HBO Max in Talks for 'Harry Potter' Series
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The potential multi-season series would be based on the storyline of J.K. Rowling's original seven books and take place in the same universe
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter might be making a return to the screen.
Warner Bros. Discovery is currently in talks about producing a Harry Potter television series, PEOPLE has confirmed.
Sources familiar with the project previously told Bloomberg the potential multi-season series would be based directly on J.K. Rowling's original seven books. Each book, starting with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and ending with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, would get its own season of the show, per the outlet.
Unlike the recent Fantastic Beasts franchise, which told new stories within the Harry Potter universe, but not about the books' core characters, the series — which would be housed under HBO Max — would revisit the beloved original story in a new way.
Per Bloomberg, they are hoping the series can be a flagship of Warner Bros.' upcoming streaming strategy announcement, set for next week. The April 12 presentation will also see a preview of the forthcoming HBO Max and discovery+ integration and rebrand.
Rowling — who came under fire after making comments widely condemned as anti-transgender in 2020 — would be involved in the series, according to the outlet, to ensure its accuracy to her original storyline, but she would not hold a major production role.
The author has been hesitant to give her approval to many Wizarding World spinoffs, though she supported the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child stage production and the Universal Studios Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme parks, which debuted in Orlando in 2010 and later expanded to Universal Studios Hollywood in 2020.
Warner Bros. chief executive officer David Zaslav and HBO chief Casey Bloys have been involved in talks with Rowling, according to Bloomberg, but no deal has been finalized.
The latest Potter-inspired project was released in April last year. The third installment of the Fantastic Beasts franchise, Secrets of Dumbledore, took a hit at the box office, with its $43 million opening weekend making it the lowest North American opening of the Wizarding World franchise.
The first two films in the spinoff franchise, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) and The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018), opened with more than $74 million and $62 million respectively, in the U.S., but the third installment was plagued by a series of controversies surrounding its key players.
Rowling, who wrote the screenplays for the Fantastic Beasts movies, had become a controversial figure for her outspoken views on transgender rights and feminism by that point, bringing some heat to her involvement in the film.
Related:Harry Potter Actress Evanna Lynch Weighs in on J.K. Rowling Backlash: 'Give Her More Grace'
Johnny Depp, who had portrayed villain Gellert Grindelwald in the first two installments, resigned from his role after losing his libel case in the U.K. in 2020. His character was recast with Mads Mikkelsen in what the Danish actor called a "deliberate" move.
"Everybody knows why [the actors changed]," Mikkelson told The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the third movie's release. "The entire world knows why. It would almost be like an Easter egg to reality to point out we swapped actors. Hopefully we drag them in with the first scene and from there they accept this world."
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Ezra Miller, another regular in the franchise who played dark-magic wielder Credence Barebone, fell into legal trouble in Hawaii just days before Secrets of Dumbledore hit theaters.
The film also came under fire after Warner Bros. confirmed that an edited version of the third installment was rolled out in China to uphold local censorship requirements. Mentions of a past romance between Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) and Grindelwald (Mikkelson) were edited out for its release in the country, where censoring of LGBTQ+ content is common.
Rowling previously revealed that she intends for Fantastic Beasts to be a five-film series, though a fourth installment has not yet been officially confirmed by Warner Bros.
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