The Boy Who Lived will appear again — this time on stage.
J.K. Rowling will produce a play based on Harry Potter’s life before he headed to the Hogwarts, the school where he refined his wizardry skills.
“This brand new play, which will be developed for the UK theatre, will explore the previously untold story of Harry's early years as an orphan and outcast,” according to a statement released Friday by her publicist.
Rowling will co-produce the show, along with veteran theater producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender. The statement said the author plans to collaborate with the play’s writer, who has yet to be named, but doesn’t plan to write the script herself.
“Over the years I have received countless approaches about turning Harry Potter into a theatrical production, but Sonia and Colin’s vision was the only one that really made sense to me, and which had the sensitivity, intensity and intimacy I thought appropriate for bringing Harry's story to the stage,” Rowling said in the statement.
No opening date has been set for the show.
Rowling's seven Harry Potter novels have sold more than 450 million copies world wide and were adapted into eight Warner Bros. feature films.