As preview performances of the upcoming London play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, arrive, acclaimed author J.K. Rowling wants all muggles to abide by this simple rule: keep your mouths zipped.
In a video shared on YouTube, the wildly successful creator of the franchise made a plea to all fans. "You've been amazing for years at keeping Harry Potter secrets so you didn't spoil the books for readers who came after you," she said while looking straight into the camera.
"So I'm asking you one more time to keep secrets and let audiences enjoy Cursed Child with all the surprises that we've built into the story," she continued, adding on Twitter, "Potter fans have always had each other's backs."
Slated for debut at the London Palace Theater, the stage production chronicles the life of the series' beloved protagonist Harry Potter as an "overworked" employee of the Ministry of Magic and his son Albus Severus Potter 19 years after the last book finished.
Months before playing out on stage, the show already sparked controversy for its casting of Noma Dumezweni, a Swaziland-born British actress, as Hermione Granger, portrayed by Emma Watson in the films.
Many took issue with Dumezweni's darker complexion, though Rowling has made it clear that her initial descriptions of the character never mentioned race.
"Canon: brown eyes, frizzy hair and very clever. White skin was never specified. Rowling loves black Hermione," she tweeted in December in response to the outrage.
Dumezweni will join Jamie Parker in the role of the boy who lived and Paul Thornley as the third member of the magical crew, Ron Weasley.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is set to begin preview performances on July 7 while a printed version of the play will be released at the end of the month.