Fans of the Wizarding World will get to visit it again thanks to HBO Max’s new TV show set in the Harry Potter universe, and here are the best stories it can tell. Back in 1997, readers were introduced to the Wizarding World through the novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first in a series of seven books telling the story of the boy who lived and his journey from a “normal” kid mistreated by his uncle, aunt, and cousin, to one of the most skilled wizards to ever live. Harry came across different obstacles through the series, but the biggest one was Lord Voldemort, the darkest wizard of all who tried to kill him when he was a baby, which made Harry the only person to have survived the killing curse... twice.
The Harry Potter books were a huge success and quickly built a solid fanbase, and it didn’t take long for his story to make the jump to the big screen. The Harry Potter movie saga was released between 2001 and 2011, with the final novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, being split into two movies. Although that was the end of Harry’s story on the big screen, the Wizarding World continues living thanks to the Fantastic Beasts movie series, beginning with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in 2016. However, these movies are separate from Harry’s story, as they are set many years before he was even born, though they share some big characters like Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald.
Now, while the future of Fantastic Beasts 3 remains unclear, the Wizarding World will expand to the realm of streaming thanks to HBO Max and a Harry Potter TV series. Although it hasn’t been confirmed yet, reports state that the series is in very early development, with both HBO Max and Warner Bros. denying the claims for now, but that could change in the near future. If a Harry Potter series is to happen at HBO Max, it doesn’t mean that it has to cover Harry and Voldemort’s story all over again, as the novels established other characters and stories that can easily be adapted into a TV series, further expanding this universe and the stories of other characters besides Harry. Here are the best Wizarding World stories the Harry Potter series can tell.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
A somewhat natural step would be to adapt the “eighth story in the Harry Potter series” which is actually a two-part play: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Written by Jack Thorne and based on a story by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Thorne, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child takes place 19 years after the events of Deathly Hallows, with Harry now working as Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic. Meanwhile, his younger son, Albus Severus Potter, prepares to attend Hogwarts, and along with his best friend, Scorpius (ironically, Draco Malfoy’s son), comes face to face with dark forces that threaten the fate of the world and could be linked to Voldemort himself. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child made its way to West End, Broadway, Melbourne, San Francisco, and will arrive at Hamburg, Toronto, and Tokyo in 2021/2022, and while it isn’t exactly a fan-favorite story, if it’s adapted properly it could be an interesting story to explore that also introduces a new generation of wizards, linked to the most popular and beloved characters from Harry’s story.
Harry Potter, the Auror
The Harry Potter series ends with Harry, Ron, and Hermione at King’s Cross preparing to send their children to Hogwarts, but thanks to details revealed by Rowling through the years, it’s known that, following the Second Wizarding War and the destruction of the horcruxes and thus Voldemort, Harry was recruited by Kingsley Shacklebot, the new Minister for Magic, and became an Auror at the Ministry of Magic. An Auror is a wizard or witch who serves as a highly trained law enforcement official for magical governments – essentially, the equivalent of muggles’ police officers and military. In 2007, Harry became the Head of the Auror Office, and that’s all that’s known about his time as an Auror. A Harry Potter TV series would be the perfect opportunity to explore this part of Harry’s life, and with Voldemort gone, there are various threats Auror Harry could face, and it could also bring Ron and Hermione back as the former also became an Auror while the latter became a ranking official in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
The Order of the Phoenix
The Order of the Phoenix was officially introduced in the fifth book of the series, appropriately titled Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This was a secret society founded by Albus Dumbledore in the 1970s, during Voldemort’s first rise to power. The purpose of the Order was to combat Voldemort’s threat and power, as he and his followers (the Death Eaters) began to hunt muggle-borns. However, they soon began to attack “blood traitors” such as the members of the Order, and Dumbledore’s team was soon outnumbered, with many members dying at the hands of Voldemort’s people. Among the original members of the order were Sirius Black, Aberforth Dumbledore, James and Lily Potter, Remus Lupin, Alastor Moody, and Alice and Frank Longbottom. The team disbanded after Voldemort’s defeat following the attempted murder of baby Harry Potter, but reunited after Voldemort’s return, though now the team – with new and old members – operated separately from the Ministry, who didn’t believe Voldemort was back. The HBO Max Harry Potter series could cover the backstory of the Order, offering a look at their work, their battles, and the dynamic between them, as well as the tragic fates of some of them, especially the Longbottoms.
The Marauders
The Marauders were a group of Hogwarts students with a special talent for breaking the rules and getting involved in all types of trouble. The group consisted of Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and James Potter, all Gryffindor members and good friends. They are the creators of the famous Marauder’s Map, which showed every classroom, hallway, corner, and secret passage of Hogwarts, along with the location of every person on the grounds, accurately identifying each one, even if they were using invisibility cloaks, Polyjuice Potions, or were animagi, as was Pettigrew’s case in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The formation, relationship, and dynamics between the Marauders weren’t explored in the Harry Potter saga and only bits of their story were shown through memories/flashbacks. The Harry Potter TV series could fill in the blanks in the story of the Marauders by showing their full history – from the moment they met, to their involvement in the First Wizarding War.
Lord Voldemort’s Backstory
Although Lord Voldemort was the main antagonist through the seven books and eight movies covering Harry’s journey, his full backstory wasn’t explored – and it’s a very tragic one. First off, Voldemort, whose real name was Tom Marvolo Riddle, was a half-blood wizard, born to a wealthy Muggle named Tom Riddle and a witch named Merope Gaunt, who is suspected to have used the Imperius Curse or a love potion to force Riddle Sr. into a relationship with her. Young Tom Riddle was abandoned by his mother and was raised at Wool’s Orphanage, and just like Harry, he learned he was a wizard by the age of 11 when Dumbledore visited him at the orphanage. Riddle’s affinity with the dark arts became evident from the beginning, alarming Dumbledore, and the rest is history. There’s a lot to unravel when it comes to Voldemort’s backstory, and a TV series is an ideal format to explore his early days and rise as one of the darkest and most powerful wizards to ever live, thus complementing Harry Potter’s well-known story.