New Harry Potter TV Series

FIONA SULLIVAN FIONA.SULLIVAN.20@CNU.EDU

On April 12, HBO officially announced that they would be bringing back more Harry Potter; but not in the way that you think. There had been rumors for a while but Warner Bros finally stated that they would be creating a 10 year Harry Potter TV series that “will be a faithful adaptation of the beloved Harry Potter book series by author and executive producer J.K. Rowling.”

Many people, along with myself, are upset when it comes to hearing this news for many valid reasons. The first most obvious reason is that it just seems unnecessary. The last film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, only came out about twelve years ago and the series as a whole are still fresh in many people’s lives with devoted fans watching the movies every year and cable channels having Harry Potter weekends.

Most of the actors in the movies are all still fairly young too with the kids now being in their 30s and it would be a disgrace to all of them who spent over ten years working on this iconic adaptation only to be forgotten by a new group. Award winning actors like Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter, Maggie Smith, and Gary Oldman all portrayed their characters so perfectly that, despite having many other amazing projects, many people only remember them for Harry Potter. How can they be replaced? Answer: they cannot.

What makes even less sense is that two years ago HBO Max hosted a Harry Potter reunion that was full of nostalgia, laughter, and pure joy so why order for a new TV show to be made when you just had a reunion of the actors that was well received by many audiences? It’s a choice that myself and others on the Internet wholeheartedly disagree with but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t other Harry Potter stories that can’t be explored.

Many fans have been want- ing there to be a Marauders movie for years now which would explore the backstory of Harry’s parents and their time at Hogwarts. Others think that The Cursed Child which is a play could be turned into a movie with new, older actors as The Golden Trio and I think it would be great to go more into Dumbledore’s history which we saw a little bit of in Fantastic Beasts. In its statement, HBO said that the show would be a departure from the films yet in the announcement video, the clip had the same exact design of Hogwarts in the background and the famous theme song written by John Williams.

Many Twitter users expressed their confusion with one saying, “The trailer for the new Harry Potter TV show having the same theme tune as the movies is stupid. I mean that’s nothing new with reboots but it is literally just gonna be the same thing all over again with a new cast lol. What’s the point? (I know the point is to make money.)” I personally hope that this show doesn’t end up happening because I can’t imagine a Harry Potter universe where The Golden Trio isn’t played by Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint and I don’t want younger generations to see that. Besides, the movies were pretty accurate to begin with. Some reboots can be successful like the Disney + Percy Jackson series which hasn’t even come out yet but has many people excited. However, Harry Potter is such an iconic franchise that no one should be messing with it. It led to a theme park and studio tour and comfort movies. Nothing will ever be able to replace that.