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HBO Max Wants a ‘Harry Potter’ TV Show

HBO

Harry Potter author JK Rowling may be persona non grata on the Internet because of her objectionable views on transgender individuals, which is a nice way of saying she’s a TERF, but Harry Potter is still very popular. Popular enough that HBO thinks a Harry Potter TV series could be their key to compete with Disney+ and their barrage of Star Wars and Marvel TV projects, as well as Netflix’s dominance with shows like Bridgerton, Lupin and Cobra Kai, along with their highly anticipated upcoming One Piece adaptation.

The Hollywood Reporter says that discussions are still in the early stages and HBO hasn’t decided what a potential series would even be about yet.

A Harry Potter live-action TV series is in early development at HBO Max. Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that executives at the WarnerMedia-backed streamer have engaged in multiple conversations with potential writers exploring various ideas that would bring the beloved property to television. Sources say broad ideas have been discussed as part of the early-stage exploratory meetings.

While it’s news that executives at HBO Max and Warners are engaged in meetings to find a writer and pitch for a Harry Potter TV series, no writers or talent are currently attached as the conversations are still in the extremely early stages and no deals have been made. “There are no Harry Potter series in development at the studio or on the streaming platform,” HBO Max and Warner Bros. reaffirmed in a statement to THR.

Basically, HBO knows that Harry Potter is a big deal and that they are currently far behind their streaming competition, so they’re bringing in anyone they can find to pitch whatever they can slap the Harry Potter name on to try and compete.

It’s not actually a bad plan because Rowling did a good job of building a world that people want to explore beyond the characters in the book series.

The most obvious pitch is to focus on a new cast with new mysteries, potentially at a wizarding school other than Hogwarts, but that brings its own challenges of being compared to the original in the eyes of fans. Still, I would be surprised if something similar isn’t at least one of the eventual pieces of the Harry Potter franchise.

It’s unlikely that any of the stars of the movies will reprise their characters, or that a show would retell the events of the books with a new cast, however. But there are really endless opportunities and time periods to explore, and I’d imagine HBO ends up with multiple series heading to air by the time they’re finished.

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