Final Potter Book Could Disappoint: Rowling
Posted June 27, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
She’s the only person in the world who knows how the Harry Potter series will end – and J.K. Rowling admits fans might not be happy with the conclusion.
Rowling, Britain’s richest woman thanks to the massive popularity of the books about a boy wizard, said two characters will die in the seventh and final installment.
She won’t say which ones, but some fear it could be Harry himself who gets rubbed out.
“I have never been tempted to kill him off before the final because I’ve always planned seven books and I want to finish on seven books,” Rowling said this week.
“I can completely understand, however, the mentality of an author who thinks: ‘Well, I’m gonna kill them off because that means there can be no non-author-written sequels. So it will end with me and after I’m dead and gone they won’t be able to bring back the character.'”
Rowling wouldn’t confirm or deny whether young Potter lives to see the end of his saga.
“The last book is not finished but I’m well into it now. I wrote the final chapter in something like 1990, so I’ve known exactly how the series is going to end,” she said.
And though they might be dead on the page, the characters will get to enjoy a slightly longer life on screen – since the films are a few years behind.
Episode number five, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, is due in theatres next July.
Directed by David Yates, it brings back Daniel Radcliffe as the title character, and Emma Watson and Rupert Grint as his best mates, Hermione and Ron. Ralph Fiennes reprises his role as the evil Lord Voldemort, Harry’s nemesis, and Oscar nominee Imelda Staunton as Professor Dolores Umbridge.
Rowling’s estimated worth is more than $1 billion Cdn. She knows that whatever she decides to write next, it won’t match up to Potter’s magic.
“I don’t think I’m ever going to have anything like Harry again. You just get one like Harry.”
