There's been lots of talk of a Harry Potter TV show recently, with rumors swirling about a reboot of the beloved series of fantasy books set in the magical wizarding world.
The Harry Potter franchise includes the original and spin-off books as well as countless video games, eight hugely successful movies (and three less-successful spin-off movies), and now possibly a TV series, according to some people in the showbiz industry.
Apparently this Harry Potter TV show would re-adapt all of the books, all the way from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (or Sorcerer's Stone if you are in the US) all the way to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), with Warner Bros. apparently keen to make more Harry Potter content
As you can well imagine, the internet is divided on this news — not only are the Harry Potter movies universally adored, but since their release public opinion of book author J.K. Rowling has soured dramatically.
With all this fan argumentation and speculation, you're wanting to know... what's actually happening? Don't worry, we'll separate the truth from the speculation for you.
Harry Potter TV show — the rumors so far...
In December 2022, a reputed movie industry leaker suggested that Warner Bros. (now Warner Bros. Discovery) was looking to reboot the Harry Potter franchise, which it holds the rights to.
The leak said a recast for existing roles was on the cards but did refer to it as a "film" franchise, implying more movies would be coming:
Exclusive Leak: 🔥WBD is reportedly looking to reboot the Harry Potter film franchise, including recasting, in the next 3-5 years. We will release some details of how I became aware of this information, presented by a source, on the @ValliantRenegad channel tomorrow morning.December 23, 2022
However, in early April 2023, a lot more information came out, courtesy of a report from Bloomberg.
The report suggested that Warner Bros. Discovery was in the latest stages of a deal for a Harry Potter TV show, intended for its streaming service HBO Max, which would adapt each of the seven Harry Potter novels into a season each.
That means the company was planning in advance for seven seasons of a show, with new actors in all the existing roles. At the time of the report, though, the deal hadn't been signed.
What's actually confirmed?
So far, Harry Potter: The TV Show hasn't been confirmed by Warner Bros. Discovery, HBO, or anyone officially linked to the production.
It's only rumors and leaks which we're hearing so far, and while these can sometimes predict upcoming shows and movies, you should take them all with a pinch of salt.
It's no secret that Warner Bros. Discovery is looking to reboot many of its movie franchises with DC having announced a new slate of titles including a big do-over of the existing films, and new The Lord of the Rings movie spin-offs having recently been promised, so a Harry Potter TV show would be no surprise whatsoever.
Harry Potter TV show cast
So who would play Harry, Ron and Hermione in the new TV show?
As with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's / Sorcerer's Stone, the producers would likely pick relatively unknown child actors for the three main characters. This is since the actors would need to be free for all eight seasons, and also start young and age with the series, making young actors the only suitable choice.
This would likely also be the case for the other child roles in the stories, namely fellow students like the Weasleys, Neville Longbottom and Draco Malfoy.
And what about the other supporting roles like Dumbledore, Voldemort, Snape, Hagrid and Sirius Black?
The original Harry Potter octet tapped the British actor pool dry, with a huge number of legendary actors showing up in various roles. However 20 years on, there are new British actors who weren't as big when the originals came out, who could fill some of these roles.
With an absolutely huge number of supporting characters in the Harry Potter books, the question is more "who won't be in the TV show". This early on, though, no casting rumors have emerged.
For some roles, it's totally possible that the movie actor could reprise their role, especially for voice-only parts like Toby Jones as Dobby the House Elf or Simon McBurney as Kreacher. However, the aforementioned leaker's talk of a 'recast' suggests that all the roles will be changed.
The case for a Harry Potter TV show
Understandably, there are many people online who are none too pleased about the Harry Potter movies, which many adults grew up with, effectively getting replaced with newer adaptations.
However, some fans of the book have pointed out some benefits of this adaptation.
If it will be more detailed then why not? The movies left out a lot of the books, and the series can show the details. 7 seasons = 7 books. Sounds cool. I'm curious about the official announcement and then the trailers for season 1.April 4, 2023
As with all movie adaptations from books, lots of plot threads, characters and scenes from each Harry Potter novel were left out of its respective Harry Potter movie adaptation, to keep the runtime to 2-3 hours.
However, for a TV show of around 10 hour-long episodes (or however long it'd end up being), there would be more scope for these forgotten parts of the story to get adapted.
