The Harry Potter TV show remake has officially been announced by Warner Bros. Discovery for the studios' newly-branded MAX streaming service, begging the question of why this is the case over the production of Harry Potter 9. The mainline Harry Potter series culminated over a decade ago in 2011 with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 in an extremely satisfying fashion, with many dubbing the franchise as one of the very best book-to-film adaptations of all time. The success of the series led to a prequel set of films - beginning with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - which stagnated somewhat after the third entry.
Due to the less-than-stellar performances of the Fantastic Beasts sequels, rumors began circulating in early April 2023 that Warner Bros. Discovery was planning a TV show remake of Harry Potter for HBO Max. This news was officially confirmed weeks later, with the announcement of a Harry Potter series debuting on the newly-rebranded MAX streaming service. However, with the announcement came more confusion, with the burning question being why a remake of Harry Potter is necessary over a ninth Harry Potter movie, or better yet, leaving the franchise as it is.
Why HBO Is Making A Harry Potter TV Show
The core reason as to why Warner Bros. Discovery is remaking Harry Potter as a TV show is down to more fidelity in the storytelling. While the original Harry Potter movies were highly faithful to the source material, some installments did omit large sections of the respective books' side plots for budgetary and runtime purposes. With Harry Potter being made as a TV show, the series will have a much longer form of storytelling, allowing the creators to cover much more of the books be it the elements left out of the original movie series or an expansion of the characters, relationships, and world-building.
Similarly, TV shows are inherently much different from films. From the way they are constructed, written, shot, and produced to how they play out in terms of runtime and budget, the difference between film and TV has always been stark. This means that the remake of Harry Potter will feel somewhat different from the original films, as they will be made with the TV model in mind (with 10 years planned, nonetheless). This will mean the upcoming Harry Potter series will have an inherently different, albeit somewhat intangible difference to the original movies, and will not be disregarded as a mere remake of them.
Will Harry Potter 9 Or Fantastic Beasts 4 Ever Happen?
With the announcement of the new Harry Potter series, the future of a potential Harry Potter 9 or Fantastic Beasts 4 looks grim. Beginning with the latter, the prequel series to Harry Potter was initially intended to have five films, with only three releasing before the series began losing steam for various reasons. From the controversies surrounding J.K. Rowling's views on the trans community and Johnny Depp's court case to the more simple elements of the films dipping in quality, the Fantastic Beasts series fizzled out at the box office meaning Warner Bros. Discovery is unlikely to revisit it, especially given the new announcement.
While Harry Potter 9 is arguably more likely than Fantastic Beasts 4 given the established story from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, it is now less likely. The Harry Potter TV remake will likely be a very long project, resulting in more than a decade of production. This will mean there will be no time to focus on a potential sequel to the original series of films. Similarly, having two concurrent-yet-separate stories of the same franchise will be confusing to general audiences, meaning Harry Potter 9 likely will not be produced while the freshly-announced Harry Potter remake series is ongoing.