Warner Brothers is heading back to Hogwarts.
The studio announced today that it will be embarking on a mammoth new adaptation of the seven-volume Harry Potter fantasy series as a seven season television series for its just rechristened Max, formerly HBO Max, streaming series. The previous film adaptation of the books, which spanned eight installments from 2001’s Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone to 2011’s Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – Part 2, has been one of the crown jewels of the studio’s recent history, earning a combined total of $7.7 billion at the box office.
Outside of the involvement of Harry Potter book author J. K. Rowling as an executive producer, no creatives have been announced as part of the project.
Out of all the announcements made during today’s unveiling of the new rebranding of the HBO Max streaming service as just Max, this is probably the worst among some pretty stiff competition.
The Harry Potter film franchise only concluded barely a dozen years ago, so it just feels too soon to completely retell the same story again. Especially when the eight films have proven to be such a culturally impactful resonance that continues through to today. To be sure, critically there are some nits to be picked with the films, but for fans these are beloved, whatever small warts they may have and all.
And let us not overlook how problematic Potter author J.K.Rowling and her militant anti-trans rhetoric has become. It is a stance that has soured a percentage of fandom on her and by extension for some of them, the franchise as a whole. The film’s trio of stars, Radcliff, Watson and Grint have all spoken out in favor of trans rights, directly in opposition to Rowling’s statements. As the debate over trans rights continues to grow in the country, Warner Brothers may find that they may have tied themselves to someone they might find that they would prefer to distance themselves from in the future.
