J.K. ROWLING producing ‘HARRY POTTER’ PREQUEL PLAY.

The Boy Who Lived Universe! continues to swell, and why should it? Potter fans want more, god dammit!, more! I am no one to begrudge them this desire. With every new Marvel or Star Wars announcement, my sad little gathering of atoms in my groin flare momentarily to life. Let us have our favorite universes into perpetuity.

Producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender are reportedly developing a new play about boy wizard’s early years, which will take place before he discovered his magical side and enrolled at Hogwarts. Author J.K. Rowling is expected to co-produce. Hit the jump for more details on the show.

The Daily Mail reports that the new play will premiere on the West End within two years. A theater has not yet been chosen. Rowling will not write the play, but she will collaborate with the (as yet unannounced) playwright who shall. Warner Bros. is involved as well.

According to Friedman and Callender, the play will “offer a unique insight into the heart and mind of the now legendary young wizard” by telling “the previously untold story of Harry Potter’s early years as an orphan and outcast.”

Potterheads will know that the hero’s childhood was not a happy one. After losing his mother and father in an attack by the villainous Lord Voldemort, young Harry was sent to live with his Muggle aunt and uncle, who mistreated him.

Although Friedman and Callender weren’t the first to approach Rowling about a stage adaptation of her beloved children’s character, the author said that the producers’ vision “was the only one that really made sense to me, and which had the sensitivity, intensity and intimacy I thought appropriate for bringing Harry’s story to the stage.”

She added, “After a year in gestation, it is very exciting to see this project moving onto the next phrase.” A writer and a director are currently being sought.

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