For years, the Harry Potter franchise has awakened the imaginations of fantasy fans around the world, and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a polarizing part of that legacy. With seven novels, eight movie adaptations, three films centered around the Fantastic Beasts sub-franchise, video games, and the upcoming Harry Potter HBO series, the wizarding world of controversial author J.K. Rowling has only continued to expand. Having conquered every other storytelling medium, it seemed only natural that Harry Potter’s reach would extend to live theater.
Written by Jack Thorne, the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child made its stage debut in London’s West End in 2016, with the published script made available one day later, on July 31st, 2016, Harry Potter’s birthday. Though it’s been almost a decade since the play premiered, it’s entirely possible that some Muggles may have yet to see the show or read the script — whether by happenstance or choice. Still, those who have managed to avoid spoilers may be wondering: what is Harry Potter and the Cursed Child about, and is it worth their time?
The Plot Of Harry Potter And The Cursed Child
The Play Centers On Albus Potter & Scorpius Malfoy
Set 19 years after the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Cursed Child follows the magical journeys of Albus Potter, son of Harry and Ginny, and Scorpius Malfoy, son of Draco and the ill-fated Astoria Malfoy. Despite the past rivalry between their families, Albus and Scorpius meet in their first year at Hogwarts and become fast friends. Much to everyone’s surprise, Albus is sorted into Slytherin house with Scorpius.
Albus has trouble living up to his father’s legendary reputation, while Scorpius deals with rumors that his real father is Voldemort.
What follows is essentially a montage of Albus and Scorpius’ next few years at Hogwarts, as the boys struggle with bullying and judgment from their fellow students. Albus has trouble living up to his father’s legendary reputation, while Scorpius deals with rumors that his real father is Voldemort. When Albus overhears Harry refusing to help Amos Diggory, he and Scorpius decide to steal a Time-Turner in order to go back in time and save Cedric Diggory from being killed by Voldemort at the Triwizard Tournament.
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With help from Delphini “Delphi” Diggory, Amos’ niece, Scorpius and Albus successfully travel into the past. Unfortunately, after multiple tries, all the boys manage to do is alter the present to an even worse state. Upon fixing their errors and getting things back to normal, the boys are attacked by Delphi, who steals the Time-Turner and strands them in the past. It turns out that Delphi is not Amos’s niece, but a woman who believes herself to be the daughter of Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange. She intends to fulfill a prophecy that will bring back Voldemort and destroy Harry Potter for good.
Who The Cursed Child Is
Multiple Characters Could Be The Cursed Child, Though Delphi Is The Most Obvious Choice
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Even years after the play’s premiere, the question of who “the Cursed Child” could be is still heavily speculated. After all, it’s never explicitly stated or explained. The most obvious choice for some is Albus Potter, the main protagonist of the story. From the start, Albus seems cursed when he is sorted into Slytherin instead of Gryffindor like his parents and siblings. His continuing struggles at school and magical ineptitude also feel like a curse. Finally, just having the famous last name Potter is itself like a curse — or at least it feels like one to Albus.
Raised by Euphemia Rowle, Delphi had a miserable upbringing until she learned of her true heritage.
The other theory, and the one that makes the most sense, is that Delphi is the Cursed Child. She is the daughter of the most evil wizard that ever existed in the Wizarding World, after all. Raised by Euphemia Rowle, Delphi had a miserable upbringing until she learned of her true heritage, which motivated her to fulfill the prophecy so she could save her father, Voldemort. Along with his innate wickedness, Delphi also inherited Voldemort’s cunning and deceptive nature. However, like her father before her, all of her carefully laid plans were defeated by Harry Potter and his friends.
JK Rowling Confirms The Cursed Child As Canon
The Harry Potter Author Confirmed It In A 2015 Tweet
With the release of Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, many fans have wondered where the play fits into the lore of the wizarding world. It certainly checks all the boxes of a J.K. Rowling story, including beloved characters, setting, and established canon. But does that mean that the play itself is canon, especially since it was not written by Rowling herself? Although it is based on her writings, Rowling’s only credit in Harry Potter and The Cursed Child is as a co-collaborator on the story, along with theater director John Tiffany and playwright Jack Thorne.
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Before the play premiered in London in 2016, fans flooded the internet with questions about The Cursed Child. Little by little, Rowling would take to social media to dole out bits of info, including that the story was a sequel and not a prequel. In June 2015, Rowling at last settled once and for all the burning inquiry of canon with a post on X (formerly Twitter), saying: “The story of #CursedChild should be considered canon, though. @jackthorne, John Tiffany (the director) and I developed it together.”
While that seemed to confirm the question, Rowling’s answer didn’t necessarily satisfy all Harry Potter fans — especially once the play had been seen by the general public. In fact, for many Potterheads, it did just the opposite.
Fans Insist That The Cursed Child Should Not Be Canon
They Point To Plot Holes Based On The Rules In The Original Harry Potter Text
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child premiered at the Palace Theatre on July 30, 2016, and only a day later the first edition of the play was published. The book made a huge profit, selling two million copies in the first two days of its release (via THR). Fans were clearly excited to delve into the world of Harry Potter once more — however, many of them were sorely disappointed with The Cursed Child’s story.
Much of the fandom took to social media to bemoan their poor opinion of the published play, saying that The Cursed Child read like fan fiction rather than something by the original author. Others called out plot holes in the Harry Potter story that didn’t fit with the rest of the books — such as the use of the magical artifacts, the Time-Turners.
In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Hermione Granger was given a Time-Turner to help her take extra classes at Hogwarts. There was heavy emphasis on the idea that Time-Turners could not be used to alter the past, and strict limits were given to how far one could travel back in time. The Cursed Child breaks both of these rules.
Besides these inconsistencies, Rowling herself purposely saw that every Time-Turner was destroyed in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix during the battle with the Death Eaters at the Ministry of Magic. The author went so far as to admit that the concept of Time-Turners was devastating to her overall writing, saying, “It opened up a vast number of problems for me, because after all, if wizards could go back and undo problems, where were my future plots?” (via Business Insider).
Yet another sin committed by The Cursed Child surrounds accusations of queerbaiting. Many fans interpreted the relationship between Albus and Scorpius as something more than friends. There were even unconfirmed rumors that an earlier script had the two teens being romantically involved.
In 2016, Huff Post published an open letter to Rowling by contributing author, Jack Chellman. Identifying himself as a gay Gryffindor, Chellman wrote how hurt he was by the setup of a love story between the two main characters in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, only for it to be taken away by the play’s end:
“You wrote a gay romance. You pulled us along by the power of that romance. And then you told us it was unacceptable. The more-than-friendly magnetism between the boys felt real. The strictly straight conversation at the end felt false, contrived.”
Chellman was not the only one to feel that way, as many others in the LGBTQ+ community have voiced their outrage against not only the controversial Cursed Child storyline but Rowling’s remarks and outspoken beliefs regarding transgender people. Whatever Rowling’s claims about Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, it’s clear that many fans of the original books have chosen not to accept it as canon.