Warner Bros. was rumored to be developing a Harry Potter and the Cursed Child movie for release in 2025.
2016 marked the start of a comeback for the Harry Potter universe as the first Fantastic Beasts movie arrived in theaters and the Wizarding World took to the stage for the first time with The Cursed Child play.
Written by Jack Thorne, the tale picked up 19 years after The Deathly Hallows as Harry Potter's son Albus tries to live up to his father's legacy on a time-hopping adventure with Draco Malfoy's son Scorpius. The story was written in collaboration with J.K. Rowling, who called it "the eighth Harry Potter story."
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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Movie Rumors Explained
Rumors have spread across social media of Harry Potter 9 coming to theaters in 2025 and adapting The Cursed Child stage play following the release of the franchise's last movie, The Deathly Hallows Part 2, in July 2011.
Talk of a Harry Potter and the Cursed Child movie came due to a viral concept trailer from Teaser PRO, with the footage included from past Wizarding World flicks and other more recent releases featuring the franchise's main talent.
As this trailer is fan-made, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is not currently in development and, as such, will not be released in 2025. But there had been some talk of a ninth movie being made before the Max reboot was announced.
According to a report from Puck's Matt Belloni, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav and executives Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy were once planning to "go hard" in pursuit of an adaptation of The Cursed Child.
Although, there were reportedly issues securing some key actors. Jeff Sneider claimed that Harry Potter's Daniel Radcliffe and Hermione Granger's Emma Watson were skeptical about returning due to the controversy surrounding J.K. Rowling.
That said, Ron Weasley's Rupert Grint expressed far more openness to the notion, saying "if the timing was right," he would be open to reprising his Wizarding World character provided "everyone was kinda coming back:"
“Yeah, I think if the timing was right and everyone was kinda coming back I’d definitely revisit it. It’s a character that’s important to me. I kinda grew up and we kinda became the same person. I feel quite protective of him as well.”
Meanwhile, Radcliffe revealed to The New York Times in 2022 that Harry Potter 9 is "not something [he is] really interested in doing right now," but he did leave off with a slightly more positive note, saying he is "never going to say never:"
"This isn’t the answer that anybody’s going to want, but I think I was so able to go back and enjoy it because it’s not a part of my day-to-day life anymore. I’m getting to a point where I feel like I made it out of 'Potter' OK and I’m really happy with where I am now, and to go back would be such a massive change to my life. I’m never going to say never, but the 'Star Wars' guys had like 30, 40 years before they went back. For me, it’s only been 10. It’s not something I’m really interested in doing right now."
Even if Warner Bros. Discovery could secure these key actors, much of the older talent behind the Hogwarts professors, several of whom feature in The Cursed Child, have now passed away. Among those are Michael Gambon (Dumbledore), Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid), and Alan Rickman (Snape).
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Will Max's Harry Potter Reboot Feature The Cursed Child?
Warner Bros. is only just getting started on its Harry Potter reboot for Max, which will feature a full cast of new actors. The high-budget show is planned as a decade-long venture, meaning the series' second adaptation won't even reach The Deathly Hallows until the mid-2030s.
The chances seem slim The Cursed Child will be adapted in the Max series, especially as the 19-year time jump means the new cast wouldn't be old enough for many more years to come - unless they were aged up with CGI.
For now, The Cursed Child appears doomed to remain exclusive to the stage, aside from the published script book. Perhaps the best chance fans have of enjoying the play from home is a recorded performance of the show coming to Max akin to how Hamilton was released on Disney+.
Warner Bros. has not announced a release window for Max's Harry Potter series.
