Not My Canon!

Two Parts

September of that year started with JKR setting the fanbase straight. Again.

JKR: You know that name you're not supposed to say? Well, when you did say it...uhm...you were saying it wrong. It's not "Voldemort". You dummy. It's Voldemorrrrrr. The 't' is silent.

Fandom: Okay. But why?

JKR: Because.

Fandom: No, why now? If that's always how it was supposed to be said, why didn't you correct us in the books. You know, like you did back in the day with "Hermione" to make sure we stopped saying Her-Mee-Own? And why did everyone say it wrong in the movies? I'm kinda confused. Is it cool if you explain?

*silence*

This was a strange revision to official canon. I mean, it makes some sense, but still felt unusual and unnecessary. The hands were tinkering again and I was getting flashbacks of when Han Solo's first name was being pronounced differently out of nowhere. But, good news, the feeling of confusion was replaced a couple weeks later by a mixture of disappointment and hope! The West End stage production of the rumored play would be released in not one part, but two.

While there were some very excited fans (because when it comes to Potter, more is always more), for others, they preferred the oxymoron less is more. Here's a few of the immediate responses.

"Sincerely hoping this is two parts of the same performance...regular people simply can't afford otherwise."

"So we have to buy two extortionately priced tickets in the west end to see the whole thing?"

"Another reason why it would be fairer for us Potterheads as a book. Will be too expensive for many of us."

"Might as well make it seven parts at this point. Just as affordable."

"Excuse me I am very broke thank you"

"I actually physically cried. It's probably a can't do for me now. Absolutely devastated."

They soon specified that it would be two full-length plays, as in two performances intended to be seen back to back. A total of four acts. The director, John Tiffany, and the writer, Jack Thorne, took to the newly revamped Pottermore website (which, honestly, seemed less magical...what's going on?) to express their excitement.

Thorne:"Obviously I loved it when we decided to tell this story in two parts, because I got to spend more time with the characters and what an honour that has been."

Tiffany: "It shares a scale and ambition with all the Harry Potter stories so in order to do this justice we have decided to present the play in two parts."

Okay, so the fans liked hearing the "scale and ambition" part. They want to do the story justice? That's a good thing. But, yeah, it was hard enough for the fans living anywhere that wasn't London to accept that seeing the play was impossible, but now it was fundamentally unaffordable for people living down the road. And for the first time, basically ever, the wizarding world felt out of reach. It seemed almost to be reserved for the privileged alone to enjoy.

Sorry, but we don't all have a vault at Gringotts.

Hmm. It was getting harder and harder to have a positive outlook on this. But, we were going to try anyway. Potterheads were getting new material. And a new movie soon. This is all good stuff. It is, right? And there's no way they wouldn't be doing a theatrical release. We'll get to see Cursed Child, one way or another. And, don't forget, we liked that they released Deathly Hallows in two parts. Maybe we'll really enjoy this and it won't feel like the Hobbit movies. They aren't trying to just steal our money. They would never try to stretch a small amount of content into an epic multi-part series just for profit.

Wait...how long was that Fantastic Beasts book again?

Uh oh. I'm sweating now.

NO! Stay POSITIVE! We're GETTING MORE. Just...keep the faith or you're going straight to AZKABAN!

*sigh*

I just wish we were getting a novel instead.

JKR heard our worries and let us know that she was"confident that when audiences see the play they will agree that it is the only proper medium for the story".

Good. If she's confident, we are, too.