The rebooted Harry Potter TV show has hired two key people
It may shock you to know that it’s been 23 years since the first Harry Potter movie was released in 2001. That’s almost a quarter of a century.
While it might seem like it’s too soon to reboot the entire franchise, the original films are older than you think.
It just doesn’t feel that way because it’s been a non-stop schedule of Harry Potter-related projects since 2001, from the stage production to the Fantastic Beasts movies to J.K. Rowling never far from the headlines as an anti-trans activist.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.A new streaming series that restarts the story of The Boy Who Lived was announced in April last year by Warner Bros Discovery, with the studio later confirming the show would premiere in 2026. It is expected to be seven seasons, one for each book.
WBD owns the prestigious American cable channel HBO and its streaming counterpart Max. The Harry Potter series has been designated as an HBO original.
Overnight, WBD revealed it had recruited a writer and director to spearhead the project, Succession creatives and Brits Francesca Gardiner and Mark Mylod.
Gardiner and Mylod are both veterans of the HBO family. She has also worked on His Dark Materials while Mylod has directed episodes of Game of Thrones, The Last of Us, Entourage and Shameless.
A whole new ensemble will be cast for the series, replacing Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, who broke out as child actors and have since forged careers away from Harry Potter.
The producers have promised the series will be a “faithful” adaptation.
Across the eight movies in the film series, Harry Potter grossed $US7.7 billion at the box office.
The three Fantastic Beasts spin-off movies made $US1.8 billion, and have likely ended as a trilogy rather than the original five-film plan after it was beset by dramas including the sacking of Johnny Depp and Rowling’s problematic public image.
The Harry Potter behemoth also extends to the original novels, ancillary books, merchandise, the stage production Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the video game Hogwarts Legacy, theme park attractions and the backlot tour at Leavesden Studios in London.
In Australia, Foxtel/Binge has a licencing deal to syndicate HBO programming but it is widely expected that WBD will launch Max locally as early as the first quarter of 2025. In that scenario, new HBO and Max shows such as the Harry Potter series would not be on Foxtel or Binge.
Rebooting the Harry Potter story on screen is part of WBD’s strategy to lean more into its franchises and intellectual property. The studio also recently announced it has two Lord of the Rings movies in the works.
