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What will the HBO Max Harry Potter series be about?
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Who will be cast in the Harry Potter reboot?
Harry PotterHarry PotterHarry PotterHarry PotterAndrew Garfield as Remus LupinAndrew GarfieldDavid ThewlisBen Barnes as Sirius BlackShadow and BoneBenBarnes
New Harry Potter movie idea: Adam Driver as a young Snape, his years as a death eater and his transition into Dumbledore’s inside man. 10/10 would watch. pic.twitter.com/FEIP3c8xr3
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Canon: brown eyes, frizzy hair and very clever. White skin was never specified. Rowling loves black Hermione https://t.co/5fKX4InjTH
HBO reboot is seen by some fans as coming too soon after — and of course You-Know-Who () will be making major bank from it.
But some stans are excited for the prospect of longer book adaptations, with each of the seven novels apparently set to cop its own full season of the HBO TV series, according to . Justice for Charlie Weasley, who didn’t even make it into the film versions. Maybe we’ll finally see him on our screens.
On Thursday, HBO Max confirmed that they have ordered production of the TV series, so here’s what we know so far.
All the way back in 2021, industry bible was first to report that a HBO Max .
Fast forward two years to 2023 and provided us with an update: the series was “on track to clear its biggest hurdle”, which is — you guessed it — getting Rowling on board.
And this week, HBO has finally confirmed the news, along with . It’s been confirmed that Rowling will executive produce the series, and I’m genuinely interested to see if this deters actors from getting involved.
HBO released a cute little teaser trailer along with the announcement.
Well it’s officially in production now, but we can only speculate on a production timeline. The first book, , is relatively short, so surely it won’t take long to write the script — the source material is right there!
Professor Trelawney would probably predict a late 2024 premiere date for the HBO series at the very earliest.
The announcement came with some tea about how the Harry Potter TV series and HBO Max will unfold. Chairman & CEO of HBO and MAx Content said in a statement:
“We are delighted to give audiences the opportunity to discover Hogwarts in a whole new way. is a cultural phenomenon and it is clear there is such an enduring love and thirst for the Wizarding World.
“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.”
A statement from HBO Max read: “Each season will be authentic to the original books and bring Harry Potter and these incredible adventures to new audiences around the world, while the original, classic and beloved films will remain at the core of the franchise and available to watch globally.”
A statement from HBO Max indicated that the there will be no returning cast members from the original films.
“[ will be a] decade-long series produced with the same epic craft, love and care this global franchise is known for. The series will feature a new cast to lead a new generation of fandom, full of the fantastic detail, much-loved characters and dramatic locations that fans have loved for over 25 years.”
Which is fine. lovers have been mentally fancasting a reboot or a Marauders prequel for years now, so some of the work is already done for HBO Max.
If you’re not familiar, the Marauders are the characters Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew and Harry’s dad, James Potter.
So really, HBO have had the hard work done for them. In fact, fans have been talking about a Marauders prequel for so long, their dream cast are now old enough to play the characters as they appear in the books.
So let’s dive in to those characters first, shall we?
This is a really popular fancast, to the point that himself is aware of it. He was even asked about it in a WIRED interview (at the 2:26 mark below):
Garfield is currently 39 and the character of Lupin (played by in the last four OG movies) is supposed to be 35 when we first meet him, but looking a little older due to the whole werewolf thing. So that maths checks out.
Another fancast that just won’t quit is this one — star as Harry Potter’s wildly handsome godfather and fan-fave character Sirius Black.
At 41, Barnes is a little older than mid-30s Sirius but hot damn, he looks good for his age.
Like Garfield, Barnes has been asked about this and was kinda into the comparisons:
Sounds like he’s very much a fan and he’s a Gryffindor. Match made in heaven, HBO.
True, there was a tradition to only cast British actors in the films but honestly, these fan edits just make it seem too perfect. Sorry, but I can’t un-see as Snape now.
The idea of Driver playing the antagonistic Potions Master is not a new one, so you never know — HBO could already have him on their little reboot wish list.
Someone who has always been proud of his work and is , who of course played Harry’s nemesis Draco Malfoy in the original film series.
Tiktoker @incorrectharrypotter put it out there that Felton should play the father of his character in the HBO TV series, and it just makes sense, tbh.
Do it for us, Tom!
I mean, he already Albus Dumbledore in a couple of the prequel movies but there’s some confusion about his age in the original movies versus the prequels. This meme did the rounds after was released:
Pop culture site flat-out reckons he’s too young to do the reboot, and given Dumbledore is supposed to be super old by the time Harry and co start at Hogwarts, they’re probably right. HBO better have a good CGI budget.
This is kind of key, in my opinion. The HBO TV series should follow the original movies in casting young, unknown actors to play the core trio of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, teaming them up with more established actors.
As the cast reflected in the in 2022, it was pretty incredible to have these young up-and-comers working with absolute legends of stage and screen — Dame , , , , … the list goes on.
made , and household names, so it would be weird if some famous kid actor stepped into these iconic roles.
In a very welcome bit of Hollywood intel, apparently the bigwigs over at HBO are looking to have a more diverse cast in the reboot.
Speaking on , US-based entertainment reporter dropped some tea about the direction the Harry Potter reboot might go in, casting-wise.
“What I’ve heard about this series is that they will make a concerted effort to cast more people of colour in the show,” Sneider said in an episode of the podcast.
“Particularly with regards to the role of Hermione… [she could] very well be an actress of colour.”
This would be in-line with the casting for the sequel stage show , which has featured a Black actress playing Hermione on Broadway in the US, the West End in London and right here in Melbourne.
In fact, who said the casting of in the first West End production wasn’t “canon” with a tweet saying:
Ah, remember when J.K. Rowling said acceptable stuff on Twitter?
No way, but we’ll update you as soon as more info apparates into our lives.
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