The stage play "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" had its gala opening Saturday in London's West End and is already the theater event of the year.
J.K. Rowling joined director John Tiffany, playwright Jack Thorne and the cast onstage to receive a raucous standing ovation at the end of the two-part show at London's Palace Theatre, where it's scheduled to run at least until December 2017.
If the boy wizard's creator has her way, that will only be the beginning.
"I'd like as many Potter fans to see it as possible," Rowling said on the red carpet before the show, as fans cheered and poked camera phones over crowd barriers in hopes of getting a picture.
There's already talk of a Broadway run, and Rowling said: "I'd like it to go wider than that."
Co-producer Sonia Friedman said she had big hopes for the show, which has been more than two years in the making. "Hopefully many countries at some point will get to see it," Friedman said. "But it's a big piece of theater, it's a big endeavor. You can't just turn this around overnight."
The play has been in previews for nearly eight weeks, but few details of the plot have leaked (though those seeking spoilers online will find them).
'Game of Thrones' Season 8 will be last
HBO has confirmed what "Game of Thrones" fans never wanted to hear: The fantasy-thriller phenomenon will be coming to an end after Season 8. Recently HBO renewed the series — adapted from George R.R. Martin's novels — for a shortened seventh season consisting of seven episodes. The eighth season will bring the saga to a close. The number of episodes for that last cycle has not been determined, HBO programming chief Casey Bloys said Saturday at the Television Critics Association's summer conference. "We'll take as many as the (producers) will give us," he said. After that, a spinoff remains a possibility. "We're open to it, the (producers) aren't opposed to it, but there's no concrete plans right now," Bloys said. "Game" won't be back with its seventh season until next summer, missing the deadline for the 2017 Emmy competition, which it routinely dominates. Last year, "Game" scored a dozen Emmys. Lena Headey, above left, portraying Cersei Lannister has won three Emmys.
