Harry Potter novels to be readapted for HBO Max

[Mighty Attack Tribble]

Harry Potter TV Series Is in Talks at HBO Max and Warner Bros.

Each season will reportedly follow one of J.K. Rowling's books.

HBO Max and Warner Bros. are officially in talks on a TV adaptation of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books, a source close to the situation tells IGN.

Earlier today, a Bloomberg report, citing a source with knowledge of the situation, said that the series was "near a deal" on the series for HBO, which would reportedly cover each book one season at a time. IGN's source, however, clarifies that Warner Bros. is "nowhere near a deal," while the project remains in talks.

IGN has also learned that, should a deal go through, the series would be developed as an HBO Max Original, rather than for HBO proper.

The series has long been rumored as Warner Bros. continues to look for ways to cash in on one of its most profitable franchises. Various reports have long swirled about its development, although Sarah Aubrey, HBO Max's head of originals, threw some cold water on the rumors last year, telling Variety that "we don't have a series in active development right now," while leaving the possibilities open.

"There's nothing like a Harry Potter fan in terms of their endless appetite for storytelling and new ways of interacting with these characters," she said at the time. "So whether it's the reunion or live events or games, we're very much in the business of creating new content for those fans and thinking what to do next."

Warner Bros.' attempts to keep the Harry Potter franchise alive have seen some mixed results, though. Warner Bros. Games announced in February that Hogwarts Legacy sold more than 12 million units in its first two weeks, making it their biggest debut ever despite the ongoing controversy surrounding Rowling and her anti-trans rhetoric.

However, their most recent entry in the Fantastic Beasts spinoff film series, The Secrets of Dumbledore, just barely broke even during its theatrical run, grossing just $405 million globally. According to Variety, the diminishing returns on the series have put the previously planned fourth and fifth films in limbo.

Last November, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav clarified that the studio is "focusing on franchises," pointing to properties like Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and Lord of the Rings as examples. Just earlier today, a new Game of Thrones prequel was reported, and the studio confirmed in February that it was developing new Lord of the Rings movies.

www.ign.com/articles/harry-potter-tv-series-is-in-talks-at-hbo-max-and-warner-bros

[Chiral]

Ew.

[Paul]

Hopefully they will follow the details of the books more faithfully than the movies did.

[Alice Syndrome]

OK so, the game still did alright because people bought it to piss other people off.

Noone is watching a terrible 7 season show just to piss other people off. This is going to bomb

[The Dark Order Inferno]

Should be fun watching reactionaries lose their minds as WB make milquetoast attempts to whitewash over the antisemitic goblins, the happy elf slaves and all the other things that slid under the radar the first time around.

[dirtyoldman]

Is there really a need at this moment in time? The films are still very new and fresh in people's minds and shown all the time on ITV on saturdays, surly something like this would be better recieved in a few decades time?
Still, Harry Potter is a big money spinner I guess, just look how much has spun out of Star Wars.

[Zaq "That Guy" Buzzkill]

Apr 4, 2023 1:44:11 GMT -5 Alice Syndrome said:

OK so, the game still did alright because people bought it to piss other people off.

Noone is watching a terrible 7 season show just to piss other people off. This is going to bomb

You're underestimating how far dipshits will go to 'trigger' people.

[dirtyoldman]

Apr 4, 2023 1:44:11 GMT -5 Alice Syndrome said:

OK so, the game still did alright because people bought it to piss other people off.

Noone is watching a terrible 7 season show just to piss other people off. This is going to bomb

To be fair, the game did a little more than 'alright' and still hasnt been released on PS4/xboxone/switch yet.

Planning show to last 7 series does seem to be ambitious these days with how fickle audiances can be, so time will tell.

[Wolf Hawkfield no1 NZ poster]

Apr 4, 2023 4:26:41 GMT -5 dirtyoldman said:

Apr 4, 2023 1:44:11 GMT -5 Alice Syndrome said:

OK so, the game still did alright because people bought it to piss other people off.

Noone is watching a terrible 7 season show just to piss other people off. This is going to bomb

To be fair, the game did a little more than 'alright' and still hasnt been released on PS4/xboxone/switch yet.

Planning show to last 7 series does seem to be ambitious these days with how fickle audiances can be, so time will tell.

The game sold more than 12 million copies in just over two weeks.

Thats a f*** a lot more than alright.

[FinalGwen]

This is the only theory that makes sense, along with how nobody on Earth gives a shit about Cormorant Shrike or whatever her detective series is called, and the reports of how her profits from non Potter stuff have been tanking.

[BorneAgain]

Not surprising really. Media companies are desperate for content, so throwing some money Rowling's way with the promise of having a more fleshed out adaptation would make sense.

How much the mass audience will respond is hard to say, but WB sees too many dollar signs to at least not try it.

[dirtyoldman]

Apr 4, 2023 5:43:54 GMT -5 BorneAgain said:

How much the mass audience will respond is hard to say, but WB sees too many dollar signs to at least not try it.

it will be interesting to see how it goes. When the original films were being made JKR was adamant to have a british main cast and for it not to be americanised. Will the same be for this one as well, or will they give it a more american slant to help separate it from the films?

[Ryushinku]

Seems like they're really on a hiding to nothing with this one.

[Lizuka #BLM]

I've been expecting them to re-adapt them for years, especially in light of no one really giving a damn about Fantastic Beasts, so really not shocked at all.

Entirely comfortable continuing to ignore this franchise and hope it eventually dies out myself. Read the first five books and saw the first movie as a kid, not interested in the rest of either.

[YAKMAN is ICHIBAN]

If this comes out say 5 years from now, the Sorcerer's Stone film will be nearly 30 years old.

Financially, I'm sure this will be a big success.

Creatively, I don't know. There's a lot that could be fleshed out from the books compared to the movies. But what a task to compete with them considering the amount of talent involved.


I certainly don't envy any actor that has to step into the role of Harry Potter, Snape, or Hagrid.



In my fantasy world they'd give LAIKA a bajillion dollars to do it as a big budget animated series.

[Starshine]

Apr 4, 2023 1:44:11 GMT -5 Alice Syndrome said:

OK so, the game still did alright because people bought it to piss other people off.

Noone is watching a terrible 7 season show just to piss other people off. This is going to bomb

Or you know, it’s a fun game and people are allowed to like things, much like how people here are allowed to give money to a company to watch a two night event run by someone who is probably a serial rapist. So let’s not get too comfortable on our high horses now.

[Kalmia]

I'm not surprised. The annual nature of the books always made them seem more suited to a series than movies anyway.

But, who really needs this? Even ignoring the elephant in the room of the author, the movies are still fresh and despite their faults were largely well received.

I hate that entertainment has just turned into franchises and remakes.

[mo]

Eh, if they’re good I’ll watch them

[Lizuka #BLM]

Something I kind of can't help but find myself thinking is that unless contractually obligated to I have a very hard time seeing them actually committing to the full seven seasons. WB is still in pretty extreme, "Pinch all of the pennies, ALL OF THEM," mode right now, consistently streaming shows draw less new viewers and less publicity the longer they go on for, seven years is a very long time to go for, and there's basically no possible way to do it without committing to a ton of pricy effects and big money longterm contracts for the absolute shit-ton of work that would go into such a project. With there being no suspense about any of what's coming because everyone already knows all of it.

It's certainly not impossible it'd run all the way but I could very easily see them going, "Well we get X many viewers per episode and Y many viewers per month on the movies, we're better off just promoting the movies more," and dropping it the first time a season doesn't perform quite to their satisfaction.

[poodoojenkins]

I can't wait to completely ignore the existence of this show, just like I do with the entire Potter franchise and everything else Rowling has ever or will ever do.

The most overrated, boring bunch of tripe I've ever tried to sit through.