HBO Max is preparing to reboot Harry Potter as a TV series
J.K. Rowling will “maintain a degree of creative involvement”
Aux News Harry Potter
Warner Bros. Discovery spent last year erasing shows and movies from existence in a bid to somehow save money on taxes, but nobody should take that as some kind of indication that the company is completely creatively bankrupt and actively hates art. After all, according to Bloomberg, Warner Bros. Discovery is nearing a deal to make a “new online TV series based on Harry Potter”—as in adaptations of the books, not spin-off stories like Fantastic Beasts—for HBO Max. Nope, there’s absolutely nothing creatively bankrupt about that!
Variety adds that these talks are in a “preliminary state,” but Warner Bros. Discovery is planning to hold an event on April 12 to explain its plans for the future of HBO Max and Discovery+. Revealing the existence of a new Harry Potter adaptation would certainly be a Big Deal for something like that, especially if the company wants to assure investors that it has something in the works other than putting existing shows and movies in the garbage (this is also probably why that second Game Of Thrones prequel might happen).
The pitch for this new show would be that each season would cover one of the Harry Potter books, giving WBD years of content that nobody really has to think about or worry about. Why make a new show that you have to promote and develop and invest in when you can just do a thing that already worked once before? It’s almost a surprise that Warner Bros. Discovery hasn’t done this already.
The Variety story says that J.K. Rowling would “maintain a degree of creative involvement” with the new Harry Potter show, but “she would not serve as primary creator or showrunner.” So that’s the same sort of bullshit all of this Harry Potter stuff pulls, allowing her to continue making money off of it while everyone involved pretends to have their hands clean because she’s not literally in charge or running things day-to-day. (She does apparently need the money.) It’s gross and craven and insulting, which really does sum it up as the perfect Warner Bros. Discovery product.
None of this has been confirmed or acknowledged in any way by HBO Max or WBD, for the record, so it might not happen, but try to act surprised when it does.
184 Comments
I had been wondering if they were going to do this for a while so they could include all the plot threads that were cut out for the movies because of time among other things.Well that but also for money.
The fifth book in particular had about a hundred pages of Harry just walking through slightly damp, musty-smelling corridors and frankly the movie made a huge mistake in leaving that out.
He yelled a lot too. Don’t leave that out.
Except maybe for the final book, none of these novels are deep enough to sustain a 10 hour television season. Strap in for a whole bunch of filler material, punctuated by recreations of scenes that were already done better in the movies.
They could make the world-building more coherent by restructuring the story. Reference stuff from the later books (like The Deathly Hallows) in earlier seasons, so they don’t seem to come out of nowhere later. That sort of thing.
Or they could use all those resources to tell a new story rather than “let’s regurgitate some movies from 20 years ago, but now with new details that nine people worldwide will care about.”
Oh, I agree it’s totally pointless. But, Rowling was obviously making it up as she went along, so she was always adding things that the readers should have known about earlier. So, I could see how they could improve on the story by reorganizing it and fixing the faults.
It’s weird, though, because the books kept ballooning in size. Half-Blood Prince was, indeed, butchered, but the Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets movies arguably adapted too much of the books and felt mighty flabby at 2 hours. I have a hard time imagining those books getting a TV season-length adaptation each.
It’s not weird, though. She peaked at Goblet of Fire. Everything after that could have used a better editor willing to rein her in. Didn’t need chapters of Harry being a pissy brat in OOTP/HBP.
Sorry, I meant more that the approach of adapting each book into a full season of television is weird, seeing as how Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secretes barely have enough content to fill a movie. Most of the later books definitely didn’t need the bloat. Deathly Hallows really exposes how much Rowling relied on the school year as a narrative crutch, as it’s however many pages of the gang just farting around the forest doing nothing in particular until it’s finally time to have a big battle. That book they had to split into two movies, of course.
Better editor? Frankly it feels like no editor by the end. A similar problem with George RR Martin I feel.
Going to be some filler. There could be potential in seeing Hermione and her Muggle parents or the Weasleys pre-Ron & Ginny going to Hogwarts. I’m not really up for the Passion of the Harry as he gets bullied endlessly.
I wonder if they will just assume everyone knows Snape’s role and there are scenes where Snape and Dumbledore talk about how Quirrell is acting strange.
Honestly, I’m bored with it already, but I’m sure the kidz will love it.
The kids can watch the original movies right now, why should they be subjected to a cynical remake.
The books ballooned in size but not in content. Order of the Phoenix is nearly 800 pages long and has about 50 pages of actual story. Half-Blood Prince is even worse; Snape kills Dumbledore, but that takes up one chapter and the rest of a boring slog leading up to that moment (even the titular mystery is pointless: it never actually matters who the Half-Blood Prince is, and in the end Snape just announces the solution for no reason.) Deathly Hallows shunts its most interesting story (Hogwarts under occupation) off-page so Harry and friends and go through a generic hero’s quest storyline and slog through a bunch of backstory no one asked for.Rowling’s editor deserves all the acclaim she used to get. Once they lost their influence, her writing never recovered.
Its only gotten worse somehow with her crime fiction books. The last one was over 1000 pages and I’m sorry, no who done it murder book should be fighting with Storm of Swords the longest of the Song of Ice and Fire books for who’s longer. Its even worse knowing why it’s so long, books padded with page after page of fake in universe Twitter tweets.
Deep cut alert: I hope they bring in Alfonso Cuaron to finally put his tiny organ playing people in there, and when Rowling tries to object, he says “I’m sorry, I can only hear people whose work has turned a profit in the last decade.”
““I’m sorry, I can only hear people whose work has turned a profit in the last decade.””
You don’t think her Robert Galbraith books make money? You don’t think she makes profit literally every. single. day. of. her. life?
It’ll be interesting to see the characters (especially black ones… I assume. JK loves to retcon diversity into her books and act like it was always there) stick to the book and roll their eyes/dismiss Hermione’s entire crusade against slavery.
I get what you’re saying (“Dumbledore was gay, y’all, srsly”), but didn’t Magnitude on Community transfer to Greendale from Hogwarts? Am I imagining that?EDIT: https://community-sitcom.fandom.com/wiki/Luke_Youngblood
10 pop pops to Gryffindor
The mere fact that you call it that…
Just wanted to mention Galavant, which was too weird to ever get greenlit but somehow did. Luke Youngblood wasn’t the star, but he was great and while a musical comedy fantasy show isn’t going to be for everyone I think if you haven’t seen it you’d be well advised to check it out (on Hulu Plus, apparently.)
I mean, the whole point of that storyline is that despite everyone finding Hermione’s activism annoying, she’s actually right, and the wizarding world’s narrative of the magical races living in harmony with humans is a self-serving falsehood. “The fountain we destroyed tonight told a lie. We wizards have mistreated and abused our fellows for too long, and we are now reaping our reward.”It might be interesting to see that idea treated as more than a secondary theme in one book—especially if, as I think is quite possible, the series casts Hermione herself as black.
Isn’t Hermione canonically black in the play? Or was just a one-off for that original actress?
I had assumed it was just that the original actor they cast happened to be black, but looking up the other actors who’ve played the role in various productions, it seems like they’ve regularly cast black actors as Hermione. I’m guessing because no one wants to be the production that looks like it’s caving to idiot racists?
Sure, but then it takes that narrative and says “but in the end it doesn’t really matter, it’s ok if the system is corrupt and unfair as long as the right people are in charge, and the hero can ask his slave to make him a sandwich as long as he does it nicely”.
I feel like it’s important to remind everyone that the UK is not, in fact, America. In 1991, when Rowling was writing the first book, the UK was 94% white. Having a book that’s basically all straight white British people is pretty accurate for the 90s.
Cool correction to nothing anyone said, ever.
That’s still 4.4 million non-white people. That certain justifies more representation than 1 Black boy and 1 Asian girl.
Not to be sassy, but you’re clearly forgetting about the Patel twins.
Actually, yes. I did forget about the Patel twins.
And also, Professor Batman is there!
They should at least wait until she dies first, though knowing her, she’ll set up her estate in a way that’ll continue her bullshit long afterwards.
She has kids. No idea what they think.
They think “just smile and nod while she babbles endlessly about trans people, before long she’ll keel over from racism poisoning and then I get five hundred million bucks and a castle.”
she’ll keel over from racism poisoning
Its the smartest choice by far. She’s nearly 60, I give her 20 more years, maybe less if the NHS keeps getting worse. They can be like Christopher Tolkiens kids say little and make lots of money.
Why should they wait until she dies? I cant think of a valid reason to wait.
Yeah….. no interest for about a dozen reasons. Honestly do HP fans want this?
‘Want’ may not adequately describe me feelings, but I am very curious. It’s a tall order to follow actors that have become this beloved, so I don’t envy who gets cast to fill in those shoes, but on the bright side, Ginny Weasley may finally get her due.
It feels to me anyway like an even worse situation then what the Amazon LOTR had. At least that wasn’t quite direct adaptations of the books. This evidently has to be which makes comparsions to the movies harder to avoid and I will fully admit the cast for those was an impossible to beat murderers row. Also, I mean is anyone really wanting to see SPEW or more of the Dursleys? I think the films largely cut the parts that needed to be cut.
Telling more stories in the same world is fine! Rings of Power wasn’t the greatest thing, but it wasn’t a remake treading the same ground at least.
That wasn’t remotely adaptations of the books.
It also concerns me that with the casting comparisons, they’ll be exposing a bunch of 10-12 year olds to the cesspool of HP “fans” being absolute horrible people to them.
The game just sold massively for having a basically accurate Hogwarts.Who thinks that people won’t want this?
The game sold extremely well, the play sold well but got a mixed reception, and Fantastic Beasts has been on a steady downhill slide both critically and commercially. Harry Potter still sells, but cracks have started to show.
I wanna say the most profitable aspect of the franchise is the theme park stuff at this point.
Me.
The game also had a new story (a terrible story, but still a new one.)That’s a far cry from expecting people to spend 70+ hours sitting through a story they’ve already experienced twice. At some point you just have to admit you’ve run out of ideas.
Nope didn’t want this. But now that it’s presented, I only want it if it’s good. That’s probably a “duh” thing to say, but I feel like it’s a lot harder to reboot a franchise into a series that already has movies that people love. Not quite sure how they intend to “reboot” this though. As in disregarding everything that happened and then creating their own version of the story? Is it gonna disregard the books to, or will it follow it. Article simply states that one season = 1 book but does not state if they’re gonna follow the storylines in the book. I was hoping the franchise would start creating different stories in the universe. Fantastic Beasts (first one) was great, but then they wanted to make a Grindelwald story, and that’s where it goes wrong. If they made it separate from Fantastic Beasts, would’ve been great. Fantastic Beasts could’ve been to HP what Rogue One was to SW. I think they’re trying to beat Star Wars in how they’re expanding the Franchise, but doing a terrible job. Like DC trying to keep up with Marvel. Anyways, not gonna boo them straight away, but not gonna cheer for this either. Gonna see how it gets produced with careful ears and weary eyes.
It’s not like LOTR fans wanted “Rings of Power” or Scooby Doo fans wanted “Velma”.
NO!
The wrong fans will want this just to ‘trigger the libs, hyuck hyuck.’
Adult HP fans want this because their entire personality is being a steadfast consumer. However, each statement Rowling releases steadily deflates the numbers from the initial phenomenon. It’s still a large number (at least to hold afloat a mediocre child-boarding-school simulator), but it’s mostly die-hards.I grew out of Harry Potter in my twenties. I did a reread a few years ago and the quality really suffers after Goblet of Fire. Dahl’s problematic, but he’s still able to capture the essence of being a child and empathize with the world being completely unfair even when read in your thirties. Rowling almost gets that in the first few books, but lets it get away.
Honestly do HP fans want this?Can only speak for myself, being in the ideal target demo for all things HP. After the Fantastic Beasts movies and the JK Rowling of it all… I think I’m done with HP for a while.I’ll probably read the books to my kid but as far as consuming new HP stuff on my own, I’ll pass.
Ignoring the giant TERF in the room here are my thoughtsI would not be against a remake. I general like to see new stories in world I enjoy but they have made three movies and a play in the Harry Potter universe that have all really sucked so at this point adapting the books that I mostly enjoyed is probably the best we can hope for. I mean outside of hoping that Jo gets so mad about whos using what bathroom she has a fatal heart attack and then someone who isn’t terrible gets control of the franchise.
What if they make it edgy, like Voldemort can cut off Ron’s dick and mail it to Harry? Hermione is forced to parade around Hogwarts naked for her failed elf uprising? Rape… lots and lots of young women to rape…. Ah fuck it, Death Eaters gang rape McGonagall. Golden Globes and Emmy’s would be raining down!
I just made that same involuntary noise you all made, except mine was a little snotty because of allergies.
This is going to be The Phantom Menace all over again.
Can’t wait to hear Harry’s thoughts on sand.
I don’t like trans… they’re course… rough… they’re irritating…and they get into womens spaces…
Sand, Harry, SAND!
“Is it possible to learn this power?”“Not from a wizard.”
I’d watch it. If I didn’t watch any shows that had a problematic aspect to them I’d never watch anything. Plus, I think there’s a lot of material that could be good if done right.
Amen! I hope we’re on the backswing of the pendulum of this nadir of critical thinking. I’m not even a fan of Harry Potter or JK Rowling, but I’m rooting for this show to wildly succeed just put an end to the power the shut-down mob thinks they have over media they disagree with. Let them go find some other industry to milleniate all over. We need to re-educate the younger generation that it’s entirely possible to enjoy a work of art while at the same time being horrified by the artist. If someone’s convictions don’t allow for this, I can totally respect that. But I can’t respect them trying to make that decision for ME by taking the art away from me. I’ll decide for myself how offended I think I should be and whether I want to ban their art from my home.
Okay Spartacus. Its an HBO TV show, one that isn’t even announced yet, will be years away, and regardless of if its a hit or not the channel will continue to survive and current attitudes towards its creator will probably not change much regardless of success or failure.
I love this whole “principled stand” shit centering around millionaires with built-in audiences who are not, in fact, silenced or “canceled” in any measurable way. The anti-“cancel culture” crowd could REALLY stand to read a history book or 12. Might help them to get some perspective. Hell, I had one dude comparing online “cancellation” to tarring and feathering. Legitimately anyone who knows what tarring and feathering actually entailed (HINT: it wasn’t really a funny gag, turns out!) would not make that comparison, as they’d know how fucking stupid it is.
Slurping the boots of corporations is the only mode they know.
Well, again, as I was saying, it’s not even about this particular case. I’m against the mob deciding what artwork or what stories should be available to view or read or appreciate. It doesn’t matter if Rowling makes one dollar or $1 billion dollars. That should never be in the discussion of whether or not art should be allowed to be viewed. It shouldn’t matter whether or not it’s HBO or Disney or any other sterile corporate entity that owns a piece of art. I love this particular battle because it’s forcing untold numbers of knee-jerk cancelers to have to re-evaluate just how committed they are to banning and boycotting something when that person doesn’t immediately just roll over and capitulate. I love that Rowling is standing her ground and now all the angry fans are having to contort themselves like pretzels to justify still reading the books and watching the movies and being fans of Harry Potter while professing to hate and boycott JKR. It’s not going to go well. The greater world will see JKR standing firm and will see that it’s okay to hold controversial opinions and not have to crumple just because some fans jump on a bannwagon. JKR is the only artist with enough power right now to resist the ban/boycott onslaught, but once she weathers this storm, others will follow.
Okay buddy. Enjoy simping for a nazi and a corporation in it for the money. Your respect for other people is greatly admire…
Wow. You’re just so dedicated to whining that you completely ignore every word I write, lol. This is sadly exactly what I’m talking about. I’m very happy for you that you’ve made a decision for yourself that is based almost entirely on hyperbole and pearl-clutching and allowing yourself to be swept along by mob hysteria. I don’t agree with it, but you are perfectly within your right to have that opinion. Your opinion should and must be protected. However, when you aren’t happy enough to have your opinion and let other people have their opinion, that’s when you cross a very sad line. When you feel like you have to shut other people’s opinions down for your own to feel valid, or that the mere existence of other opinions jeopardizes your own, that’s the definition of sad. It must be exhausting to live in such a fragile state. If you can only defend your opinion by calling others Nazis and making silly statements that they support corporations, then you don’t really believe in anything. What do YOU believe? What are YOUR convictions based on?
Educate yourself or go fuck yourself. I’m proudly a trans woman. Your not, you don’t understand nor care. I almost respect the confidence to not care about anything that doesn’t effect you. I have no such luxury. Your not the center of a hate campaign by a major political party for daring to exist. The dipshits in my state quote this woman as an excuse to make my life harder. You can start with this. Or not. Your choice. https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/culture/23622610/jk-rowling-transphobic-statements-timeline-history-controversy
Ok.
Yes! JK Rowling, already a billionaire, has a right to our money!
You have the right not to give it to her.
Ok Vic
Nobody said anything about banning the books or barging into your home and taking your art. The problem is entirely about how she uses her profits to fund bigots and their bigot causes and bigot legislation.
Nobody said anything about banning the books or barging into your home and taking your art. Hey now, if it weren’t for weird randos setting up strawmen that they proceed to windmill kick into the sun, what would the Internet even be!?Aside from straight-up porn, I mean.
“We need to re-educate the younger generation that it’s entirely possible to enjoy a work of art while at the same time being horrified by the artist.”
And how does a new version of Harry Potter do that more than the existing movies have?
Well, some people also just grow the fuck up, but do you.
Yet another reason to ignore HBO Max.
I’m out as soon as Perry Mason, Barry and Doom Patrol finish their runs.
Yeah, you show them!
Did you ignore Amazon for doing Rings of Power?
Ah yes, gratuitous sex and violence was what Harry Potter was missing the entire time!
Get ready to hear Myrtle really moan!
Myrtle doesn’t need to hold her breath under water.
Wouldn’t be the first time.
Is that from 24 Party people?
Yes, 24 Hour Party People.
Daniel Radcliffe naked with a horse, but also casting spells
It’s the better fit, and it should have been a TV show from the beginning. As AV Club’s “Popcorn Champs” editorial run rightly pointed out, Harry Potter, as a film series is largely responsible for Hollywood’s shift in priorities, and why the industry today is more franchise-driven than ever. If I could Prisoner of Azkaban this, and go back in time…
Could it realistically have been made as a show back then?
Yes, but it would have looked like Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.
Would it be as homoerotic, though?
If we play our cards right!
It’s the better fit, and it should have been a TV show from the beginning.Counterpoint: No.
So much fucking Quidditch your head will spin
The nonsensical sport designed to make the book protagonist an easy hero.
It’s a bummer they’re just doing the books again as an adaption, although maybe they can handle the later books better. A TV series that was basically “Hogwarts the TV series” could be a lot of fun to watch.
Harry Potter and the Prince Who Only Had Half His Blood Because The Rigid Categories Of Man and Woman Are So Biologically Incompatible That Inter-Sex Transfusions Are Lethal.
Im not a nazi… I just really like blood purity your honor!
Jesus she’s a lunatic
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s SexHarry Potter and the Chamber of DragHarry Potter and the Groomer of AzkabanHarry Potter and the Gender of FireHarry Potter and the Order of the PenisHarry Potter and the Half-Transitioned PrinceHarry Potter and the Deathly Hormones
I bet this time they turn the last book into three – no, four! – separate seasons.
[Tinkly Harry Potter theme plays approaching Hogwarts from the sky.]“Revisit the magical world of Hogwarts and watch the whole story for the first time!”[Cue record scratch, black screen, unzipping sound]“And oh yeah, McGonagall GETS IT!” [Cat sounds. Screen text “December 2025. HBO Max.”
If they hadn’t done it after the LOTR series and after they started destroying their whole library this wouldn’t seem like half the cash grab it is. Like goddamn Zaslav we know you’re hard up for money right now but don’t make it so obvious.
Between this and live-action Moana I feel like this is Hollywood just throwing in the towel and going “fuck it we’re out of ideas, man”
People have been saying this for years, even when we get an Everything, Everywhere All At Once, they keep saying it.
That’s an exception to the rule though…
You say that now but we’re a few years away from a gritty reboot of it
I mean, you’re not wrong, there are still original ideas coming out. But how many of those get a lot of publicity and promotion (and budgets like Disney throws around)? I loved EEAAO but I only learned it existed because of a friend telling me there was a much better multiverse movie than Dr. Strange 2 (he was right).
Amusingly, a movie that good and original comes out of New York, rather than Hollywood, and doesn’t come from any of the dominant studios who are all really risk averse right now but from an upstart company that is only 10 years old.A24 is taking risks with their output. The established studios pretty much are not. If it’s not an existing or potential franchise and it’s not Oscar bait they’re not interested.
And it took over a decade for EEAAO to get made, and it only happened because many of the people involved took pay cuts to accommodate the small budget, the movie got minimal promotion and basically only succeeded via word of mouth.It’s a brilliant film, but it was very lucky to get made at all. How many other brilliant films like it never got made because Hollywood decided to sink resources into yet another fucking remake?
There must be so many interesting original scripts out there that we’ll never know about, while Hollywood keeps on scraping the bottom of the franchise barrel.
Eh, a lesbian love story, biopic of some clown named “Galileo”, hey! Ghostchasers III? What are you doing here when you could be makin’ me a mint?
If those are the movies people are going to see then that’s what you’re going to get. It’s not that there isn’t new ideas, is that’s the current stuff is still getting people to the theaters.
Yep. Moana was my kid’s first movie. It has not been 10 years since the first one came out. Like…the fuck even IS this?
I just feel like Moana is a product of the Rock saying, I only have a couple more years left in me to play this character, then I’m getting off the roids.
“How I Met Your . . . oh, I dunno . . . Cousin?”
You joke, but you could make an entire anthology series of “How I Met Your…”:
-Paternal Grandfather
-Paternal Grandmother
-Maternal Grandmother
-Maternal Grandfather
-Stepmother
-Stepfather
-Step Paternal GrandfatherThe possibilities are endless. And they can get genre bending too. Victorian romance with “How I Met Your Great-grandfather” and Elizabethan espionage drama with “How I Met Your Great-great-great-great-great-great Grandmother” to Biblical epic with “How I Met The Man Who Begat You”
Leading to the inevitable “How I met your Father’s Brother’s Nephew’s Cousin’s Former Roommate.”
Wasn’t ‘How I Met Your Step Mother’ what the actual show ended up being?
None of this feels like anything new. The major studios have been banking more and more on big IP and franchises for a long time now. There are still plenty of original stories being told in smaller-budget movies or indie films though.
You’re not wrong but I’m just pointing out how MUCH more they’re banking on franchises/IP. Like, these live action remakes are soulless but so far they’ve been able to let a movie exist for a damn decade before it gets remade.
Unfortunately (because it makes me feel old), the Harry Potter movies have all been out for more than a decade at this point. The first one came out over twenty years ago which is why HBO Max did that reunion special last year.
When they finally remake ‘The Princess Bride’, that’s when they’re officially out of ideas.
While not a remake, I still contend that Stardust was the 21st century Princess Bride
Can’t argue that. Zombieland was the 21st century Night of the Comet.
I’d be more interested if they decided to use Saved By The Bell as a template and re-imagine it as Potter!, a three-camera, half-hour sitcom, complete with laugh track. Doing this would also keep production costs/time to a minimum, which is something that would make Zaslav ecstatic. Limited number of sets, no CGI, no location shooting=Profit!
And magic could finally be used to explain all the time stopping.
Harry’s an Auror, right? Just make it a procedural cop show. It’ll run for ten seasons easy.
Hogwart’s SVU (Supernatural Violations Unit)
Don’t Trust The Warlock In Apt. 23
Barney Potter
Bonus points if the actress who plays Hermione grows up to star in a Showgirls reboot.
Godammit, I unfortunately would watch this, if only to see Snape (obviously not Alan Rickman, RIP) cast into the Mr. Belding role
Welcome Back, Potter
Good, and anyone triggered over this is sad. Dont watch if you falsely believe JK Rowling is transphobic.
Fans of the book series would like a TV show where all of the story is told correctly instead of gutting so many important details like the movies did. At least I would like that lol.
Oh, I’m sure I’ll poke my head in on this, if only because my children are starting to enjoy the books. I feel like there was more potential in other stories in the HP world, though.
1) The Marauders, also known as, “Can We Finally Accept That Snape Was A Fucking Dangerous Entitled Stalker and Stop Loving Him Because We Like Alan Rickman’s Voice?”
2) The Founding of Hogwarts, also known as, “Nope, the Slytherins Have ALWAYS Been Miserable Racist Cunts”
3) My Mally Malfoy! brought to you by the same people who thought a Hitler sitcom would work and also known as “Stop Thinking Draco Loves You Because Tom Felton is Cute, You Silly Bitch”
4) The Professor, a coming-of-age story from a first-year Hogwarts student in love with her Herbology professor and how he gently deals with her and she finds true love with a boy her own age, also known as “I Will Kill Every Last One Of You Motherfuckers if Anything Bad Happens to Neville.”
Huh. K. I feel like we’re approaching the post-reboot age, in which shit is just re-presented/re-made at three-to-five-year intervals.
Idk, that’s kind of how I’ve always viewed reboots. Lazy, unimaginative, copycats of the original with a different cast.
Generally same. It’s just that there was more of a lag time between original and remake/reboot, in general. I blame Spider-Man, who has two full reboots under his belt in well under 20 years.
I blame Batman Begins
Unlike all these other reboots, though, Spider-Man is like a 2 million page story that never needs to repeat. Not really the same as rebooting a single film.
idk there’s also stuff like scarface. we’ve been remaking and rebooting stuff forever.
True. Some remakes/reboots are better than the original like Scarface or my personal favorite, Oceans 11.
The Wizard of Oz with Judy Garland was like the 9th version
approaching?
No, just no… nooooo.Even if we ignore the insanity coming from Rowling these days, the movies are already great and it’s going to be impossible to capture the same magic again.
No, just no. It hasn’t even been long enough to develop nostalgia, the last movie ended only a little over a decade ago. Emma Watson isn’t even old enough to be President yet.Comics characters excluded, no reboots until 20+ years at a minimum, the better the movie, the longer the wait should be! (It’s too soon for a LoTR reboot, for example)
In fairness, Sorceror’s Stone came out in 2001 so. We’re past the threshold.
Only if it’s done in drag and with predominantly trans actors….and it has to be a musical, of course.
I mean, it was coming. They’re not going to buy an IP like Harry Potter and not use it. Especially after the relative failures of the recent expanded world films. And Harry Potter does suit itself better to TV series.
Look at that woman’s horrible posture. She needs a Posture Pal!
The ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ show ended up being better than the movie. So maybe this can work.
Great! A reason to not subscribe to another streaming service!
I know that JK Rowling is a terrible person, but is there any way that they could make a Harry Potter show without giving her a bunch of money? Other than just outright stealing it or making a Gary Blotter show?
No, there isn’t a way. It’s gonna be JK for like 3 more decades, and then the Estate of JK legally mandated to donate 50% of profits to Fascists Against Democracy and Civil Rights.
I reckon someone else could just make another pastiche of existing properties targeted to kids unfamiliar with those properties and geared to grow up with that generation to the point where they think it’s a masterwork and we could just watch that.
Time travel, she says Northern Ireland is British and the IRA comes back, yeah that’s about it. There is no way to disconnect her from the franchise short of death or going backwards through time and making someone else write it. She won’t ever give up the rights and no matter how tenuous she’ll gain something from it.
They could just not make the show? There’s plenty of other franchises they could draw from that don’t have an extremely transphobic talking head attached to it.
They could do that too, I don’t like HP enough to care either way. But the article’s complaint was how it was bullshit that they have set it up so she was getting paid for the show. But there very likely isn’t a way to make it without Rowling getting paid, so it seemed like a weird comment.
Agreed – even if wanting to cash in on IP, there are so many “magical world” books aimed at the same (presumed) target demographic. I’d definitely check out a show based on an Ursela K Le Guin or Dianne Wynne Jones series.
Parry Hotter and the Silosipher’s Phone
making new HP content in this political climate is certainly a CHOICE
The should adapt The Worst Witch and Neil Gaiman’s Books of Magic, the things the british transphobe ripped off for her mediocre books for adults who have never read anything else.
So… from a headline of “HBO Max IS preparing to reboot Harry Potter as a TV Series.”to an ending line of “None of this has been confirmed or acknowledged in any way by HBO Max or WBD, for the record, so it might not happen…”
This should be the top comment.
“allowing her to continue making money off of it”Maybe this is the core of a lot of this: fans feel like they have ownership over these stories and characters, but nobody “allows” JK Rowling to make money off of this stuff. In a literal sense, she is the only one allowing anyone to make money off of it.
I feel like reboots work when they want to tell new stories. Spider-Man has been through 3 different iterations and 2 of them included the origin story… but then they had different villains and plots. The third one (rightfully) did not bother. Same with Batman.Rebooting HP to tell the exact same story as the movies seems… ill-advised. I am not sure kids are going to want to see something different from what they know already and I imagine there will be a fair number of “they are killing my childhood!!!!11!1″ people if any changes are made. Otherwise, why not just rewatch the movies?
Let’s set aside the whole Hollywood-is-creatively-bankrupt idea…has any Harry Potter-adjacent property been satisfying, successful, or both?I had this idea that maybe the answer is no.
Lego Harry Potter games are good for kids. Hogwarts legacy is supposed to be good. Cursed child was very good but not sure if you’d call that adjacent.
Mighty gross.
Lot of people very down on this but I thought the movies sucked for the most part, and I think it could work much better as a tv series. The main issue I had was that most of the characters had at most 3 or 4 non-expositiony lines per movie and so even the main 3s relationships felt unimportant. Tv would give them more room to breathe.
Been reading these with the kids and the main problem is not much happens in the first two books. If they’re stretching it out to 10 episodes per book, we’re looking at:
– Dursley standalone episodes- a Peeves backstory- lots more Gilderoy!- Crabbe and Goyle ‘shipping
Its a funny one cos while I kind of agree with you about the first two books, there was too much in them for a movie each. Maybe a 6 or so hour tv series would work.
lol
Well, I guess I can see this working, if instead of simply adapting the books again, they treat this as an opportunity to retell the Harry Potter story with the benefit of hindsight. JKR’s vision for the series clearly evolved between the first book and the last, so it would be interesting to see the entire story from that perspective (plus whatever Rowling would have done differently). I wouldn’t want a reboot that was faithful to the books or movies, but rather a true ground-up reimagining. So maybe in those early books, instead of stretching the plot to fill up a TV season, they could incorporate stuff that was happening elsewhere during that school season that wasn’t originally in the books.Of course, that’s also what I was hoping they would do with the Dark Tower movie—retell the entire saga with King’s complete vision—and that, well….
So a creatively bankrupt attempt to take advantage of brand familiarity to pump out bad content wearing the face of what was once great. Why does that sound so familiar…..
[ insert “WHY?!” GIF here ]
I mean, maybe in a few more decades it’ll make sense, but now? Really? Before “Cursed Child” has been inevitably adapted with the original cast?