You guessed it.

Not only did their initial concept sound nothing like the end product we have today (from all accounts, it's very much a big, non-simple, special effects-laden, spectacle-type, double-feature play), but somewhere in the mix of different voices and collaborators, and by signing on with a new writer, nearly everything about the initial concept got thrown in the rubbish bin.

*sigh*

The fans were, of course, unaware at the time. Because when JKR had been asked about collaborating on a theater production before the creative team was introduced, she praised the producers' original pitch. "Yes, that was a really interesting idea that Sonia Friedman came up with. I've been so resistant for a long time about theater productions. Quite a few people wanted to do a Harry Potter musical. I didn't really see Harry as a musical so we said no to all of that, but Sonia came along with a very thoughtful, very interesting idea. I'm quite excited about that."

Sonia confirmed this in a separate interview. "It was absolutely Colin's and my idea. We knew that many other producers had approached her and she had rejected their pitches. But that's because they were all ideas about musicals or arena spectacles. We went to her with the simple idea of a straight play."

Colin went on to say, "We went up to Edinburgh four years ago and sat in a boardroom and talked about fathers and parenting for a while. We said we felt she had created a fully dimensional world, and there were things about the characters she hadn't revealed. We didn't hear anything for a bit, then got the call to say, 'Let's go to the next stage.' She was clear from the beginning that she was not a playwright and wouldn't write it, and that she would only do it if we found a playwright she approved."

As you can see, their initial concept of a prequel that would explore Harry's life as an orphan was a long time coming. Frustratingly, their accounts were revised as the creative team was picked and someone had the bright idea of developing a new story (looking at you Jack Thorne) (looking with disdain, bordering on abhorrence). But that little detail has only been revealed in recent interviews. And we'll save some of that until the end.

In the meantime, they needed to tell the fans what was coming...and that included a bit of public relations magic.

June 26th, 2015 marked the 18th anniversary of the franchise, and we were gifted with a reveal of the title - "HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD"! It would have its world premiere in mid-2016 at London's Palace Theatre.

Instantaneously, the minds of the fandom were wracked with speculation. Was Harry the cursed child? Must be, if this was a prequel about his time at the Dursleys! Wow, this is going to be such a sad play. I understand now. Poor young Harry, living with the lasting killing curse of Voldemort, without ever knowing the truth of where he had gotten that lightning bolt scar. Cursed to have part of that madman's soul lingering inside him. Cursed to live with the Dursleys. Cursed to be the last surviving Potter.

Oh, is there anything sadder than the pain of an emotionally neglected child?

Then we realized...there's gonna be a little boy on stage with a sweet voice and a teensy scar on his forehead.

Tears. Already!

...

..

.

Mmm... Nope. We were wrong. And JKR had to take to Twitter to set the record straight with the fans, using many exclamation points.

My interpretation: NO, this is #NOTAPREQUEL. I...I know we said it would be exploring Harry's early years...but, er, we didn't say that. So...you're remembering wrong, idiots. STOP ASKING!

So, here's where we find our first example of something I like to call "The Ol' Stub-Pub-Flub": Stubbornness, on the part of JKR, in the face of a public relations flub because someone in the creative team didn't anticipate an adverse fan reaction.

Here's my take on things. I believe that the reaction they saw, upon announcing the title, caused the team to realize that there was an unfavorable contrast between the story they were developing behind closed doors and the reasonable assumptions of the fanbase, who were looking forward to a prequel, based on all previous reporting. Now, this is just speculation, but I think JKR was encouraged by the creative team at that point to get ahead of the confusion by using Twitter to get the expectations of her fans in line. A plan they completely bungled.

Why do I think it wasn't her intention to accidentally scold the fans? JKR never wanted to let us down. It was clear from the start that she was hesitant to introduce something new to us that wasn't perfect. She didn't need the money, heck she'd already given a ton of it away to charity. She wouldn't blatantly come at us like this, unless someone was compelling her to do so. And then, when the backlash of comments flooded her notifications, a bit of stubbornness kicked in (as seen above...and I only picked out a few from the bunch). This left a bad taste in the mouths of the fans, and it wouldn't be for the last time.

Honestly, there was an easy solution to this. Forget any of the bad PR the team could have received for retracting the original prequel concept and going forward with something that more resembled a spectacle.

You should have just been upfront with us. It's okay. We adore you, gurl. We got your back.

But by not acknowledging that they had changed course under the new writing team, and were no longer considering the play to be an intimate portrait of Harry's Muggle life, pre-Hogwarts, it caused the fans who had been paying attention from the start to feel confused and a little scorned by someone they really looked up to. Alternatively, it caused the fans who just started paying attention to the revised #NotAPrequel narrative to gang up on the others, feeling like they had to defend their Queen. Civil War broke out on Twitter, dividing the fanbase (also, not for the last time).

Suddenly, it was as if the excitement Potterheads felt for the prequel idea was stupid, came from nowhere, and they needed to get their expectations in order. The treatment was about as close to bullying as you can get. And that kind of sucked.

The air was left a little stale, friendships were slightly awkward, but still we had common ground. We were still excited.

Just...

Hmm...

Things were beginning to feel less secure again. And we found ourselves asking that same question: What exactly are we getting?