You would think that seven books, eight movies, huge theme park attractions and countless types of merch would be enough to help Harry Potter fans enjoy J.K. Rowling's beloved saga of a boy wizard until they grow as old as Dumbledore.
However, we all know that the only thing that can fill the void left in our hearts after the seventh and final installment of the Harry Potter book series was released in 2007 would be, well, more books. Could J.K. Rowling's re-emergence into the public eye in the last couple of years be because she's getting ready to release another Harry Potter sequel?
Unfortunately, probably not. Or maybe yes? It all depends on how you perceive her recent interview with Matt Lauer on The TODAY Show.
Though Rowling appeared on TODAY to talk about her non-profit organization Lumos, Lauer kicked off the interview with the burning question on top of everyone's minds: Has Rowling been out of the spotlight for the past few years because she's writing more Harry Potter books?
"No," Rowling said. "But even as I answer that I know that someone's cutting this on YouTube to make it as though I gave you hope."
Clearly, Rowling knows how the Internet works, and any response to this question would have grabbed headlines. And in case you didn't hear that "No," Rowling went on to say, "I'm afraid I haven't been writing the next Harry Potter." However, Rowling didn't flat-out say that there would never be more Harry Potter books.
"I keep saying that I feel I wrapped Harry's story up," she told Lauer. "I have always said never say never. Well, not never say never. I have always said I'm not going to say I definitely won't, because I don't see why I should say that. But I think Harry Potter 8, as in what happened next to Harry, Ron and Hermione, I don't think that's going to happen."
Lauer responded to this by saying what we're all feeling after hearing this news, that there is still hope for more Harry Potter books. We all just want there to be more Harry Potter books so badly that we'll be optimistic about any ambiguity we can get.
However, this doesn't mean we won't be revisiting the Harry Potter universe anytime soon. Rowling has penned the screenplay to the trio of film adaptations of her Harry Potter spin-off book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Eddie Redmayne is reportedly the frontrunner to play Newt Scamander in the trilogy, according to Variety. The first film in the series is scheduled to hit theaters Nov. 18, 2016.
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