A Harry Potter TV show is reportedly in development at HBO Max, and while it’s still unknown exactly which story it’s going to cover, the books and movies already teased the perfect spinoff idea: the Marauders. In 1997, readers of all ages were introduced to the Wizarding World through J.K. Rowling’s novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first entry in a series of seven books covering the story of “the boy who lived”. Readers not only followed Harry’s journey as a young wizard but also his battle against Lord Voldemort, the darkest wizard of all and who tried to kill him when he was just a baby.
The Harry Potter books were a big success, and it didn’t take long for the series to be adapted to the big screen, and so the movies were released between 2001 and 2011, with the final novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, being split into two movies. Although Harry’s story was the main focus of the series, the novels and movies took some time to tease the backstories of other characters and/or groups but without fully exploring them or making them a main focus in the series, as is the case of Lord Voldemort’s origins, the formation Order of the Phoenix, and everything about the Marauders. This last group is a very special one as it has a direct connection to Harry, and it’s actually the perfect spinoff idea for the HBO Max TV show.
The Marauders were a group of friends with a talent for getting into all types of trouble and breaking the rules at Hogwarts. The group was formed by Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and James Potter, all of them members of Gryffindor and who gave themselves different nicknames: Moony (Lupin), Wormtail (Pettigrew), Padfoot (Black), and Prongs (Potter). They are best known and remembered as the creators of the Marauder’s Map, given to Harry by George and Fred Weasley, and which showed every inch of the grounds at Hogwarts: every classroom, hallway, corner, and secret passage, and accurately identified every person and their location within the grounds, even if the person was wearing an invisibility cloak, was under the magic of a Polyjuice Potion, or was an animagus.
As the Marauders were formed way before Harry was born, there were only a few, brief looks at them through flashbacks/memories and a couple of details about them were revealed through casual conversations, making their story the ideal spinoff for HBO Max’s Harry Potter series. By focusing on the Marauders, the series could fill in all the blanks in their story and answer some of the biggest questions left by the Harry Potter books and movies about them, such as how they all met, their dynamic through their years at Hogwarts, the process of creating the map, and their involvement in the First Wizarding War. A Marauders TV show could also show more about Peter Pettigrew and his association with Voldemort and eventual betrayal that led to the deaths of James and Lily Potter, as well as the attempted murder of baby Harry Potter.
HBO Max’s Harry Potter TV show already has the basics for a Marauders spinoff, and a TV series is an ideal format to tell their story from the very beginning up to Pettigrew’s betrayal, Potter’s dead, and Black’s imprisonment, maybe even covering what happened between that and Black’s escape from Azkaban. The Marauders’ backstory is one that fans have wanted to see for years, and it’s not too late to finally make it happen.