Good news for the many Harry Potter fans out there! Warner Bros. is close to finalizing a deal to create a Harry Potter television series for HBO Max. Bloomberg reported the news earlier today. The series will remain faithful to J.K. Rowling’s original work, with each season focusing on one of the books. Once the deal is closed, which seems to be just a matter of time, fans can look forward to seven magical seasons.
Author J.K. Rowling will be involved in the series to ensure that it aligns with her vision. The role of primary creator or showrunner will be assigned to someone else.
Fans of the successful franchise continue to be spoiled, even though the book series concluded in 2007. The equally successful film series began in 2001, with the last one appearing 10 years after. Fantastic Beasts was released in 2016 and takes place 70 years before the Harry Potter series. Fantastic Beasts ultimately had three installments, with sequels in 2018 and 2022.
The highly anticipated Hogwarts Legacy game was released earlier this year. Since its release in February, 12 million copies have already been sold. This makes the RPG by far the best-selling Harry Potter game ever.
However, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows in the Harry Potter universe. Author J.K. Rowling came under fire in 2020 for the following tweet:
The writer was accused of transphobia, and many called for a boycott. Unfortunately for her, there is no magic spell to make the criticism disappear, but she still stands by her statements. Actors Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson have also criticized the author. However, help came from an unexpected source: Ralph Fiennes, who played the villainous Lord Voldemort, came to her defense. He called the backlash disturbing.
For now, the Harry Potter locomotive continues to roll at full speed. We can trust HBO Max to create series that remain faithful to their source material. The streaming service would undoubtedly have another hit on their hands with this new series.
