First peek at Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play

Producers have revealed artwork from the upcoming Harry Potter play, The Cursed Child.

Published on Pottermore, JK Rowling’s Harry Potter website, the images show a young boy in a nest with wings.

The play, split over two parts, is designed to be seen either on the same night, or over consecutive evenings.

Producers have announced it is going to be a sequel to Rowling’s books, focusing on Harry’s son Albus Severus.

“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,” a synopsis reads.

“As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.”

Previews will start in June 2016, at the Palace Theatre in London.

Early performances will have some cheap tickets on sale for just £10 per part, rising to £15 for the official run.

Pictures of artwork with the tagline, “The eighth story. Nineteen years later,” have also appeared online.

Harry Potter fans have suggested the nest and wings in the picture are reminiscent of a Golden Snitch, the smallest ball used in a game of Quidditch.

The final Harry Potter book ends with an epilogue – set 19 years after the main plot concludes – featuring Harry and his now-wife Ginny seeing their son off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Previously Rowling has refused to give away many details about the plot of the play, saying she did not “want to say too much more, because I don’t want to spoil what I know will be a real treat for fans”.

She added: “To answer one inevitable (and reasonable!) question – why isn’t Cursed Child a new novel?

“I am confident that when audiences see the play they will agree that it was the only proper medium for the story.”

A new film starring Eddie Redmayne – Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – based on a screenplay written by Rowling, is expected in 2016.

BBC