J.K. Rowling Leaves Door Open for More Books in Potter Universe

Posted on April 11, 2015

J.K. Rowling is in New York for the launch of Lumos USA, which is the American arm of the charity she founded. Lumos helps the eight million children around the world who live in institutions and orphanages.

As part of her push to raise money for the organization, Ms. Rowling lit up the Empire State Building and spoke of the work that needs to be done. She also made an appearance on The Today Show where she spoke with Matt Lauer about Lumos and whether she'll ever return to writing in the Harry Potter universe.

Lumos is the name of a spell in the Harry Potter books. It means to bring light. Ms. Rowling says that we need to shine a light on the problem. And we want to greatly improve these children's lives. 80% of the children who live in orphanages have at least one living parent who would like to take care of them, but cannot afford to raise them. The goal of Lumos is to eliminate orphanages. Ms. Rowling says the evidence is clear that we can give better care in the family. The buildings can be repurposed for day care. She says, "This is a solvable problem. We know what the solution is. We can change this."

Matt hopefully asked her if she has been hard at work writing a surprise Book 8 in the Harry Potter series. She says she has not been writing the next Harry Potter book. When he asked her if there was any hope at all for fans, she said that she would definitely not write a book with the further adventures of Harry, Hermione and Ron. But she didn't rule out writing another book in the world of Harry Potter.

She said, "I have always said never say ... well, not never say never. I've always said I'm not going to say I definitely won't because, because I don't see why I should say that."

Ms. Rowling is already dipping her toe back into the Potter world: she is working on the script for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. She commented, "You know, it's my world and I might choose to step back into it. And in a way, I am stepping back into it." This will be her screenwriting debut.

She did reveal that she does plan on writing more children's books in the future. Matt asked her if the upsetting nature of her visits to orphanages around the world had made her stop writing happier books for kids. She said no, that had nothing to do with it. In fact she noted, "I've never shied away from writing about the dealing with the darker side of life." She was quite clear saying, "I will write for children again because I love writing for kids."

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a live action feature film based on the fictional Hogwarts textbook. The studio plans to make the series a trilogy. It follows the adventures of "magiczoologist" Newt Scamander. Scamander studies magical creatures. According to Variety, the role of Scamander is rumored to have been offered to Eddie Redmayne, who won an Oscar for playing Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything.

The story is set 70 years before the events in the Harry Potter series. The plot details have not been released, but reportedly there will be four other roles in the films: two American girls and two American boys. The film is set for release on November 18, 2016.