Transcript for MuggleCast Episode #716, Celebrating 20 Years of MuggleCast, and Predicting the Future
Show Intro
Jim Dale: Hello, this is Professor McGonagall, welcoming you to MuggleCast, hoping you enjoyed… Dobby, Dobby, come here. Here, Dobby! Yes, well, I’d just like to say how very pleased I am to introduce MuggleCast to all of you! Thank you! Thank you!
[Show music plays]
Andrew Sims: Welcome to MuggleCast, your weekly ride into the world of Harry Potter for 20 years and counting. I’m Andrew.
Eric Scull: I’m Eric.
Micah Tannenbaum: I’m Micah.
Laura Tee: And I’m Laura.
Andrew: We’re your Harry Potter friends, talking about the books, the movies, the upcoming TV show, so make sure you press that follow button in your favorite podcast app so you never miss an episode with your Potter people. And yes, this is our 20th anniversary episode. MuggleCast actually launched on August 7, 2005. We’re actually recording on August 7, 2025, coincidentally.
Laura: Wow.
Eric: Amazing how we planned this out to be just perfect like that.
Andrew: Time is a flat circle.
Laura: Yeah, this has been on our editorial calendar for two years, right? We definitely…
Eric: Honestly, I’m relieved to finally get to push it off. Let’s move on now. Gosh.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Micah: It’s like magic, one would say.
Andrew: It’s like magic, yeah! A question we get asked all the time… or at least I do when I tell people I do a Harry Potter podcast, and maybe they know the books and the movies, but they’re not fans, real fans, diehard fans. They always ask…
Micah: “Fans.” I like how you said that.
Eric: “Fans.”
Andrew: They always ask, “What do you guys still talk about? How has this show worked for so long, run for so long? 716 episodes? What?!” What would you three say to somebody who asked that question? I don’t know if you get that question.
Eric: That it’s such a good question, and I think that this is going to be our last episode.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Because now that we’ve discovered, thanks to this person pointing it out…
Andrew: Eric is like, “This is our last episode. We are finally ready to move on from 20 years.”
Laura: What I think of when someone asks me about that is just the fact that I think Harry Potter comes really naturally to this group of people, and we know it so intimately. I mean, we really are Harry Potter encyclopedias here, so I think it’s very easy for us to continue finding new meaning as we’re getting older and we’re having our own life experiences and seeing some very direct threads to real world events. So we’re really able to empathize on the basis of having grown up with these books, and I think it just puts us in a better position as adults to be able to speak to that impact.
Micah: I really like what Lydia said in the Discord, that they should tune in and find out if they really want to know what it is that we’re talking about.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: That’s such a… drop the business card, Andrew, next time; just have people find us.
Micah: For me, I’ll jokingly say, “Well, I ask myself that question all the time: What are we still talking about?” But I really like, too, what you said, Laura, because I think that we’ve found new and different ways over the years to be able to reimagine the discussion. And even now, when we’re going through the books chapter by chapter, we’re not doing it in exactly the same way; we’re not doing it through the same lens. We’re all a little bit older. We’ve had more experiences even from five years ago, the last time we did Order of the Phoenix; the world has changed a lot, so I think we can bring a differing perspective in. And I think the thing that has made this so enjoyable for as long as we’ve done it is just it’s a discussion amongst friends, and that’s the feedback that we get most often from listeners, is it’s like listening to your friends talk about something that you love, and that’s what we do here.
Eric: Laura, I like what you said, too, about us getting into the rhythm. I think we’ve gone and done it and formed the habit of talking about Harry Potter, and that’s just going to be impossible to quit. That’s just not going to be…
[Laura laughs]
Eric: Now that we’ve finally formed the habit… it took about several hundred episodes, but now we’ve got it, so we’ve just got to keep going.
Andrew: Yeah, I always tell people the rapport. We’ve got a good rapport together at this point. We know how to work together; we know how to discuss the books together. When you do it for this long, it starts becoming… secondhand? Is that the right phrase?
Eric and Laura: Second nature.
Andrew: It becomes second nature. It’s just very easy for us to bounce off each other.
Eric: People have passed us down.
Andrew: Yeah, right, right. [laughs] We get passed down.
Eric: We get passed down. We’re secondhand now at this point.
Andrew: Yeah, we kind of are.
Laura: Oh no.
Eric: I mean, we’ve had listeners share us with their kids. That’s kind of secondhand.
Laura: Isn’t that cool?
Eric: Oh, it’s amazing.
Laura: I love that.
Eric: I still want to do one day MuggleCast Junior with all of our kids or something; that’s a fun idea. But no, honestly, though, joking aside, when I get asked this question, I really do say the reason the podcast is still around, and what do you really talk about, well, it’s been because of a passionate listener base.
Laura: Yep.
Eric: That people are supporting us on Patreon, they have really determined in no small way these last nine years we’ve had a Patreon – that’s half our show’s history – they’ve really determined and shaped the course of the show, because they showed us that we were still wanted on the airwaves.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And thank you to everybody who has listened to us over the last 20 years. Whether you just started 20 minutes ago or you started 20 years ago, we really appreciate your listenership. And I always say this in the videos I record for our patrons: It means the world to us to have support from listeners.
Laura: It really does.
Andrew: And I mean it! So we will be looking backwards and forwards today to celebrate 20 years of MuggleCast, and there is actually some news in the world of Harry Potter that we’ll be discussing in a couple of minutes, but first, we want to remind you that we have a special deal running right now on our Patreon. To celebrate our 20th, for the whole month of August, you get 20% off an annual subscription. We have never offered this large of a discount before, but this large of an anniversary definitely calls for a very special deal, so visit Patreon.com/MuggleCast and pledge right now. Just sign up for an annual membership and use code “20YEARS” at checkout. Our Patreon is the reason why we have made it this far, why we are still a weekly podcast, why we are able to dedicate time to the show, so thank you so much for your support. And last week, we told you about the stickers you can get when you become a member, and next week, we will be announcing another physical gift that we are offering you this year.
Laura: Oooh.
Andrew: You will get two physical gifts by pledging right now! So this is the best time of year to become a member. Don’t delay.
Eric: It’s going to be real good, you guys. I really want to tease it, but it’s just… it’s going to blow your socks. And it’s a fitting gift to be doing this year in particular, so it’s going to be great.
Andrew: Absolutely.
News
Andrew: Let’s get into some news, and this is one reason why we’re still able to podcast about Harry Potter 20 years later, because the Harry Potter fandom and franchise is very much alive and well. Audible’s Harry Potter full-cast audiobook series has unveiled the premiere date and the cast members. Hugh Laurie is going to play Dumbledore, Matthew Macfadyen is going to play Voldemort, Riz Ahmed is going to play Snape, and Michelle Gomez will play McGonagall. And they also announced the trio; Arabella Stanton, who is playing Hermione in the TV show, is also playing young Hermione in the Harry Potter audiobooks on Audible.
[Eric laughs]
Laura: Wait, how did her agent pull that off? Give her a raise.
Eric: Oh my God.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: What I love… okay, so what Meg said when I told her this news was, “Yep, she’s already overachieving.”
Andrew: [laughs] Oh, true.
Eric: It’s very like Hermione to do just that.
Laura: Yeah, it’s very Hermione.
Eric: I love that, for no other reason.
Andrew: It’s really cool. Yeah, so what they’re doing is they’re having three young actors play young Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and then after Book 3, they are being replaced by older actors, which is smart, because this has all been recorded already. The books are done; they’re ready. You can’t have Arabella Stanton, who’s, what, probably 12 years old, voicing Deathly Hallows Hermione. That just wouldn’t really make sense.
Laura: Right.
Andrew: So that’ll be pretty cool. And we did get the release dates; Sorcerer’s Stone comes out November 4, and then the following books all come out a month apart, so Chamber of Secrets comes out December 16, Prisoner of Azkaban comes out January 13, Goblet of Fire February 10, Order of the Phoenix March 10, Half-Blood Prince April 14, Deathly Hallows May 12. So we’re going to have seven months of new book…
Micah: Can you go through that again, please?
Andrew: Why? [laughs] No. Look at it in the doc.
Micah: I think also what this does, seeing the number of people that were cast for these audiobooks, is give me an even deeper appreciation for Jim Dale and Stephen Fry, who did voices for all of these characters, right?
Laura: Right.
Micah: There was nobody else that was joining them in the studio when they were going through and narrating the Harry Potter books. And I know we had Jim Dale on an episode of MuggleCast way back when, and we also got to spend some time with him in Dallas, it was, right? What was it, Portus?
Laura: That’s right.
Eric: Yeah, for Dallas.
Micah: So just a nice bit of nostalgia there as we celebrate 20 years.
Andrew: Yes. That was Jim Dale at the beginning introing MuggleCast.
Eric and Laura: Aww.
Andrew: When he came on our show for an interview, he recorded that for us, and we wanted to add that in to celebrate 20 years.
Eric: I’ve missed that so much. It was so, so iconic.
Andrew: “Dobby, Dobby, come here!”
Eric: “I would like to say how very pleased I am to introduce MuggleCast!”
Andrew: In addition to having a full cast, Audible says that these audiobooks are going to be an immersive audio entertainment experience featuring an all-new score and original music, plus high quality sound design and real world sound capture. And the books are unabridged. So I’ve been saying for a while, I’m very excited for these. This cast was a pleasant surprise. Hugh Laurie as Dumbledore? That’s pretty cool.
Laura: Yeah, that’s exciting.
Eric: I wonder if Imogen Heap is doing the score.
Andrew: [laughs] Who scored Cursed Child?
Eric: They really started a good partnership with Cursed Child, yeah. No, it sounds like… so this is a full-on audio drama, fully produced sort of soundscape, maybe sound effects. At the very least, like you said, a score, Andrew. I really like old school radio plays and podcasts or audiobooks that sound like them.
Andrew: So here’s a trailer for these new audiobooks to give you a sense of what you’ll be hearing.
[Audio clip plays]
Woman’s voice: Harry Potter, like you’ve never heard it before.
Michelle Gomez as Minerva McGonagall: Welcome to Hogwarts.
Frankie Treadaway as Harry Potter: I don’t go looking for trouble. Trouble usually finds me.
Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger: We could all have been killed, or worse, expelled.
Max Lester as Ron Weasley: Follow the spiders! I’ll never forgive Hagrid. We’re lucky to be alive.
Riz Ahmed as Severus Snape: I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death.
Hugh Laurie as Albus Dumbledore: The truth, it is a beautiful and terrible thing.
Matthew Macfadyen as Voldemort: Harry Potter…
Woman’s voice: Harry Potter, the full cast audio editions.
Frankie Treadaway as Harry Potter: Expecto Patronum!
[Audio clip ends]
Andrew: I feel like I’m going to need a special, fancy pair of headphones to fully experience this immersive audio experience.
Eric: Maybe, yeah. It’s the pan that they adjusted…
Andrew: [laughs] Great pan.
Eric: Honestly, just a pair of stereo headphones. The pan!
Andrew: Micah, did they hire you to do the “Choo-choo”? I heard a “Choo-choo” at the beginning of that trailer.
Micah: Well, I can’t really speak to that right now.
Eric: Oh, he’s under an NDA.
Micah: Maybe not the “Choo-choo.” It’s possible that I might appear in future books, so I can’t really…
Andrew: As the goat?
Micah: Well, you’ll just have to wait and find out.
Eric: “And featuring Micah Tannenbaum as southern Hagrid, for some reason.”
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Andrew: For some reason.
Eric: They loved it so much, listening to our old chapter readings on Patreon.
Micah: Yeah, that’s actually a new dialect that they have. They’re going to announce this; I guess I can spoil it here on the show…
Eric: Please, we need content. It’s 700 episodes. We need to keep doing the show.
Micah: Yeah, so it’s going to be great. It really is. Southern Hagrid, Sorcerer’s Stone. You haven’t heard anything yet.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Wow, what a tease. I do like for us that they are releasing these a month apart. I don’t know how we’ll cover these, if we do at all, but we should maybe review each one? We’ll have to talk about it off air and figure it out. But yeah, I’m looking forward to this. I think the monthly releases are cool too. It’ll give people something to look forward to each month if they’re really into this.
Eric: It’s a relief for me, because I’ve had been having some Audible credits build up.
Andrew: Oh.
Eric: I didn’t know exactly how I was going to…
Micah: Now you know how to spend them.
Eric: Well, and it beats paying cash, so it’s good for me.
Micah: I will say I was surprised at just how much like Hermione – or how much like Emma Watson – Arabella Stanton sounds in that one clip that they played.
Andrew and Laura: Yeah.
Laura: I mean, that’s an iconic line that’s definitely going to serve as a throwback to the OG, because they also used that one in the trailers for Sorcerer’s Stone back in 2001, so I think they were probably trying to evoke that nostalgia to kind of bring people in.
Andrew: Kyle, who’s listening live on our Patreon tonight, also observed that he believes that these audiobooks were in production before casting began for the Harry Potter TV show, which would imply that Arabella Stanton got this gig for the Harry Potter audiobooks. And maybe when they were casting for the Harry Potter TV show, they were looking at these voice actors who were already working on the series, and were like, “Damn, Arabella Stanton is really standing out to us.”
Eric: Man, stinks to be that Harry and that Ron actor. They didn’t get it for the TV series.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: I know.
Eric: No, no, I’ll tell you what I love about the Ron actor, who’s like, “Follow the spiders?” in that clip. It’s so reminiscent to me of Sorcerer’s Stone video game Ron. “Oh, beans!
[Laura laughs]
Eric: Just total real, real young Ron Weasley. So it’s going to be, I think, a treat. And Hugh Laurie was actually in a comedy duo, it was A Bit of Fry and Laurie, with Stephen Fry. So now both the men have done Albus Dumbledore.
Micah: It’ll be interesting to see, too, if any of that tracks… like what we’re talking about with Arabella Stanton; is there anybody else who is a voice actor in the audiobook series that ends up getting cast in the TV show?
Andrew: Yeah, maybe.
Eric: I want to see Michelle Gomez on TV again. That’d be great.
Andrew: [laughs] I think… now, in the case of Arabella Stanton, she also has the Hermione look. With all due respect to Max Lester and Frankie Treadaway, who are playing Ron and Harry respectively, I think they might look at those two kids and be like, “Well, they don’t have the look that we’re going for.”
Laura: Right.
Andrew: Whereas Arabella Stanton was probably the full package for them.
Eric: Well, I’m glad they’re no longer dying the actors’ hair, because that didn’t do so many favors for the kids in the movies.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: And Andrew, you had a quote initially in here, I think, from Hugh Laurie. It was really nice to hear him talk about, though, sort of the history of Dumbledore, and the fact that he feels like he’s taking on this iconic role that was previously played by Richard Harris, Michael Gambon, Jude Law, and then he also pays a little bit of tribute to Jim Dale and Stephen Fry as well.
Andrew: He has a way with words. He said, “Just below the horizon, but headed our way, is the rough beast John Lithgow, his hour come round at last. This is great company, and it’s a privilege to be among their number.” [laughs]
Eric: You know, Hugh Laurie… it didn’t dawn on me until you were reading that in kind of a sinister manner there, Andrew, but Hugh Laurie really can bring the dark side to Dumbledore and then the sweet, Chocolate Frog, Honeydukes version of Dumbledore, too. I really actually can’t wait for his portrayal.
Laura: Yeah, I agree.
Micah: Are you drawing this from House and the kind of character he was there? I mean, he was definitely a little bit more edgier.
Eric: A little edgy, yeah. A little edgy.
Laura: Well, also, if you look at his work with Stephen Fry, but you also look at his work in various Brit coms from I think the ’80s and ’90s, he’s also capable of being extremely funny and lighthearted, so I’m really excited to see him be able to sort of bridge the gap between those two things for Dumbledore, because we know it’s there.
Andrew: All right, well, we will revisit these audiobooks when there’s more news to share, or when the first one comes out in November. November 4, specifically.
Predictions on early MuggleCast
Andrew: So I thought it’d be fun to look back on those early episodes of MuggleCast, and I pulled some predictions that all four of us made. To put the show’s launch in perspective for everybody, we launched MuggleCast just about three weeks after the Half-Blood Prince book was published, so fans were feverish for ways to discuss and think about what might happen in Deathly Hallows. So let’s pull out the Time-Turner and look at some of the earliest predictions that we were making.
Eric: This comes from Episode 2. Kevin and Andrew predicted that Snape either had a relationship with Lily or that he had a crush on her. If he had a crush on her, it would explain why he hates Harry so much; he may have become bitter over his and Lily’s friendship getting destroyed because she chose James.
Andrew: That one was pretty right. [laughs]
Eric: Why didn’t we just…? We should’ve just ended the show there. We got it, you guys.
Laura: Right.
Eric: Wow.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Eric: Let’s look no further. I don’t think we’re going to find a more apt prediction.
Laura: Yep.
Andrew: Some of… we got some good predictions back in the day.
Laura: We did.
Andrew: Yeah, and that was the fun of the show.
Micah: You should have read that in a Kevin voice.
Andrew: [imitating Kevin] “Thank you. I nailed that one.”
[Laura laughs]
Micah: Well, not long after that, on Episode 3 Jamie asked the question if Albus Dumbledore is really dead, to which Eric said, “Yes, Albus Dumbledore is dead.” Jamie cried and didn’t return for the rest of the episode.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: Will he be coming back in another way, though? Possibly. There is always the portrait in his office that Harry could talk to. So a better question is, yes, he is dead, but is he really gone?
Eric: Man, my first episode of MuggleCast, I predicted the Cursed Child.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Unbelievable. Harry is talking to Dumbledore’s portrait in his office. My God.
Andrew: Do y’all remember there was the website DumbledoreIsNotDead.com as well?
[Eric laughs]
Laura: Oh, yes.
Andrew: With all these theories trying to argue he didn’t actually die? I thought that website was awesome.
Eric: That was a great website.
Micah: Is this what birthed Dumbledore’s Tower of Terror?
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Maybe it partly was inspired by that theory and book, yes. Or website.
Laura: I was going to ask you, Andrew, as well, is that website naming convention what inspired you to purchase DumbledoreIsNotGay.com?
Andrew: Yes! Oh, I forgot about that! Yeah.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: That was bad of me in hindsight. I shouldn’t gay deny. [laughs]
Laura: I mean, it was satire.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah.
Laura: All right, next one here is from Episode 5. In this one, Eric predicted that there would be a big chance that one of the remaining Horcruxes would be at Hogwarts, possibly the Sorting Hat, Gryffindor’s sword, or something entirely unknown to us.
Andrew: Ding ding ding.
Laura: Dang, Eric. Look at you.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: Yeah, dust off those shoulders.
Micah: You’re three for three.
Eric: Yeah, hair flip.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: I think that I was overwhelmed by how much was left for Harry to do following Book 6, and so looking back, maybe it made sense to have a Horcrux be at Hogwarts. Also, because Hogwarts is such an important part of the books, I maybe speculated that we’d be going back.
Andrew: Important to Tom Riddle, too, Hogwarts.
Eric: Yeah, that’s a good point.
Micah: Andrew, I think it’s time that you put Eric in their place.
Eric: Augh.
Andrew: So on Episode 6, Jamie responded to a fan theory that Harry could be a Horcrux. Voldemort put a part of his soul into Harry on accident, and it happened when the spell backfired, and it definitely wasn’t on purpose. Eric and Ben disagreed with that.
Eric: Would never happen. It would never happen.
Andrew: But in Eric’s defense, that was a hotly debated theory.
Laura: That was a hot debate.
Andrew: People were very split, yeah.
Eric: Everything was Horcruxes. You guys don’t understand. Three weeks after Book 6, the introduction of Horcruxes, we literally were getting voicemails, so many that we had to ask people to, in the earliest episodes of MuggleCast, stop sending in questions about Horcruxes! Please!
Andrew: [imitating Ringo Starr] “With peace and love, peace and love, no more Horcrux theories!”
[Eric laughs]
Micah: No, we didn’t have peace and love back then.
Eric: No, no, but it’s fun to ret-con it, because that’s kind of the tone.
Laura: Totally.
Eric: No, the thing of it is… this is what’s amazing about all of us getting a chance to question and predict… all of this is spot on, the fact that Harry is a Horcrux, but it’s not an intentional thing. That’s right in there. That’s dead on.
Micah: What I love about this, though, is this is what made the show so much fun early on, was all of these different theories that were being thrown out there, and that we could literally sit for hours on end and debate whether or not we thought they were actually true.
Andrew: Yeah, because you could find arguments on both sides all over the Internet, on COSforums.com – that was MuggleNet’s forums – and all the other forums.
Laura: Right.
Andrew: We were getting tons of emails, like Eric is saying. Friendships died over the “Harry is a Horcrux” debate.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: That was tearing people apart. It really was.
Eric: Oh, you’re not wrong.
Laura: I definitely remember there was also a movement to go through the books with a fine-toothed comb to find every inanimate object that has ever been mentioned ever, and that just launched a thousand theories about what the Horcruxes were.
Andrew: Oh, wow.
Laura: Do you guys remember that?
Andrew: No. That does not surprise me, though.
Eric: But I do remember getting… because we learned about the locket, and there was that theory that the locket they all couldn’t open in Book 5 would come back and was the locket at the end of Book 6. So we knew that the author was the kind of person to put these clues in, and inanimate objects seemed perfect for it. So here’s one from – moving ahead in time – Episode 14 of MuggleCast: Ginny and Harry’s relationship will not be a big part of Book 7. Them being together will not depend on whether Harry defeats Voldemort or not. Harry and Ginny will have moments together in Book 7, but they won’t be in an actual relationship until Voldemort gets defeated, because there will be too much going on before that. Laura, this was your opinion then. Have to say, you were right, girl.
Laura: Yeah, no, I mean, I’m just perceptive like that.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: There were bigger fish to fry, right?
Eric: There was. There was.
Andrew: They put a pin in love. They’ll circle back to it later.
Laura: [laughs] Oh, God.
Micah: There’s battles before.
Eric: Kyle says in the Discord, “It’s also wild to me how strong Harmony still was after Half-Blood Prince, and you guys would have to navigate those tides in messages.”
Laura: That’s so true.
Eric: Harmony, of course, being the Harry/Hermione shippers, who occasionally still get mentions on this show from time to time. But that was a big swath of people, for sure.
Laura: Yeah, shippers were very serious back in the day. Not to say that the same themes don’t exist today, but it was a whole other thing. People legitimately had fights in online forums, sometimes at conventions, about ships, particularly the Harry and Hermione or the Ron and Hermione ship.
Andrew: It kind of makes me think that for the TV show, they should change some of the outcomes or plot lines a little bit, like who gets together with who.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Just to rock the boat and leave people surprised.
Eric: Oh my God.
Andrew: Harry and Hermione should get together.
Micah: I think they should pair up Harry and Luna.
Andrew: In a relationship? That seems beautifully platonic to me, that friendship.
Eric: Sure.
Andrew: But if that’s what you want, Micah. Micah is a…
Micah: I’m just trying to get Ravenclaw some more action.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: No, I was… honestly, when Luna was introduced in Book 5 – I know we’ve talked about it on the show before – I thought that’s what was being set up, because she and Harry have so much in common, and they can just connect on a deeper level that he hadn’t been able to connect with anyone else up until that point, so I thought that’s where it was going.
Eric: Yeah. I like the possibilities. I like that there were possibilities. There was more than one girl in the room. It’s nice.
Micah: Well, on Episode 21, responding to a voicemail from a fan who was wondering about Harry’s scar and whether or not it was going to disappear or stay after Voldemort’s death, all the hosts agreed that the scar would not disappear; it’s there forever. And even if Harry got the choice to remove it, he would choose to keep it instead. He’s proud of his scar, and he wouldn’t be complete without it.
Andrew: I wanted to include this one because, of course, we were all expecting the book to end with “scar,” and that didn’t happen.
Eric: Ahh.
Andrew: But we had some scar talk going on anyway, some other scar theories.
Eric: I think that was originally what was supposed to happen, right? That the scar would disappear or not be visible?
Micah: Fade?
Andrew: Ohh.
Eric: Yeah, I think the original… so we knew that the series was supposed to end in “scar,” and not “All was well.” Still angry about that. But I think the full sentence was later revealed to have… it was going to have been, “Only those that loved Harry could see the faint outline of his lightning bolt scar.” Something like that.
Andrew: That would have been nice.
Micah: “All was well.” I’m going to bring back a segment right here right now…
Andrew: Oh.
Micah: It’s called “What’s Buggin’ Micah.”
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: What’s Buggin’ Micah! Yeah! Play the sound effect!
Andrew: What’s buggin’ you, Micah?
Micah: It’s too fairy tale ending.
Andrew: Hmm.
Laura: Yeah, well, and also, apparently it wasn’t.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: No.
Micah: You’re right.
Laura: That’s the whole point of Cursed Child. [laughs]
Eric: You’re closing the door on Cursed Child there, Jo. Closing canon. That was a lot of the complaints contemporarily.
Andrew: Yeah, it broke canon. Cursed Child broke canon.
Eric: [laughs] Well, that’s not all it did. Or that’s not the only place.
Laura: Yeah, true. Next one is coming from Episode 23 on Fawkes not trying to save Albus Dumbledore in his last moments, and how that could be a sign that Snape isn’t bad and that the death was planned. Either way, Albus Dumbledore is definitely dead. Even if the curse didn’t work, the fall from the Astronomy Tower would have for sure killed him. Shout-out Astronomy Tower of Doom, or whatever we’re calling it.
Andrew: Tower of Terror.
Laura: There we go.
Eric: Dumbledore’s Astronomy Tower of Terror.
Laura: Snape may have had an Unbreakable Vow with Albus Dumbledore promising him that he will kill him instead of Draco. During the Astronomy Tower scene, Dumbledore may have been begging Snape to kill him instead of begging him for his own life. Oh, and you’re making me credit myself with this.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: Thanks. Thank you. I’ll take it.
Andrew: It’s just the order that it went in. That’s all.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: But yeah, this one was spot on.
Micah: This was another big theory at the time, that Snape was actually good and he was acting on Dumbledore’s orders. The whole “Severus, please” line. And I think in the movies, Michael Gambon does a much better job of letting viewers in on what’s going on just in his delivery of those words than maybe it would have been for us as readers reading it on the page, because obviously we don’t have the tone or the delivery. But I thought – and I’m curious your all’s thoughts – having watched that, that it was pretty clear that Dumbledore was asking almost for mercy in that moment.
Andrew and Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: I can see that, because he kind of said, “Severus… please.” He pauses.
Micah: And he makes that facial expression as well when he does it.
Andrew: Yeah, like he’s ready. Yeah, I could see that. And we’re talking about the audiobooks and the TV show; it’ll be interesting to see how John Lithgow plays it, and of course, now Hugh Laurie plays it as well. I mean, we’ll have to probably give the directors of the TV show and the audiobooks a lot of credit for moments like that, if they pull it off correctly. From Episode 45: The Hogwarts grounds will be where the final battle takes place. If that’s really the case, the scene would be very emotional. Micah guessed that the final battle will take place at Godric’s Hollow. I need to look up who actually said…
Micah: Well, in Cursed Child, it does take place in Godric’s Hollow, doesn’t it?
Andrew: I’m sorry, Micah. That doesn’t count.
Micah: Oh. Damn.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: Not my canon.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: This was my prediction that I made, that it would take place on the Hogwarts grounds. Kind of a safe bet, maybe.
Micah: That’s a stretch.
Andrew: What?! It’s not a stretch. It’s on the grounds of Hogwarts.
Micah: [laughs] That’s what I’m saying.
Andrew: Oh, oh. [laughs] Ouch.
Laura: Yeah, I vividly remember being so against this idea, and I’m pretty sure there’s recording of me out there saying that if the final battle is at Hogwarts, that’ll be the stupidest idea ever. [laughs]
Andrew: Why? Why didn’t you like it?
Eric: I still think it’s… [laughs]
Andrew: What?!
Laura: Honestly, it’s kind of basic.
Eric: Yeah. Well, back-to-back books, right?
Laura: Right, and we just had this in Book 6, yeah.
Eric: Book 6 has this huge intrusion of Death Eaters at Hogwarts. No, I was with Laura, I think, at the time if I’m remembering correctly, because there were so many amazing battleground places that it could have been. We could have gone back to the Department of Mysteries, and that wouldn’t have been stupid, because it wasn’t twice in a row. Or whatever, whatever. Anyway…
Andrew: But it’s Hogwarts. Hoggy-hoggy Hogwarts.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Hoggy-woggy Hogwarts.
[Laura sighs]
Eric: Hoggy-warty Hogwarts. [laughs]
Andrew: Hoggy-warty.
Laura: It’s just… I don’t know. Voldemort just can’t get over high school.
Eric: No.
Laura: That’s the story of this franchise.
Andrew: Grow up.
Micah: Come on, bro.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: Unbelievable.
Micah: But Hogwarts was a character, and I feel like it needed to be there in the final scene.
Andrew: Agreed. It was where it all began for Harry, really.
Laura: True.
Micah: And Voldemort.
Andrew: Yeah. Unless you want the final battle to happen, like, at Privet Drive. [laughs]
Laura: I mean, I don’t know. I think there’s a world of possibilities, if you want to talk about expanding the universe. If we think about what happens if the International Statute of Secrecy gets blown right open, what happens to the wizarding world in 2025 when we have the Internet and smartphones, and magic is going to be a lot harder to hide. If they wanted to expand on this franchise and build out the universe so that they could tell more stories and make more money, those are some things they could do. Bu those are just some ideas, if you want to hire me.
Eric: I think that’s pretty good.
Micah: Hired.
Eric: And our last in this segment of fun, old predictions – we should do this more often – comes from Episode 55, where Micah predicts that the Weasley twins are going to die by the end of Deathly Hallows. I actually looked this up; that episode we were joined by Brandon Ford of the MuggleNet editorial…
Micah: The Underground Lake.
Eric: Yeah. I know you were an avid reader of that segment.
Micah: I was.
Eric: But yeah, evidently it was revealed at Radio City Music Hall that maybe two people were going to survive of the trio, or at least Ron and Hermione. The question was, were two people spared? And Micah, you said, “I think the Weasley twins are going to get it.” That’s at the very end of Episode 55.
Laura: I mean, you were half right.
Andrew: Yeah, you were.
Eric: You were half right.
Micah: If I’m to try and remember what I was thinking back then, which… no chance.
Andrew: Yeah, how’d you have such a sick thought?
[Eric laughs]
Micah: But probably because when you look at a family as large as the Weasley family…
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: The probability? Wow.
Micah: … the probability is pretty high…
Eric: This is iron-clad.
Micah: … and we know what almost happened to Arthur in Order of the Phoenix. And I also think that… okay, now I know why I said this, because of what happened to Molly’s brothers, Gideon and Fabian Prewett.
Andrew: Ahh.
Micah: They died in the first war, and we know that at least in part, Fred and George are named for Gideon and Fabian. So history may have a way of repeating itself a little bit.
Andrew: And Fred rhymes with dead. It was written in the stars.
Eric: George rhymes with…
Andrew: Porridge.
Eric: … gorge.
Andrew: Gorge. “My brother’s going to get gorged to death.” [laughs]
Micah: Well, George does get maimed. It’s not like he gets away from it scot-free.
Eric: That’s true. They both get pretty… he’s cursed. His ear’s cursed off.
Micah: He’s holy.
Eric: He’s holy. [laughs]
Micah: Saint George.
Eric: Oh, man.
Andrew: Eric mentioned doing this more. I want to give a shout-out to Kim, one of our listeners, who at one point a few years ago went through every episode pre-Book 7, and logged all of our predictions that we made. And we have the timestamps; we have the episodes. It’s a 47-page doc, so we could do this more often. We were doing it a few years ago.
Laura: Yeah, it’s a great idea.
Andrew: But it’s just wonderful to have this resource where we can look back at all of our old predictions.
Laura: Totally.
Eric: Well, thanks, Kim. Yeah, this was fun to revisit.
Micah: Talk about saints.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Yeah. And later in today’s episode, we’ll be making some new predictions about the future of the fandom, so stay tuned for that.
Things we would have done differently
Andrew: So I thought 20 years later, we could ask ourselves if we could change one thing about the show’s past, or our presence or personality on the show in the past, what would it be? Because we’ve changed a lot in 20 years. We’re different people, and that’s okay; there’s nothing wrong with that. But this question is inspired by how we get different things out of the books as we have reread them over the years. So if we listen back to early episodes maybe, is there anything we wish we did differently? [laughs] Micah, I’m going to be really nice to you to kick things off here.
Micah: Aww. What do you want?
Andrew: [laughs] You were the MuggleCast news anchor. You had the news studio, and for a while – I don’t know how long exactly – you just were our news man, and you would pop in to read the latest headlines, and then we would discuss them. But then eventually, you just came onto the show full time. So my wish is that we broke you out of the newsroom dungeon sooner, and you were just a regular panelist sooner.
Eric: Yeah, yeah. We made him wait 11 weeks, so nearly three months before we were like, “Okay you can join us.”
Andrew: “I’ve done my time!” Micah, do you remember back then thinking like, “Why are they relegating me to this two-minute MP3 file every week?”
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Micah: Well, no, not really, because I felt, in part, I needed to earn my way on.
Andrew: Darn right.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Eric: We’re still waiting, by the way.
Micah: Ohh. Anyway.
Eric: [laughs] I’m kidding. You crushed those segments! Those segments were some of the biggest laughs of those early episodes. They were amazing.
Micah: Yeah, I had a lot of fun doing the news segments. And like you said, Andrew, they were pre-recorded, so it wasn’t like I was live with the rest of you when you were recording…
Eric: That would have been worse.
Micah: … and I think the joke finally was when I popped up post-news airing…
[Eric laughs]
Micah: … that everybody was shocked that I somehow found my way onto the show. But I do actually like the fact that the news became recorded during the show, because it allowed for more conversation, interaction…
Andrew: Exactly.
Micah: It just was very weird early on recording it and then having you all react after the fact. I feel like at times you had to edit in… if I made a joke or I made fun of another cohost, you would have to insert certain things in there, because otherwise there would be no kind of natural reaction to it. So it was probably more work on your end at times, or whoever was editing then.
Andrew: Maybe. It did just feel backwards for us to have you read all these different news items, and then we kind of backtracked and discussed everything you just said.
Eric and Laura: Yeah.
Eric: Well, it was good to have a… I thought it made us sound so professional to have a prerecorded news roundup, and then as soon as it stopped being a thing, it’s like, “Okay, we don’t need that.” But it was really, really cool to begin with, especially because Micah did such a good job of it, curating it. I mean, I’ve told this story, too, but my favorite joke that you’ve ever made on the prerecorded news segment was… there was some trailer – I think it was for Goblet of Fire – that was going to be premiering on ABC or something, and it was going to be premiering before Joey, the Friends spinoff.
Micah: Oh no.
Eric: You were like, “Seeing as how there are only five people that watch this show, and we know who you are, we asked the former cast members of Friends to send in the tape.”
[Laura and Micah laugh]
Eric: I was just like, “Oh my God, the shade! The shade.” It’s amazing.
Micah: Like I said, I had a lot of fun working on those news segments.
Andrew: Another thing I would change… and I can’t beat ourselves up over this; they’re mainly business-focused items. We did come up with Pickle Pack very early – that was like Patreon before Patreon – but it would have been cool if we did something even earlier, or if we came up with a mailing list, started collecting people’s emails to notify them about new episodes of the show, or just starting our social media channels sooner. We also gave away a lot of free advertising, it kind of felt like, which I wish we didn’t do. Maybe I’ll save that for a bonus MuggleCast some time behind the paywall.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: But I feel like we gave people more free promo than they probably deserved. That sounds mean. [laughs] I might cut that. “Deserved” is a strong word.
Laura: But no, I mean, I think there’s something to that, right? Because we’ve talked before on the show about how we were all so very young when we were doing this, that we didn’t know what we were doing. Nowadays stuff like that that would be immediately obvious to us – because we’re adults – just wouldn’t be when we were that young. It was kind of a… it was a really unique point in time, where the Internet, in terms of finances, was also kind of the Wild West. [laughs]
Eric: Yeah, yeah, there weren’t laws written yet to say how it was supposed to go.
Laura: No, right.
Eric: Or even web traffic, and that kind of thing was just like, “Okay, you’ll give me what? All right, that seems fair,” not knowing what’s going on. But yeah, I’ll kind of go… for my thing, it was very to do with early social media also. I mean, we really… as a show, we predate YouTube being out of beta, Facebook; social media itself wasn’t… if it was a thing, because there was MySpace, it really wasn’t what it is today. The world just didn’t work like that. The Internet didn’t work like that. And a couple of years into our show, two or three years in, 2007/2008, is when some of our friends in fandom started to get big on YouTube through doing web vlogs and things like that. And my… I’ll say regret, but if we had a Time-Turner and could do things differently, I would say that would have been the time to really get on YouTube. We could have ridden that first wave of chronically online teens who could have boosted our signals; our channels could be even larger than they are through… but again, through hard work and regular content posting. But I always wonder what could have been. I always wonder… now we’re on YouTube; now we record video, and it works very seamlessly, and it goes on YouTube, and there have been many videos over the years that get a lot of views because we publish them to our YouTube. But to have utilized YouTube in the way that some of those early – you wouldn’t even call them influencers – at the time used, would be an interesting alternate timeline to see how things would have developed over there.
Laura: Well, yeah, especially if you look at some of the people who were on the cutting edge of YouTube at the time. And I mean, we’re all around the same age, so they were teenagers, early 20s, doing their nerdy shows about things they were really into, and a lot of those creators are huge on YouTube now.
Andrew: True.
Laura: Not to make anyone feel bad or anything, but it is one of those things that you do reflect on for sure. I would echo that.
Andrew: How about you, Micah?
Micah: I don’t know that I would necessarily want to change anything about the content of the show. I feel like we evolved the way we did because of all the different things that we faced along the way. I was just kind of thinking about this the last few minutes, and hopefully this doesn’t come across as somewhat controversial, but I do think that looking back on it, at the time, having the author on the show prior to all of the things that have since transpired would have been something that I think we all would have liked.
Andrew and Eric: Yeah.
Micah: Now we all feel very differently as of August 7, 2025, but I look back on the fact that she did go on PotterCast, and she did talk with Melissa and John, and was it Sue at the time?
Andrew: Probably.
Micah: And I remember there were people who had said to me that they felt that we had at least earned that same right through what we did in putting the show on. And so again, I hope this doesn’t come across in any way as being controversial, but I do think that back at that point in time, that would have been something that we all would have appreciated.
Eric: Absolutely. Yeah, we idolized her.
Andrew: And to be honest, we would have asked really good questions.
[Micah laughs]
Eric: No, that’s the loss. That’s the loss that I feel. It’s not never having met her; it’s never getting to ask those crazy, wild questions, like, “Why is the Ministry abandoned? Was it a pizza party?” I need to know.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: I take it as a compliment that she didn’t come on, because she was afraid of us. She knew the questions we would ask were too good.
Laura: Oh, yeah.
Eric: We would poke holes. We would poke so many holes, the series would just collapse; there would be no more Harry Potter. I feel like had that been a huge priority of ours, we could have then made it happen. But there were various interactions throughout the years, right? We had a letter from her at one point saying, “Do you know we exist?” And she said, “Yes, I know that you exist.”
Andrew: [laughs] She was like, “Yeah.”
Eric: As soon as PotterCast had their interview with her, we wrote a letter saying, “Do you know that we are also a thing?”
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Eric: I mean, I didn’t write the letter, so what was it actually about?
Micah: Laura did, didn’t you?
Laura: Yeah, I did. It was just on all of our behalf, thanking her for everything she’d done. And we also sent her a charm bracelet that I bought at the mall.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: $1.99?
Laura: It wasn’t any… I mean, it was cute. It was cute, but I was 18, okay? I worked at Target. That was all I could afford.
Eric: That’s right up there with what Emerson gave her, which was the key to the city of La Porte, Indiana. I mean, that and a friendship bracelet are real close gifts.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: Right. So we didn’t get a reply back for two years, and one day in my sophomore year of college, my mom texted me randomly and was like, “You’re never going to believe what just showed up at the P.O. Box.” [laughs]
Andrew: Did you buy the charm bracelet from Spencer’s? Or Hot Topic?
Laura: No! Oh my God.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Did it have Jack Skellington on it?
Laura: No, no, I would never. That’s not her vibe. She’s not…
Eric: No, Laura would buy that bracelet, but she’d wear it herself, because she was…
Laura: Duh. [laughs]
Eric: Yeah, duh.
Micah: There were some other things, too, that I thought about. If the show had started earlier, maybe around when Goblet of Fire came out, just thinking about that was such a major, pivotal point in the series, because Voldemort is officially back, and we’re heading to Order of the Phoenix, where the tone of the series really starts to shift. And if we thought that we had theories after Half-Blood Prince was out, I can’t imagine the theories that were floating around at the times of Books 4 and 5 and where the series was ultimately going to go. So I mean, that would have just given us more episodes.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Yeah. No, it’s a good point. It would have been wonderful to speculate pre-Half-Blood Prince as well, or pre-Order of the Phoenix.
Eric: Yeah, yeah. I mean, there was some doing of that on MuggleNet, but not in the audio sphere. I mean, to be fair, podcasts weren’t really a thing, certainly not in 2000.
Lynx Line
Andrew: We also asked patrons what popular topics they would like us to revisit or reflect on. Carly thinks we should revisit “the ways in which our Muggle world has started to become more like the wizarding world over the last two decades. Like now we have ‘live’ photos that are similar to how pictures in the wizarding world move, we have ChatGPT a.k.a. a Quick Quotes Quill, we have our own Fudge in office, etc. I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts and observations of similar inventions/moments that make our world slightly more magical (for better or worse).” Yeah, that’s a great idea.
Micah: I think that’s a bit harsh on Fudge.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Yeah, that’s a fair point. Yeah, I mean, we do occasionally comment, and certainly as we’re going through the books when we spot a current relevance. But I like the implication of AI, and whether that is something that is akin to stuff we see in the Harry Potter books, there’s definitely a topic there, for sure. Sam says, “I miss all the silly segments that always got unhinged, hahaha. Make the Music Connection, What’s Buggin’ Micah,” which we had tonight, “Jamie’s jokes, etc. All the early days are such a joy to listen to. Really feels like going back in time.” I agree; there was a certain unpolishedness that would give us all heart attacks now at this age.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: Yeah, that’s true.
Eric: If we tried to recreate… let somebody like Jamie loose, it wouldn’t work out.
Andrew: Yeah, we’re all still for having fun here. But yeah, it’s gotten a little more… and I think this is just how the podcast industry has shifted, too; it’s a little more regimented, maybe.
Laura: Yeah, a little more buttoned-up.
Andrew: “Don’t forget to follow us in your favorite podcast app.” People have to hear that stuff, so that’s why we say it. [laughs]
Eric: Yeah. No, but that is a call to action for us, I think, that Sam said, of like, let’s continue to keep the spirit of our unhinged teenage selves.
Andrew: Keep it weird.
Eric: Yeah, keep it weird, y’all. Keep it weird.
Andrew: I’m starting to think maybe we should start getting a little more adult on the show.
Micah: Oh, finally.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: Wow.
Eric: Micah’s got a whole list of dad jokes of the week.
Laura: I didn’t realize we were going to have a show strategy meeting in the middle of the recording. [laughs]
Andrew: We’ve got to grow up. Parents, unsubscribe now for your kids.
Eric: We’re going to slap that E rating onto every episode.
Andrew: [laughs] Explicit, yeah.
Laura: Onto our Harry Potter podcast.
Micah: And as I think we’ve mentioned on other episodes, it’s hard for us to do Make the Music Connection, because copyright laws.
Laura: Right.
Andrew: [in a nasally voice] We’re not legally allowed to play, yes.
Micah: And the show will get pulled down, and we don’t want that.
Andrew: Yep.
Micah: Rachel says,
“Loved Make the Music Connection, the theories and predictions, and the first reactions to the Wizarding World at Universal. There have also been so many lines that have made me laugh out loud, and so many conversations and topics that have made me feel so seen and were exactly what I needed to hear.”
Laura: Oh, I love that.
Micah: Thanks, Rachel.
Laura: Carlee added that they loved the House-focused episodes. Those were so fun.
Andrew: That was a fun series.
Laura: And those are some of the more recent episodes in our catalog from the last few years, but those episodes were so deep.
Eric: Yeah, 520-something was those? 526 was “In Defense of Slytherin.”
Andrew: And House-focused episodes are probably something we could do more of. There’s a lot to dig into there in comparing and contrasting the Houses.
Micah: We can re-Sort people.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
Eric: Yeah, that’s always fun.
Andrew: Michael said, “Old MuggleCast/MuggleNet lore is always fun! Inside joke origins, what some of our old friends are up to, favorite early show memories, etc.” Yeah, and I think we’ll be doing more of that in bonus MuggleCast on Patreon. Behind the paywall we can open up more; we can reveal the secrets maybe we don’t want prying eyes or ears to be seeing. So you can look forward to topics like that, and all of these topics today are great for bonus MuggleCast that we’re reading from our patrons, because right now we’re pretty busy with Chapter by Chapter, whereas bonus MuggleCast opens up the opportunity to talk about other aspects of the wizarding world outside of Chapter by Chapter. And what better time to do it than in our 20th year?
Eric and Laura: Yeah.
Laura: Are you saying that we’re going to get Wormtaily in bonus?
Andrew: We’re going to get Wormtaily, yeah. Wormtaily part one, part two, part three…
[Laura laughs]
Eric: “Keep the secrets.”
Micah: Don’t keep the secrets.
Andrew: Well, listeners must keep the secrets that we share. [laughs]
Eric: Oh, yeah, yeah. We’re going to give them badges. They’re going to get little pins.
Andrew: I still have some of those “Keep the secrets” buttons. They were handing them out during the Cursed Child shows because they were trying to stop people from spoiling.
Eric: I wonder if they still do.
Micah: You going to put them on eBay?
Andrew: [laughs] I’m keeping them for myself.
Laura: So now here’s what we do: Before you can listen to this episode of bonus, we’re just going to have you sign this piece of parchment, and don’t worry about it. [laughs]
Andrew: You pledge to keep the secrets always and forever.
Eric: James says,
“Pickle Pack, where the darn origins of rabbit rabbit came from, a Seven-Word Summary of the past 20 years of podcasting, Laura’s pants, revisit what went wrong with the Fantastic Beasts movies, maybe revisiting thoughts on the theme parks?”
Yeah, there could be an idea of taking stock of what Harry Potter experiences currently exist, what conventions are still going, what gatherings are still happening, what theme parks there are… I think they’re opening a Universal in England next, I saw somewhere.
Andrew: That’s the rumor, yeah. They’re talking about it.
Eric: There’s a podcast about it now, from some of our friends. So yeah, who knows?
Andrew: The origins of “Rabbit rabbit,” you say at the start of a month, and it’s a little good luck charm. So that’s rabbit rabbit.
Micah: Wasn’t that Matt who first introduced that on the show? I feel like he was the one who I first heard it from.
Andrew: Maybe. I don’t know.
Laura: Yeah, maybe.
Andrew: But James also said a Seven-Word Summary of the past 20 years of podcasting. Why don’t we just do that right now? I’ll load up the theme.
Laura: Oh, God.
Andrew: [laughs] Laura is stressed already.
Micah: What’s the order?
Andrew: We’ll do the host order again.
Laura: No, you’re bringing it back! No! No, I’m kidding.
Andrew: Laura, you might only have to go once. You might be off the hook here.
Laura: Yeah, okay.
Andrew: All right, here we go. Seven-Word Summary of the last 20 years of podcasting.
Laura: Wait, where are we typing it out?
Andrew: I’ll type it right here below the question.
[Seven-Word Summary music plays]
Andrew: MuggleCast…
Eric: … explores…
Micah: … literary…
Laura: … magic…
Andrew: … for…
Eric: … all…
Micah: … time.
Andrew: Oh, okay. There we go.
Laura: Oh, that was great!
Andrew: [laughs] Laura is like, “What was I worried about?”
Micah: We haven’t lost a step.
Eric: Let’s pat ourselves on the back. We still got a whole ‘nother book before we can bring that segment back properly, but we’re going to do it.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: And we did that in 20 seconds.
Eric: Yeah, yeah. “Scar.”
Micah: All right, Barry writes in to say that his “favorite episode to recommend to people is the differences between Fred and George. That episode is so fascinating, and a top five MuggleCast for me. And any episode y’all talk about Jacob Kowalski. Him sending that happy birthday message was sick.”
Andrew: Yeah, the actor, Dan Fogler. That was great.
Laura: Unhinged.
Andrew: Yeah, that Fred and George episode was one of my favorites, too. Telling them apart. How to tell them apart. [laughs]
Eric: It shocked me. What we learned on those episodes where we take a closer look and then learn, “Oh, yeah, you actually can…” there are distinctive personalities.
Andrew: Yeah, I learned a lot.
Eric: Because I always kind of skimmed them in the books, going, “Eh, the twins said this. The twins did that.”
Laura: Right.
Eric: They both didn’t die, though. They are different.
Laura: Fair enough.
Micah: And thank you all again very much for that special birthday message from the one and only Dan Fogler, Jacob Kowalski.
Andrew: Oh, you’re welcome. I don’t think he knew we were going to play that on a podcast.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Micah: I don’t think he knew he was recording the video, to be honest with you.
[Everyone laughs]
Laura: Do you think he remembers?
Eric: Oh, man.
Laura: And finally, bringing us home, Robert has a couple of recommendations. The first is a fun one, saying, “I’d love a trip down memory lane about your reaction to seeing Cursed Child as opposed to reading it.” Now the serious recommendation, or the serious comment here:
“I’m so proud to call myself a MuggleCast fan because of your very powerful author episodes detailing not only her views and actions, but your staunch opposition to them. I’d love to know how it felt to plan and discuss such a hard topic, in addition to the strength you have to keep pushing positivity as a way to combat the hate.”
That’s really sweet of you to say, Robert, and that feels good. I think that’s exactly the tone we were hoping to strike with that.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah.
Laura: Just encouraging people to be a little more open, and rather than jumping on top of the ugly rhetoric that you see on social media and in the news, take a step back and actually try talking to someone who’s a member of the trans community before you start painting with a broad brush like the author does.
Eric: I think, yeah, just checking in with ourselves, too, and each other is a great resource. We have this relationship that we’ve cultivated over 20 years, and it makes it very easy to have even hard conversations, because we have a lot of respect for each other. So yeah, that was a great… I mean, conversations happened, but it worked out. I’m glad that was well received.
Andrew: Well, thank you to our patrons for sharing what popular topics they would like us to revisit, or ones they remember most. Really fun reading through those. We ask our patrons questions on our Patreon every week and then read their answers on air. If you would like to participate, become a member today at Patreon.com/MuggleCast, and don’t forget, we currently have a special offer; use code “20YEARS” at checkout to get a discount on an annual membership.
Predicting the future
Andrew: Now, we were experiencing some of our predictions we made in the earliest episodes of MuggleCast. Let’s predict the future. So 20 years from now…
Micah: 2045.
Andrew: 2045. What official Harry Potter or wizarding world things will exist that we don’t currently know about? And I’m encouraging y’all to think big here, because we have the TV show coming; we had Fantastic Beasts, the film series; we have these new audiobooks coming. Stuff like that. I’ll kick things off. I think…
Micah: Oh, I know you’re not doing that in a normal voice.
Andrew: What?
Micah: You’re predicting.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Eric: You want to prophesize, Andrew?
Andrew: [imitating Trelawney] I predict…
Eric: There you go.
Micah: Thank you.
Andrew: [imitating Trelawney] The power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… [back to normal voice] I predict a Harry Potter animated TV show will arrive about the adventures of the Weasleys, and I think it’ll be set at the Burrow at the start of every episode, and we’ll just see the daily antics that are happening within the house. And when you think about it, the Weasleys, they’re like a perfect sitcom family. You have the quirky dad, you’ve got the bossy but caring mother, you’ve got the mischievous twins, and then, of course, you’ve got some kids with really good heads on their shoulders. So I think the rapport between all of them in an animated TV show would be awesome, and animated! Think of the Weasleys animated. Think of the Burrow animated; the color would just be so vibrant. So that’s what I want.
Eric: I like that a lot. It kind of got me wanting a Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle comic book too, which is a comic that Ron has. Maybe… oh, remember how on children’s TV, there used to be… God, what was it? Garfield had half of every episode that was actually the farm creatures or something…
Laura: Oh, yeah.
Eric: … and it was 15 minutes of Garfield with the farm. Maybe they could do that, where it’s the Weasleys at the Burrow, and then also Martin Miggs, some Muggle somewhere, as a two-for cartoon series. Hire me. Thank you.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: That would be great.
Andrew: [imitating Trelawney] Now it’s your turn, Eric, to make a prediction!
Eric: [imitating Trelawney] It’s a big mantle to take on! [back to normal voice] I don’t have the glasses.
Andrew: You don’t have to do the voice.
Eric: Thank God.
Andrew: It’s very… it strains the vocal cords.
Eric: Yeah, yeah.
Micah: You need more Celsius.
Eric: [laughs] I will say that within the next 20 years… if I were betting them, I would say there will be a Hogwarts hotel. It will be, furthermore, somewhere unexpected, like North Carolina, for some reason. And having learned nothing from the Star Wars hotel…
Micah: Is Southern Hagrid going to be the innkeeper?
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: Oh, man. They could just get Jason Isaacs to do it! Because he did a great North Carolina accent in White Lotus.
Eric: That’s right!
Andrew: Ahh. It’s all coming together.
Eric: Okay, the ideas are… anyway, the Star Wars hotel, which has unfortunately failed, was highly immersive, and I always thought they should do that for Harry Potter. Now, it didn’t work; Star Wars hotel is closing. But if they did that for Hogwarts – go and attend class – it would sell like hot cakes. People would pay whatever it took. So I think that it’s not a source of revenue that they’re thumbing their nose at; I think Hogwarts hotel is coming. I think it’s coming big. I think we’re going to get it in the next 20 years.
Andrew: That would be a pretty… [laughs] Justin, who is listening live, is looking at me with my Trelawney glasses, and is calling me Chuck Schumer…
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: … because I’m very much looking over the glasses right now because they don’t fit on my head and they’re very blurry. But that would be a good bonus MuggleCast for us sometime, too, to dream up a Harry Potter hotel, specifically what that would look like.
Micah: I like that a lot.
Eric: Well, now that The White Lotus is out, I really have some ideas.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: And I do agree with you, Eric, that seems inevitable; some sort of Harry Potter hotel, Hogwarts hotel, something like that.
Micah: So I decided to go with something sports-related, but something I actually think could be a possibility. Quidditch, also now known as Quadball…
Eric: That’s right!
Micah: … is going to become an Olympic sport in the next 20 years, and here’s the reason why I say that: currently, it’s played in more than 40 countries; it combines elements of rugby, dodgeball, and tag with strategic gameplay; it’s fast paced, it’s high contact, it’s multi-dimensional, and it’s great for people to watch, and moreover, it’s highly inclusive, right? And if you look at some sports that are coming to the Olympics in LA in 2028, you have lacrosse, rugby, and squash, and these are very similar to Quidditch. So I think there’s a very high likelihood that at some point, maybe even in the next ten years, that we’ll see Quidditch become an Olympic sport.
Andrew: That’s a cool theory, because there’s some strange Olympic sports.
Micah: Exactly. [laughs]
Andrew: Unexpected ones.
Micah: Break dancing.
Andrew: Yeah!
Eric: Don’t knock it till you can do it.
Micah: Well, I’m not knocking it. I’m just saying, if you can win a gold medal for that, you can win a gold medal for Quidditch.
Andrew: Handball is an Olympic sport. That’s basically Quidditch.
Eric: What about podcasting, you guys? There needs to be an Olympic podcasting team.
Andrew: I’m in good shape for that, so…
Micah: I think we can do it.
Laura: Okay, but just a reminder, 20 years in the future, we’re all going to be around 60.
[Micah laughs]
Eric: Thriving?
Laura: Pushing 60.
Eric: And thriving.
Laura: Yeah. Oh, totally. But how many 60-year-old Olympians do you know? [laughs]
Andrew: Well, for podcasting, it’d probably be all about projection.
Laura: Well, yeah, that’s true.
Andrew: [in a deep voice] Welcome to Muggle… see, I screwed it up. I already didn’t even score in the top three.
Eric: No, I was captivated. Yeah, it’s amazing you can just turn that on like that, Andrew.
Andrew: [in a deep voice] Welcome to MuggleCast. [back to normal voice] Gold medal for Andrew.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: Sibilance!
Andrew: I like that prediction, Micah. That’s cool. Yeah, they renamed Quidditch to Quadball to get around the legal issues there, and maybe that was a step towards Olympic inclusion.
Laura: Perhaps.
Eric: Yeah, I mean, actually, you mentioned handball, but the USA Team Handball Association helped develop rules for different versions of Quidditch throughout the years that were played live. So I don’t know, but I think they’re probably pretty connected.
Laura: I want to add to the hotels recommendation. I think hotels… I could definitely see full resort situations. But the thing that I really think is going to happen – I don’t know if it’s going to take 20 years, but I think it will happen – there will be a wizarding world cruise. There is no way this doesn’t happen. There’s a cruise for literally everything. If you have an interest in something, if you’re really nerdy about something, odds are they have a cruise for it, so I think there’s going to be a Harry Potter cruise.
Eric: Now I’m looking up if there’s podcasting cruises.
[Everyone laughs]
Laura: There are!
Eric: What?! Augh, that’s amazing.
Andrew: You know, Laura, there actually have been some rumors lately that Universal, who has the Harry Potter land, is planning cruises, because also, remember, Disney has a very successful cruise line, so it seems inevitable.
Laura: They do.
Andrew: Plus, Universal is expanding a lot. Eric mentioned that England theme park that’s in the works. Here in Vegas, they’re about to open a year-round Halloween Horror Nights venue.
Eric: That’s right!
Andrew: It’s opening later this month, actually; I’m very excited about it. They’re looking for new opportunities, so maybe there will be a Universal cruise with Harry Potter elements on it to start, or they are just going to do a whole Harry Potter ship. That’d be pretty cool. I would like an adults-only Harry Potter ship, though.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Eric: Wow.
Andrew: I went on an adult-only cruise over New Year’s, and that was wonderful. Just being away from children was wonderful for a week. [laughs]
Eric: Well, there goes MuggleCast Junior. Dead in the water.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: I’ll be on a cruise when MuggleCast Junior happens.
Eric: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I was going to make a funny joke about a wizarding world cruise, is that they will tease that the cruise will go to Rio de Janeiro, and it never will.
Laura: Right.
Andrew: Ohh.
Eric: We will never actually get a cruise there; they will just talk about it. It will be the cover photo on Twitter for several accounts, but we will never actually get there. They’ll have a last minute change of plans.
Andrew: Laura, we’ve got to do a bonus MuggleCaster around a Harry Potter cruise too. Now my mind is just spinning with ideas.
Laura: Yeah, I know. Me too.
Andrew: I loved the cruise I went on a few months ago. I’ve got cruise fever now, so we can collab.
Eric: Oooh.
Micah: Look at you.
Laura: There’s some good ideas you could do, and there are definitely some OG cast members who would totally go.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: Because that’s the fun of being on these cruises. If you go on a music cruise, the band that you’re there to see is usually on the cruise, unless it’s Kiss, because from what I hear, Kiss just helicopters in for their performance and then they leave, so they’re not on the boat the entire cruise.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: But a lot of times, if it’s a cruise celebrating a fandom or a band or whatever, prominent people from that thing will be there walking around, and you can just run into them. That’s half the fun. I think Tom Felton would go, 100%.
Andrew: Yeah, definitely. All right, well, we have some great ideas here. We’ll revisit these in 2045 and see how right or wrong we were.
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Andrew: You know, 20 years ago, we wouldn’t have predicted we would have lasted 20 years. So I’m joking when I say we’ll revisit these in 2045, but I’m also not.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: Let’s all agree right now to meet here 20 years from now. Even if the show is over, we’ll do a special live.
Andrew: Yes, we’ll meet on a cruise.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Let’s print out this Google Doc; put it in the time capsule. Somebody set a Siri reminder to dig up that time capsule in 20 years from now.
Chicken Soup for the MuggleCast Soul
Andrew: All right, so to wrap up today’s show, we are going to bring back the Chicken Soup for the MuggleCast Soul segment, but we’re going to do more than one message today. We’ve got three lined up to celebrate 20 years and to hear from our listeners, right, Micah?
Micah: These are ones, too, that have been pulled from the Muggle Mailbag over the years, right? So these are ones maybe we didn’t get to. The one from John is a little bit more recent, but we’ll hear from two others, Crissy, which is from 2023, and then Chelsea, which is from 2019.
Andrew: Okay, so let’s start with the voice memo from John.
[Voicemail plays]
“Hey, MuggleCast. This is John from Colorado. I’ve been listening since about Episode 20, and I just want to say how much I love the show. You guys have been with me through high times and low times. You helped me with through anxiety attacks and thoughts of suicide, so I just want to say I love you guys so much. Special shout-out to Andrew and Eric; Micah and Laura, my Ravenclaw brothers from another mother. Special shout-out to Pam and Chloé, of course, and the other hosts who have come and gone over the years. Thank you, Matt, Elysa, Jamie, Kevin, Mikey B., and any other hosts that Andrew may or may not allegedly murdered and buried in Lake Mead with Laura’s true crime podcast help. Love the show, guys. Excited for the TV show. See ya.”
[Voicemail ends]
[Everyone laughs]
Laura: Oh, man.
Andrew: Wow. Thanks, John.
Laura: Well, John’s got your number, Andrew.
Andrew: That was pretty sweet, I think.
Laura: I’d watch out. I think America’s Most Wanted is going to turn up.
Micah: You should never joke about making Horcruxes. See what happens?
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Yeah, yeah. We’ve heard from listeners over the years the impact the show has had on them in ways similar to what John is describing, especially offering mental health escapes. And I remember back in 2006 one of our listeners telling us this face-to-face, how important the show was to them and how it brought much needed light to their world, and that just meant everything to us, and it’s one of the reasons we still do the show today. We know the impact that this podcast has had on people, and the impact the fandom has had on people, and just this community, how it’s a positive light in the world, so we are thrilled to still be a part of it.
Eric: Yeah, couldn’t have said that better myself. Every time we hear a story like that, we’re very grateful to have been shared on it and to have gotten to be a part of it.
Micah: Yeah. Our next Chicken Soup comes from Crissy, who says,
“Hi, MuggleCast. My husband and I recently got a new puppy…”
At this point, the puppy is probably a couple years old.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: But at the time, was her first time having one.
“Not sure if you’ve heard of the ‘puppy blues’ but I’ve had them big time for the last few weeks. She’s had tummy troubles and rough nights and I feel like I can’t do anything right… just wanted to say that listening to you guys has helped me out and made me feel a little better. I’m loving all the HBO show discussion and can’t wait to listen to you all for many more years to come, if you’re up to it, that is! Thanks for being such great Harry Potter friends.”
Andrew: Yes, we are up to it.
Laura: That sounds like a dare.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Eric: I was going to say… well, no, I sounded it like they’re really deferring to us. “You guys? Do we think that we’re up to it? Only if you guys are up to it, then I’ll listen to it.”
Micah: Yeah, I gave it a little more inflection. I’m sorry.
Andrew: Thank you, Crissy.
Eric: Thank you, Crissy.
Laura: Next one comes from Chelsea, who says,
“Thank you, thank you, thank you! I have been listening to MuggleCast for two years and one month and have officially caught up on every episode and every bonus MuggleCast. I became a patron earlier this year so I could continue my obsession and help support the show. When I started listening, I had just had my second child, I was very lonely being at home every day with two babies and family far away, my marriage was falling apart, and my life was just a mess. Since then I have gotten divorced, sold my home, and moved into my own place, fell in love again, and have well and truly picked myself up and moved on with my life.
I want to thank all of you for this, for keeping me sane, for being my friends when they all deserted me, for making me laugh when I wanted to cry, for keeping me company while I looked after two crazy toddlers and tried to get a house ready for sale, and for staying with me through it all. The one constant in my life was being able to turn on a MuggleCast episode, hear your voices, and feel like I was sitting in a room of my best friends. Thank you for continuing to bring light into the lives of all of us MuggleCast fans. You are insightful, funny, detailed, bring a fantastic energy, and I love that literally no theory is safe! Yours in magic, Chelsea.”
Andrew and Eric: Aww.
Laura: And this is from 2019! So we really have a few of these that have been sitting in there. I’m so sorry.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Eric: She’s got a couple of 8-year-olds now.
Andrew: No, it’s nice to look back.
Laura: Yeah, it’s very sweet.
Andrew: It is wonderful to be a constant in people’s lives, and you all have been a constant in our lives as well; the feeling is very mutual. And you’ve been our Harry Potter friends as well.
Eric: That’s right.
Andrew: When we started this podcast, we didn’t have – at least I didn’t have – Harry Potter friends, or really any friends, in real life, so this was my escape to discuss Harry Potter with my fellow Harry Potter MuggleNet friends. Thank you, Chelsea. Well, listeners, if you have anything to add about today’s episode, you can contact us by emailing or sending a voice memo that you record on your phone to MuggleCast@gmail.com. Even if we take six years to read your email on air…
Eric: There’s older emails in there. [laughs]
Andrew: … we promise we’re reading your emails and listening to your feedback as it comes in. So thank you so much for submitting that feedback; it’s always great to hear back from y’all. And next week on the show, Chapter by Chapter continues with Order of the Phoenix Chapter 35, “Beyond the Veil.”
Eric: Oooh.
Laura: Womp-womp.
Andrew: Look forward to our 2025 Patreon gift announcement next week, and become a member now for our best deal ever, 20% off an annual membership. Just use code “20YEARS” at checkout; it’ll get you two gifts, bonus MuggleCast episodes every month, ad-free Chapter by Chapter, a monthly Zoom hangout with the four of us, and a lot more. You can also visit MuggleCastMerch.com to buy official gear, including limited time patron gifts from years past. We’d also appreciate a review in your favorite podcast app, and tell a fellow Muggle about the show. Finally, you can visit MuggleCast.com for quick access to all of this information, our contact form, and a lot more. And if you want more of us, do check out our other podcasts, What the Hype?! and Millennial, for more pop culture and real world talk. Well, that about does it, y’all. Any closing thoughts? Comments? Prayers?
Laura: Prayers?
Andrew: I don’t know.
Laura: Do you think something bad’s going to happen? [laughs]
Andrew: No. I don’t know. Anything.
Eric: Well wishes? Honestly, if you’re here right now, thank you. That’s it. We’ve really always…
Andrew: What left is there to say?
Eric: We look forward to doing this show every week, and it’s always been a joy.
Andrew: It really has. Here’s to the next 20 years.
Eric: To MuggleCast, y’all.
Laura: I know.
Andrew: Oh, what are you drinking, Eric? Is that a soda or a drink?
Laura: Oh, man, I didn’t bring a drink.
Eric: Well, I have Cherry Pepsi.
Andrew: Oh.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: Oh, you’ve got the glass!
Andrew: What do you have, Micah? What is that, wine?
Micah: It is, yeah.
Andrew: Oh.
Micah: But I don’t sip it during the show.
Andrew: Oh, very professional of you.
Micah: I have to be prepared and ready to zing you back.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: You’re aerating it during the show, right? You know, if I have one regret, it’s that we didn’t do this episode in person so that we could then go out to a bar and just…
Micah: Drink? Cheers?
Eric: Party, and all hold each other. Cry.
Andrew: We’ll rain check on that.
Eric: Yeah, rain check.
Andrew: Thank you, everyone, so much for listening. It is truly wonderful to have you as a listener. We are deeply grateful for your listenership and support, and we will be back next week. I’m Andrew.
Eric: I’m Eric.
Micah: I’m Micah.
Laura: And I’m Laura.
Andrew: Bye, everyone!
Eric, Laura, and Micah: Bye.