The film version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth of the seven Potter books, hasn’t even made it to theaters yet, but that hasn’t stopped the final filmed installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, from making headlines. When I finished reading J.K. Rowling’s satisfying finale I had the same question many other fans did: how in the world were they going to fit the mammoth plot into one movie?

The answer is simple ... they won’t.

Yes, Deathly Hallows will be split into two movies, the first to be released in November of 2010 and the second in May of 2011. Bravo, I say. The last Potter book starts out a little slow but it breaks into a furious pace halfway through, with enough story to fit into three books if Rowling had desired it. There’s no rule saying there has to be one movie per book; instead of destroying the material by removing key story elements, the studio has elected to keep as much of it intact as possible. I’m sure the opportunity to squeeze another Potter film out of the grinder for more stacks of money had nothing to do with it. And while I am being a tad sarcastic, it is only fair to point out that fans wanted Goblet of Fire split up into two films and the studio eventually decided against it.

Meanwhile, it appears that David Yates (who began directing duties with Order of the Phoenix) will close out the series, so those Spielberg rumors can be put to bed I guess. I was kind of hoping Alfonso Cuaron, director of my favorite Potter film, Prisoner of Azkaban, would helm the final installment, but Yates is no flunky.

Lost in this all, of course, is the fact that Half-Blood Prince -- probably the series’ most critically acclaimed entry -- is due out this November, and it marks the return of screenwriter Steven Kloves, who took a break from the Potter series with Order of the Phoenix. This return is good news for those fans (like myself) who felt that while Yates did a first-rate job with the material, the adaptation itself was a bit lacking.

With talk of the last installment also comes the never-ending chatter that will surround both Deathly Hallows movies -- about how the series is coming to an end, and what will come of the young actors, the studio and J.K. Rowling herself. Here come the “can you break the Potter stigma?” questions for Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint. Meanwhile J.K. Rowling, no matter what she decides to do in the future, will always have her work compared to this series. (For some reason the filmmakers have it easier: David Yates will move on, as Alfonso Cuaron, Chris Columbus and Mike Newell have, and won’t have to answer these sorts of questions.) She is George Lucas. And all that will just be a distraction, the media’s way of celebrating what should be a much cheerier story: that the Potter films are likely to be one of the strongest and most interesting creative collaborations from book to film, author to screenwriter, character to actor and director to director. And at this stage of the game, I’m happy to report we have one extra film to keep us Potterheads celebrating.

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Dre writes three times a week for Film.com. Email him!

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