LONDON — “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” a play based on J. K. Rowling’s blockbuster novels that is set to open in the West End here in 2016, will take place 19 years after the book series’ finale, producers announced on Friday.
The play had been rumored to be a prequel.
The disclosure that the new Harry Potter offering would instead be set in the future was shared in a news release, posted on the production’s website, and shared on Twitter by Ms. Rowling.
The play’s producers describe the plot this way:
It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children.
While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.
Ms. Rowling wrote the story on which the play is based with the playwright Jack Thorne (“Let the Right One In”) and the production’s director, John Tiffany (“Once”).
Last month, Ms. Rowling announced that the play would be shown in two parts, which audiences could either watch in a single day or on two separate nights.
Ms. Rowling first announced plans for the production, which will run at the Palace Theater, in June. Priority tickets go on sale on Wednesday. The play begins previews in May and opens on July 30.