Can HBO's ‘Harry Potter' Series Save Fantasy TV?
Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley
I've struggled with my feelings about the upcoming Harry Potter series currently in development at HBO. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 released in 2011, which feels both incredibly recent and like some distant time from another world. Is it too soon for a reboot? Or does it make sense to create a new version of these stories in the hopes of bringing in a new generation of Potterverse fans?
Perhaps the answer to this question is that both things are true, and this is why I have such mixed feelings. Kids born in 2011 are 14-years-old now. They didn't grow up with the books and films in the same way we did. I was 16 when when Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was published – a lifetime ago – just two years older than these kids are now. I was only 20 when the first movie hit theaters.
While it's easy to look at the reboot as a cash grab – and certainly Warner Bros hopes to make bundles of money and massively boost HBO Max subscriptions – there's also something exciting about the new format. Giving each book an entire season of breathing room means the novels can be adapted more faithfully than the films, with fewer cuts and changes to the source material. Modern technology and filmmaking can lend the stories more magic, at least from a technical standpoint, though obviously much rests on the quality of the scripts and direction. On the other hand, the movies were excellent for the most part, and we've come to associate all these characters with the actors who played them.
Casting is, of course, the biggest controversy so far, for both good and bad reasons. Still, the more I sit with all the choices, the less worried I become. Paapa Essiedu is certainly too good-looking to play Severus Snape, but he's a talented actor. It's possible that flashbacks with James Potter and the bullying element of the story will be more uncomfortable because he's black, but it's also possible that the racial undertones will lend more weight to the story. The same goes for Hermione and the 'mudblood' themes.
Speaking of which, the three kids they cast for the main roles (pictured above) look like great casting choices. They also have terrific names that would be at home in any Harry Potter story: Dominic McLaughlin will play the role of Harry Potter, Arabella Stanton will play Hermione Granger and Alastair Stout will play Ron Weasley. They cast an actual redhead for Ron! Eat your heart out Netflix's The Witcher. You are not forgiven for Triss Merigold.
Hopefully the internet surprises us all and is kind to these three young actors, who will undoubtedly face backlash from all sides, both because they are not the actors we know and love from the movies and because J.K. Rowling and her creations have become deeply controversial over the past decade – and because Arabella Stanton is not white.
The only real casting concern I have is John Lithgow as Dumbledore, and that's not because he isn't a terrific actor, but because he is old and we have many years of filming ahead of us. It would be a shame to have to recast the Hogwarts schoolmaster all over again. Still, Lithgow ought to make a great Albus Dumbledore. Hopefully HBO will bang out a new season every year and break this trend of two to three years between seasons.
All of this gets me, by way of rambling, to the question posed in the headline. Can this project save fantasy television?
I was thinking about this after the unfortunate cancellation of The Wheel Of Time at Amazon. In many ways, it was the best remaining epic fantasy series out there. Sure, we have House Of The Dragon, but after that show's second season I have such grave concerns with the direction of the show that I'm not even particularly excited for Season 3. I remain hopeful that they'll course correct, but what a snooze-fest it's become. As far as big-budget epic fantasy (that isn't animated) that leaves us with The Rings Of Power, perhaps the most disappointing television series ever made, geared squarely at the most casual audience. It has all the trappings of epic fantasy, of course, but none of the substance. It is Tolkien written by ChatGPT.
Only one fantasy series of note is in the offing, and it's yet another Game Of Thrones spinoff: A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms, which is set to release next year, though with a slim six-episode first season. I'm beyond excited for this one, but it's looking awfully lonely. The raft of fantasy shows that followed in the wake of Game Of Thrones has all but disappeared after a long string of disappointments and cancellations.
Could a new Harry Potter series breathe new life into the fantasy genre, inspiring other streamers like Amazon and Netflix to invest again in chasing this particular dragon? The last time around was a bit of a letdown. Shadow and Bone was cancelled at Netflix after two seasons. The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance only survived for one. The Witcher has limped along three seasons but will end after its fourth and the recasting of Henry Cavill's Geralt of Rivia. Sci-fi has fared better, but the fantasy boom has all but ended unless Harry Potter can turn the tables. I wondered all the way back in 2011 in The Atlantic when fantasy's spell on pop culture would wear off. It appears we are on the precipice, though audiences seem at least as weary of comic book movies, Star Wars and countless other once-booming subgenres and franchises. The thrill isn't gone, but it's diminished.
When it comes to fantasy, perhaps it's for the best. The books are almost always better, after all. Our imaginations spin better and more magical worlds than even the best camera work and CGI. But like the Harry Potter show itself, I have mixed feelings. I'm willing to be convinced.
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