Warner Bros. Discovery has announced a new TV series based on the Harry Potter books that will be executive produced by J.K. Rowling. The show will debut on the company’s upcoming streaming service, Max, which will combine HBO Max and Discovery+.
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HBO and Max content chairman and CEO Casey Bloys said that the show would allow fans to discover the world of Harry Potter in a “whole new way”. “In partnership with Warner Bros. Television and J.K. Rowling, this new Max Original series will dive deep into each of the iconic books that fans have continued to enjoy for all of these years,” Bloys added.
The series will feature an entirely new cast and has received a 10-year commitment from Warner Bros. It is expected that each season will tell the story of one of the seven Harry Potter novels, but not include the Cursed Child sequel play.
Rowling will be joined by Neil Blair and Ruth Kenley-Letts as executive producers. Blair is a literary agent and producer who has worked on acclaimed productions like Band of Brothers and Eyes Wide Shut. He also helped Warner Bross acquire the film rights for Harry Potter and serves as the chairman of Pottermore. Kenley-Letts is Brontë Film and TV CEO and has won an Oscar and Bafta award as producer of Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life.
Fans have been divided over the potential of a new Harry Potter series. Some have argued that it is too soon to reboot the stories from movies into TV format, seeing as the last title in the Daniel Radcliffe-led movie series was released in 2011. Others have also pointed out the movies were generally well-reviewed and were box office hits, becoming a huge financial success for Warner Bros.
However, supporters have pointed out that a TV show could explore many plotlines, character building, and Wizarding World details that had to be left out of the movies due to time constraints.
The Fantastic Beasts spin-offs starring Eddie Redmayne have not been the commercial or critical success that Warner Bros might have hoped for, with the company opting to cancel the movie series after the third of five planned films.
However, there has been consistent interest in the Harry Potter property in other areas, including merchandising, theme parks, and the video gaming market. Hogwarts Legacy has recently been a massive sales and critical success, selling 12 million copies and raking in $850 million in sales within two weeks of launching on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
The new Harry Potter series will premiere on Max, with further details about the cast and release date yet to be announced.
