Even if a story has been adapted into a movie, that doesn’t mean it can’t be adapted into a series. Take for example, one of the most popular children’s book series of the 2000s: Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. The books were given a movie in 2004 boasting an all-star cast including Jim Carrey, Jude Law, and Meryl Streep, but a good cast does not a good adaptation make. The movie smashed together the plot of the first three books in a confusing way, and the other 10 books went completely unadapted until Netflix announced a series adaptation starring Neil Patrick Harris.
But this isn’t the case for the most popular children’s book series of the 2000s: Harry Potter. The seven books were adapted into eight blockbuster movies, and pretty much every twist and turn, minus a few ghosts, were brought to life on screen. But nevertheless, HBO decided to greenlight a massive, multi-year undertaking to adapt the books again into a streaming series. Now, we have our first look at this new Hogwarts, and it looks... exactly the same. Check out the trailer below:
The trailer shows everything you expect to see in a Harry Potter adaptation: the delivery of Harry’s (Dominic McLaughlin) Hogwarts letter; the bullying he faced from his aunt, uncle, and cousin; Hagrid (Nick Frost) telling Harry about his parents; and plenty of scenes of Harry discovering the magic of Hogwarts.
The problem is that everything looks familiar to the point of redundancy. Hogwarts has the same fog-covered castle feel, the childlike wonder of the students is present in spades, and the Quidditch scenes look action-packed. In fact, the most glaring difference seems to be the amount of Americans playing Hogwarts faculty (John Lithgow and Janet McTeer, I’m looking at you).
Fans may say that a TV series allows for a more faithful adaptation, but even that’s not entirely true — Harry’s eyes are blue like in the movie, not green like in the books. Even the title is confusing: Season 1 of this series is entitled Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, despite that not being the American title. Is this just a way to court British viewers ahead of HBO Max’s U.K. and Ireland launch tomorrow?
At a certain point, we have to address the elephant in the room: this series feels like a cash grab, and we know for sure a portion of said cash is lining the pockets of J.K. Rowling. Rowling has become a virulent activist against trans rights, and she has helped the U.K. Supreme Court define “female” in a way that erased the validity of trans women — all actions that have tainted the legacy of Harry Potter.
Maybe the first time around, Harry Potter was a fun cinematic tradition. But this time, it’s a copycat, uncannily similar streaming show that is unfortunately imbued with political baggage. Maybe some fans will set aside morals for nostalgia, but it’s a lot easier just to watch the movies again.
