RUMOR CONTROL: Rumors of 8th “Potter” novel are FALSE

An April Fool is someone defined as “a person who is the victim of a trick or hoax on April 1” – but what about when the fooling happens over five months later?

A recent article from Story Carnivores, dated April 1, 2013, has recently been getting a lot of attention. Understandable, since the article claims that J.K. Rowling exclusively confirmed that she was writing an eighth Harry Potter novel. The fake press release states that Rowling was disappointed with The Casual Vacancy‘s performance and wanted to write another Potter book as a treat to fans around the world. Seeing as Vacancy sold nearly 125,000 copies in its first week, we find this hard to believe.

So let’s look at the evidence against this article.

First, it was written on April Fools’ Day! Let’s remember that we at MuggleNet have pulled some pranks on this day over the years, but never would we joke about an eighth Potter novel. No need to tug at fans’ heartstrings!

Second, in 2002, there were rumors of an eighth novel when three additional U.K. patents were taken out by Warner Brothers. It was in fact true that Warner had taken out three patents, but the book rumors were dispelled by Jo’s trusted book agent, Neil Blair, of Christopher Little literary agents: “The plan is to have only seven books in the series. There is no truth to the rumors.”

Third, just over two years ago, Daniel Radcliffe, while on Broadway performing in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, told a reporter that “I was worried! I texted [Jo]. I said, ‘Look, is this true? Are you writing another book?’ [Jo] wrote back that she was so pleased with my performance in Harry Potter 7 – Part 1 that, as a reward, she promised to never write another book about Harry.”

Fourth, Jo herself has stated, too many times to count, that Harry’s story is complete. In 2007, after the last Potter novel was released, Rowling did an interview with the Daily Mail in which, of course, they asked her about the possibility of more novels. Her response was very clear. “If – and it’s a big if – I ever write an eighth book, I doubt that Harry would be the central character. I feel I’ve already told his story.”

Lastly, who is Story Carnivores? Why would they have this story and not a single large news outlet or fansite? There is no way that Rowling or anyone in her camp would choose to release this information to an unknown site. Jo didn’t even tweet about it – and we KNOW that she tweets the important things.

Bottom line: Let’s realize that while, yes, we would all LOVE another novel from Jo that takes place in the wizarding world, Harrys story is complete. There is not a new novel coming out now, or likely ever, and this article is not only very, very false but an almost rude, blattant attempt at publicity and traffic as well.