In a heartfelt video message, author J.K. Rowling asks that the fervent Harry Potter fandom stay mum on the plot of ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,’ the eighth installment in the Harry Potter saga — which opens for previews in London’s West End this week.
The production has been kept tightly under wraps, with the only public information being the casting and some wand designs used by the characters. But the storyline, which picks up just where the seventh novel leaves off, has been completely guarded.
“You’ve been amazing for years at keeping Harry Potter secrets so you didn’t spoil the books for readers who came after you,” Rowling says in the video. “So I’m asking you one more time to keep the secrets and let audiences of ‘Cursed Child’ enjoy all the surprises that we’ve built into the story.”
The show opens to the public on July 30, and will be made available to read as a screenplay the day after.
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Write to Raisa Bruner at raisa.bruner@time.com