There’s a lot of chatter around the upcoming HBO series adaptation of Harry Potter, however, there’s one question that linger both in the back of fan’s and casual viewer’s minds—”Why?” Sure the seven-book saga about the boy wizard has become one of the biggest pop culture phenomenons of the 21st century, but with the wildly successful film adaptations still so fresh in audience’s collective memories, even Chris Columbus, who directed the first two Harry Potter films, went so far as to ask “What’s the point?” on The Rest is Entertainment podcast (via The Hollywood Reporter) recently. Even though the world of Harry Potter now boasts a rich and deeply detailed extended universe, Warner Brothers and HBO’s decision to remake the original books into a television series screams of the risk-aversion we see crippling the entertainment industry and the laziness of a low-hanging cash grab.
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A Harry Potter Series is Too Much, Too Soon
Perhaps if more time had passed between adaptations, or if there was radically different take for the HBO Harry Potter, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. However, most of the casting announcements and leaked behind-the-scenes photos depict a rather straightforward translation of the first novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, on screen. Just like the movies, which not only were box office successes, but also were critically acclaimed over the decade they released in theaters. Even with such talented creatives helming the series, Succession’s Francesca Gardiner is showrunning while Game of Thrones‘s Mark Mylod directs, without some radically different perspective on how Harry’s story, it will be hard for the show to meaningfully distinguish itself from the films that precede it.
A major part of the problem is how fresh the films and the larger franchise are in the collective consciousness. The last Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 premiered in 2011 and the majority of leading actors from the movies are working and remain in the zeitgeist today. Furthermore, the spinoff trilogy, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, concluded not three years ago, and the follow-up play The Cursed Child is currently playing in five major cities along with a North American tour. Harry Potter is as ubiquitous as ever. Perhaps if Warner Brothers had waited another ten to twenty years, a Harry Potter remake would be embraced rather than met with questions. This is only compounded by the fact that we now live in a world of easily accessible physical media and streaming. Warner Brothers hasn’t given us a chance to forget about Harry Potter, so there’s no thrill or real need to rediscover him.
By contrast, the film A Star is Born has been remade three times. However each incarnation allowed for twenty years to pass, which meant a new take on the classic tale and a new voice of generation to lead it. One of the things the Harry Potter movies did best was mix the best of character actors from the United Kingdom with a compelling group of fresh faces. Despite legends like John Lithgow, Janet McTeer, and Nick Frost joining the cast of the Harry Potter series, nothing about the new cast of actors feels distinctive or exciting from the first class of performers to play the now iconic characters that populate Harry’s world.
The one aspect the series will have to lean into and nail is its difference in medium. The fact that the show will have anywhere from six to ten hours to retell each novel instead of the two and a half afforded in a feature film seems to be the only notable draw HBO’s Harry Potter has. And yes, it will certainly be exciting for more of the supporting characters from the books to be explored on screen, especially given the caliber of talent the show has secured.
Unlike the Films, the Harry Potter Series Is Hounded by Controversy
Another reason that perhaps Warner Brothers should have waited to remake the books is the controversy surrounding its author, Joanna “J.K” Rowling. Once the beloved creator of the Wizarding World, the author has drawn incredible controversy and condemnation regarding her views on trans people. If Warner Brothers was hoping to cash in on nostalgic millennial fans of Harry Potter, they perhaps shouldn’t have directly involved Rowling in the series’ development, as many of the franchise’s most ardent fans have effectively divorced the art from the artist. The actors cast in the upcoming Harry Potter show consistently have to answer for the stance Rowling has taken on a vulnerable, embattled minority of people, and if the studio had allowed for distance between the films and/or its author, it would be less of an issue.
Although the Fantastic Beasts spinoff films seemed to peter out as they went—partially because of the controversial talent involved, partially because the films stopped being about Newt Scamander or fantastic beasts—there is a wealth of lore to pull from that would have been a potentially easier sell to Harry Potter fans. A prequel about Harry’s parents, James Potter and Lily Evans, would have not only presented an opportunity to explore a different area and story in the universe, but also would have included several already beloved characters like Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Severus Snape. There’s also been much fan speculation as to what the creation of the wizarding school Hogwarts looked like between founders Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. That perhaps would’ve been a better use of Mylod’s pedigree from Game of Thrones rather than a rehashing of the existing books that will likely be targeted to the same fans who saw the films at midnight and in costume the first time around.
All in all, the Harry Potter series certainly has its work cut out for it in providing a series that not only honors the books its based on, but finding something new and fresh to say while the films cast such a large shadow still.
HBO’s Harry Potter series will debut in 2027.
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Image courtesy of Prokino Filmverleih
