulations as "an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband, and father of three school-age children."

In other words, there's a very good chance that Cursed Child is actually Harry Potter and the Midlife Crisis.

Still: If you're a Potter fan who's been saving up to try to get to London for this extension of Harry's story, you no longer have to worry. You can just buy the book (or ebook!) a day after the play's debut and catch up on the story from the comfort of your own couch.

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