Harry Potter TV Series Set at HBO, Will Stream on Max
HBO's Harry Potter TV show will be a "faithful adaptation" of J.K. Rowling's books.
It's official: the Hogwarts Sorting Hat has sorted the Harry Potter TV series into House HBO. First announced in April 2023 as a Max Original series for the streaming service formerly known as HBO Max, HBO boss Casey Bloys has confirmed that the Warner Bros. Television reboot of author J.K. Rowling's book series will be branded with the HBO banner — rather than as a Max Original — when it airs on the network in 2026.
The HBO Harry Potter TV show joins a lineup of HBO original programming that includes video game adaptation The Last of Us, the Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon, upcoming IT prequel series Welcome to Derry, and DC Studios' Green Lantern series Lanterns.
Bloys, Chairman and CEO, HBO & Max Content, confirmed the news to Variety. He told the outlet that starting in 2025, the now HBO-branded tentpole projects based on Warner Bros. IP will both air on the linear network and stream on Max. (Dune: Prophecy and The Batman spinoff series The Penguin, which will stream as Max Originals later this year, aren't under the HBO umbrella because those two shows have already been licensed overseas with the Max branding.)
"Max Original" Harry Potter is now under HBO.
)"We felt like we had to delineate between an HBO show and a Max show," Bloys said of previously sending Warner Bros.-based IPs to Max. "The idea of using Warner Bros. IP as a delineation for Max felt right. At least that gives you a clear lane. But as we started producing those shows, we were using the same methods, the same kind of thinking, as how we would approach HBO shows. In a lot of cases, the same talent that has worked on HBO shows."
"What we ended up with is shows at this scope and scale that look great, and great narratives and talent we've worked with," Bloys added. "The idea of the delineation kind of started to feel unnecessary. Like, why are we doing this? Let's just call them what they are: HBO shows."
Sarah Aubrey, the streamer's head of original content under Boys, will now work with HBO's head of drama Francesca Orsi on Harry Potter and the other shows with the HBO banner. Last year, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav — who called the Wizarding World, DC, and Lord of the Rings brands "underused" — hinted the live-action Harry Potter series could head to HBO instead of Max when he touted the company's IPs (which are being mined with James Gunn and Peter Safran's DC Universe and new Lord of the Rings movies).
"We think there's a lot of shareholder value in attaching a real plan around DC, bringing Harry Potter back to HBO for 10 consecutive years, doing multiple movies of Lord of the Rings,"Zaslav said at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Technology Conference.
Warner Bros. Discovery originally announced the first-ever Harry Potter TV show as a "decade-long series" and a "faithful adaptation" of Rowling's 7-book series, which Warner Bros. turned into an 8-movie blockbuster franchise that grossed nearly $8 billion between 2001 and 2011.
The official description states, "The stories from each of Rowling's Harry Potter books will become a decade-long series produced with the same epic craft, love and care this global franchise is known for. The series will feature a new cast to lead a new generation of fandom, full of the fantastic detail, much loved characters and dramatic locations that Harry Potter fans have loved for over twenty-five years. Each season will be authentic to the original books and bring Harry Potter and these incredible adventures to new audiences around the world, while the original, classic and beloved films will remain at the core of the franchise and available to watch globally."
HBO's Harry Potter TV series is targeting a 2026 release date on the network and Max.
