Today in news that we didn’t ask for: HBO Max might reboot Harry Potter as a TV show, with She Who Has A Serious Case of Poster’s Disease poised to take on a major creative role.
Warner Bros. is in talks with series author J.K. Rowling to join the project as a producer, Deadline reported Monday. Each season of the potential show would focus on one of the seven Potter novels.
Given that Potter has long been one of Warner Bros.’ most reliable cash cows, it’s unsurprising that several other Wizarding World-based projects have sprung up since the original film franchise wrapped up in 2011, including theme park attractions, the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the controversial video game Hogwarts Legacy, and the three Fantastic Beasts spin-off films.
Rowling was given ample control of the Fantastic Beasts films, co-writing and producing all three installments. However, according to Variety, plans for a five-film franchise were scrapped following poor box office performances and the controversial involvement of Ezra Miller and Rowling herself.
Ever since Rowling made the full extent of her TERF views known back in 2020, creatives have taken pains to downplay the author’s involvement in subsequent Wizarding World projects. The 2021 reunion special Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts used old interview footage from a Warner Studio Tour Rowling gave in 2019, while Potter actor Tom Felton later told The Independent that he only recalled seeing her “once or twice on set” of the original film productions over the years.
Even after Rowling publicly bashed prominent trans YouTuber Jessie Earl for tweeting that she wouldn’t buy the recently released PS5 game Hogwarts Legacy, the game’s official FAQ makes sure to state that she wasn’t directly involved in writing or making the game, although its creators “collaborated closely with her team on all aspects of [it].”
While the prospect of Rowling joining a Harry Potter series as a producer marks a major shift from all this downplaying of her involvement in the franchise, it’s an important reminder that it’s virtually impossible to separate supporting Potter projects from supporting Rowling and her well-documented transphobia.
For what it’s worth, plenty of people have taken to social media to express their displeasure over the potential existence of a reboot catering to Rowling and her TERF castle lifestyle instead of Warner Bros. supporting, I don’t know, any other deserving fantasy series.
“wingardium absolutely the fuck not,” author and cultural critic Ella Dawson wrote.
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Film critic Zoe Rose Bryant wrote, “Setting aside how absurdly unnecessary a HARRY POTTER reboot is in the first place, I’d just rather we not continue to give billions to a woman who has made it her life mission to invalidate the existence of trans women & endanger our lives with her unrelentingly hateful rhetoric.”
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The news of this latest project comes amid reports that Rowling’s own production company experienced a massive 74% profit plunge, though reports say that the steep decline is due to the COVID-19 pandemic, rather than personal backlash the author has faced.
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