Harry Potter TV Series Sets Premiere Window on HBO

Nearly 15 years after the last Harry Potter movie hit theaters, Max will be reviving the franchise for TV in 2026, Warner Bros. has announced. Once the Fantastic Beasts franchise faced trouble, there was little doubt a full-on Harry Potter follow up would come, but nobody knew exactly what form it would take. That’s until David Zaslav made bringing the Wizarding world back to the screen one of his top priorities, announcing not long after Discovery took over Warner Bros. that a TV series was in the works. Excitement for the series has been tempered by worries that it won’t be as good as the originals, or that J.K. Rowling’s controversial offscreen antics will harm it. Deadlines are deadlines, though, and it appears things are moving forward now.

Big plans for the Fantastic Beasts franchise would have kept Harry and his friends off screen for long enough that most of the kids who grew up with the 2000s movies would have aged out of the 18-35 demographic by the time a reboot came along. Instead, they will be doing the same thing The Lord of the Rings is over at Amazon: hoping they can sell the audience by telling new stories, or variations on the ones that are already out there in live action. Generally, franchise fatigue and Rowling’s controveries haven’t hurt Potter much. Obviously, the books continue to sell well and video games and other merchandise have proven extremely successful. The difference here is that the movies themselves (and the actors who played the leads) are so beloved.

J.K. Rowling is set to executive produce and help oversee the series, which WBD says will land on the streamer in 2026, according to Variety.

“We’ve not been shy about our excitement around Harry Potter,” Zaslav told analysts during today’s fourth-quarter earnings call.

The eight Harry Potter movies all have places in Warner Bros.’ all-time box office top 20, with The Deadly Hallows Part II coming in at #2. When the TV series was first announced, Deadly Hallows was actually Warner Bros.’ highest-grossing movie of all time, but it was unseated just last year by Barbie.

“We spent some real time with J.K. and her team,” Zaslav added during the earnings call. “Both sides are just thrilled to be reigniting this franchise. Our conversations were great, and we couldn’t be more excited about what’s ahead. We can’t wait to share a decade of new stories with fans around the world on Max.”