Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Will Soon Be Available for High School Theater Programs

Harry Potter and the Cursed child just might be coming to a high school theater near you soon. According to Deadline, the producers behind the Broadway adaptation of the award-winning play recently announced a partnership with Broadway Licensing Group that will bring a reworked version of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to high school and secondary school theater programs globally beginning in 2024. The school adaptation will have a shorter runtime as well as creative techniques to allow schools with smaller budgets to bring the technical wizardry of the large scale stage productions to schools. Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling will have to sign off on the changes.

“We are delighted to be working with Broadway Licensing Group so that schools around the world can stage their own productions of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” producers Sonia and Colin Callendar said. “We’re very proud that over half of the play’s audiences worldwide have been first time theatregoers. With this schools version, we hope to broaden that audience even further by introducing younger generations to the magic of live theatre. We can’t wait to see how students embrace their creativity and bring the magic of the wizarding world to life on their school stages. It’s extremely exciting for us all”

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has been produced on Broadway, London’s West End and worldwide and has sold over 6 million tickets in addition to winning numerous awards, including six Tony Awards. It is currently running in London, New York, Hamburg, and Tokyo. The schools program will release with pilot productions in the U.K. and the U.S. Spring 2024 and is expected to release worldwide shortly thereafter with amateur productions to roll out later.

Will There Be a Cursed Child Movie?

While the schools program is a major step forward for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, fans are still wondering if there will ever be a film version of the play. It’s something that Harry Potter star Bonnie Wright recently addressed.

“The biggest question everyone wants to know is if they are going to be making a TV/film version of it. I don’t know,” Wright shared with the Inside of You podcast. “It would be pretty fun because it’s really about the children. It’s not about our characters, so it wouldn’t be a massive role. It would really be about these kids and the new generation. It would be fun, but I have no idea if they’ll do it.”

A New Harry Potter Television Series is Coming to HBO

Earlier this year, HBO announced that they are developing a series based on Harry Potter. Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max describes the series: “The stories from each of Rowling’s Harry Potter books will become a decade-long series produced with the same epic craft, love and care this global franchise is known for. The series will feature a new cast to lead a new generation of fandom, full of the fantastic detail, much loved characters, and dramatic locations that Harry Potter fans have loved for over 25 years. Each season will be authentic to the original books and bring Harry Potter and these incredible adventures to new audiences around the world, while the original, classic and beloved films will remain at the core of the franchise and available to watch globally.”

Warner Bros. Television, behind Game of Thrones, Westworld, and The Last of Us, is producing with Bronte Film and TV. Rowling serves as executive producer along with her agent, Fantastic Beasts executive producer Neil Blair, and Ruth Kenley-Letts, executive producer of C.B. Strike, BBC One’s adaptation of the Rowling-authored Cormoran Strike series. David Heyman, who produced all eight original Harry Potter films, is in talks to executive produce the series.

Are you excited that Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will be available for high school theatre productions? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.