J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novel series may be getting another live-action adaptation.
Is there a Harry Potter TV show in the works?
On Tuesday, April 3rd, Bloomberg reported that a Harry Potter TV show may soon become a reality. Citing a source with knowledge of the situation, Bloomberg claimed that Warner Bros. Discovery is nearing a deal with HBO Max for a TV series based on the best-selling novel series.
What is the Harry Potter TV show about?
While Warner Bros. Discovery and HBO Max have yet to confirm the news, the project is said to be a direct adaptation of Rowling’s novel series instead of an in-universe spinoff like the Fantastic Beasts movies. According to Bloomberg, the general idea is for each season of the potential TV series to focus on one book in the Harry Potter novel series, which consists of seven installments.
Sources close to the situation suggest that talks between Warner Bros. Discovery and Rowling’s camp are still in an early stage, noting that Rowling would not serve as the primary creator or showrunner of the project, but would have a degree of creative involvement with the project to make sure that the content is loyal to her books.
Where to watch the Harry Potter TV show
The potential Harry Potter TV show would be produced by Warner Bros. Television and would be developed as an HBO Max Original, so it would premiere exclusively on the streaming service.
When did talks for a Harry Potter TV show begin?
Warner Bros. Discovery has long pursued a Harry Potter TV series, with rumors and speculations about the project surfacing as early as January 2021. That’s before Warner Bros was acquired by Discovery in 2022.
Back in 2021, Warner Bros. appointed Kids, Young Adult and Classics president Tom Ascheim to manage the Wizarding World and the Harry Potter franchise. During that time, Ascheim became WarnerMedia’s senior rep in its relationship with Rowling and her representatives, and exploratory conversations for a Harry Potter TV show got underway.
But after Discovery’s acquisition of WarnerMedia was completed a year ago, that business unit was disbanded and Ascheim ultimately left the company. Despite that, the significance of the Harry Potter franchise only got bigger following the merger.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has said several times that his focus is to expand the company’s most beloved franchises, with mining the Harry Potter IP as a priority.
“[There will be] a focus on the big movies that are loved, that are tentpoled, that people are going to leave early from dinner to go to see — and we have a lot of them,” Zaslav said during an earnings call in November 2022, according to Entertainment Weekly. “Batman, Superman, Aquaman, if we can do something with J.K. [Rowling] on Harry Potter going forward, Lord of the Rings, what are we doing with Game of Thrones? What are we doing with a lot of the big franchises that we have? We’re focused on franchises.”
About The Wizarding World
The Wizarding World is a fantasy media franchise centered on Rowling’s Harry Potter novel series, It includes the movie adaptation of the books, which is comprised of eight films:
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
- Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix (2007)
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011)
The Wizarding World also include the Harry Potter spinoff prequel series Fantastic Beasts, which is currently made up of three movies:
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)
- Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)
- Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022)
Also part of The Wizarding World is the video game Hogwarts Legacy (2023), the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2016), and several Harry Potter-themed park attractions.