‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ is going to be a two-part play

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Mockingjay. The seventh season of Mad Men. The fifth season of Breaking Bad. And soon, Allegiant. What do these things have in common? At one point or another, they were all split into two parts. Breaking one epic book into two movies is quickly becoming the norm. Turning a show’s final season into two mini seasons (but still insisting it’s one) is all the rage. But hey, it allowed Jon Hamm to win an Emmy, so we aren’t really complaining.

The latest piece to get the two-part treatment is Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the upcoming play written by Jack Thorne and based on an original story by J.K. Rowling, Thorne and John Tiffany. It sounds like they have so much to work with, they just can’t do it justice with one play.

“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 honor that has been,” Thorne told Pottermore.

Jack Thorne is a BAFTA winner, and John Tiffany is a Tony and Olivier Award winner. With resumes like those, it would be easy for them to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child as just another job. But they’re both totally fan freaking out about it, and it’s the best. They’re extremely humbled to be working on the project, and have nothing but amazing things to say about their experience and good fortune.

“It continues to be unbelievable and amazing that I’ve been given this extraordinary change to bring Harry Potter to the stage,” Thorne continued. “As a fan, who just devoured the books and the films, this couldn’t be more exciting for me.”

Part 1 of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will premiere at the Palace Theatre in London’s West End next summer!

(Image via Warner Bros.)