Harry Potter Wizarding World Series In Development?
HBO Max Head of Originals Sarah Aubrey said the streamer is hoping to get a Harry Potter series in development.
This article is more than 2 years old
Things are crazy over at Warner Discovery, with all the shows and movies getting canceled, a new focus on unscripted TV, and various other sweeping changes under David Zaslav. However, that doesn’t mean that the rich vein of IPs owned by the company are being ignored altogether. In a recent interview with Variety, HBO Max Head of Originals Sarah Aubrey mentioned that she is still focused on bringing fans what they want, including a potential Harry Potter series.
In her interview, Aubrey said “We’re very much in the business of creating new content for those fans and thinking what to do next,” when asked about the Harry Potter IP. A Harry Potter series is certainly something that fans have been hoping for and it’s honestly surprising that something hasn’t been made already. Fans will have a full-on immersive video game to look forward to soon with Hogwarts Legacy, but still no TV show to speak of.
A big-budget Harry Potter series would inevitably bring a lot of interest and could be a massive hit for the HBO Max platform. Although the Harry Potter universe is far from being neglected thanks to the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them franchise, those films have gradually received colder and colder reception from the fanbase. A good show set in the wizarding universe could be the perfect thing to reverse the bad will the franchise has right now.
There are plenty of ways they could go with a Harry Potter series, with the potential for plenty of interesting characters to get their own spin-offs or backstories. Or they could go the Hogwarts Legacy route and tell a story far before the time of Harry Potter. A series could even follow a new group of wizards after the events of the mainline Harry Potter films and books.
Perhaps Warner Discovery has held back on making a Harry Potter series due to the contentious relationship the Potter fanbase has with creator JK Rowling. Many fans boycott anything that Rowling is involved with due to the statements she has made about the trans community. It seems likely that Warner Discovery would have to involve Rowling in some way or another, and they may want to avoid doing that under their new regime.
While we wait to hear more about a Harry Potter series, Sarah Aubrey is staying plenty busy focusing on other HBO Originals for other massive IPs, like DC, It, and Dune. Pretty soon we’ll be getting a prequel series to It, a Dune series that follows the Bene Gesserit, and DC shows like Peacemaker Season 2 and the first season of Colin Farrell’s Penguin series. It’s hard to say that HBO is slacking on bringing major big-budget shows to the platform.
Still, a Harry Potter series would definitely be an interesting addition to the HBO Originals lineup, so we’ll have to wait and see if it comes to fruition. In the meantime, you can check out the most recent addition to the franchise Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. You can also stream the Harry Potter reunion special on HBO Max.
