Warner Bros. has confirmed ambitious new plans for its upcoming Harry Potter reboot.
In the world of beloved IP, few franchises evoke quite as much passion as Harry Potter, which is why attitudes toward the upcoming reboot from HBO are so mixed.
While some fans welcome the chance to see a new interpretation of JK Rowling’s iconic series, others express concern that the new series may fail to capture the magic that Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, and the rest of the franchise’s stellar cast captivated audiences for over two decades—especially considering that the franchise only wrapped up in 2011.
The new adaptation won’t hit our screens until 2026, so it’ll be a while until we see how Harry Potter 2.0 stacks up against the original. However, Warner Bros. continues to share more hints about what we can expect from this new take on the wizarding world, with David Haddad, president of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, dropping an interesting tidbit this week.
In an interview with Variety, Haddad confirmed that the show – which is expected to adapt one book per season over the course of a decade – will seemingly integrate storylines from its video game spinoff, “Hogwarts Legacy,” plus its upcoming sequel.
Haddad explained that the games team has been coordinating some of the big-picture storytelling elements in the second “Hogwarts Legacy” game with the show. He also noted that it was partially the success of “Hogwarts Legacy,” the highest-grossing game of 2023, that gave Warner Bros. the confidence to forge ahead with the reboot. “The rest of the company was very curious about what we helped to unlock with ‘Hogwarts Legacy’ last year,” he said.
For many fans, the overarching issue with the Harry Potter reboot isn’t so much the idea of retreading old ground as the fact that pop culture is lingering in a universe created by JK Rowling. The Harry Potter author has proven extremely controversial in recent years due to her views on the transgender community and gender identity.
This has sparked significant backlash, with some Harry Potter fans abandoning the fandom completely and calling for new projects (such as “Hogwarts Legacy” and the reboot) to be boycotted. It’s also driven a wedge between her and the franchise’s alumni, with Radcliffe describing the situation as “sad.” after Rowling publicly stated that he and Watson could save their apologies for voicing support for the transgender community.
On that note, there have been rumors that Warner Bros. has considered buying Rowling out of the franchise, concerned that her controversial reputation and the OG actors’ resistance to returning to a live-action adaptation of the stage play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” are dragging down its value and potential.
We’re still convinced that the odds of this ever happening are slim, Warner Bros. interestingly did stress its distance from Rowling in the same Variety story. Rowling is apparently “not involved in managing the franchise,” with Warner Bros. Discovery instead keeping her updated via her literary agent. “If we’re going to ever go beyond a canon conversation, we make sure that we’re all comfortable with what we’re doing,” said Robert Oberschelp, Warner Bros. Discovery’s head of global consumer products.
Are you excited for the Harry Potter reboot?
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