The End of a Magical Era: “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” Plays Final Two-Part Show After 10 Record-Breaking Years in the West End

Tonight, September 20, 2026, the curtain falls for the last time on the original two-part production of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” at London’s Palace Theatre. The show thus closes a historic decade-long run that began in July 2016 and turned the play into a global theatre phenomenon.

The decade’s balance sheet is unprecedented: the record of 9 Laurence Olivier Awards — the most ever won by a single production at the time — 6 Tony Awards, and a total of 60 major international awards. In London alone the show has been seen by over 2.5 million spectators, while five productions continue to play around the world — in New York, Tokyo, the Netherlands and on tour in North America.

But the magic does not end here. From October 9, 2026, “Cursed Child” returns to the same theatre as a reimagined single-part version, running 2 hours 55 minutes including one interval — the last production in the world to make this transition.

The producers — Sonia Friedman Productions, Colin Callender and Harry Potter Theatrical Productions — have also announced the first cast of the new version: Ethan Rouse as Albus Potter, Zoë Rainey as Ginny Potter, Hasia Akwaboah as Rose Granger-Weasley, Adam Jackson-Smith as Draco Malfoy and Bill Stanley as his son, Scorpius Malfoy. They will play alongside continuing members: David Ricardo-Pearce as Harry Potter, Thomas Aldridge as Ron Weasley and Naana Agyei Ampadu as Hermione Granger.

The play, based on an original story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, with a script by Thorne, direction by Tiffany and music by Imogen Heap, is officially considered the eighth story in the Harry Potter canon — set 19 years after the events of “Deathly Hallows”. The five-hour two-part version, played on the same day or on two consecutive evenings, had been the defining experience of the show since 2016.

Source: West End Theatre