When Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released in 1999, fans got an unexpected glimpse into the lives of Harry Potter’s parents, James Potter, and Lily Potter (née Evans). James Potter’s three best friends were Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, and they called themselves the Marauders.
You may have heard of them; they created the famous Marauders Map, even if this origin story is never addressed in the movies. In fact, the Marauders are rarely addressed in the movies at all, which is why their story would be much better suited to a miniseries format.
Intense Content
The story of the Marauders is fairly intense. Since James and Lily die in their early twenties, at which point Sirius goes to jail, Peter is presumed dead, and Remus is completely abandoned, the miniseries would probably end there. Everything that happens in the story happens to characters ranging in age from eleven through to twenty-two, and terrible, terrible things happen to those characters.
If the show were to fully explore the intense content of the Marauders story, it would be well-suited to the increased scope of the miniseries format, probably on HBO or Showtime.
More Legroom
Movies are notorious for being unfaithful adaptations of their source material, especially when that source material is a book—or, in this case, a series of books. Books have so much space for extra detail, internal narrations, and other such amazing storytelling structures that don’t always translate well to movies. This is especially a problem with length since books have way more space and movies tend to need to be around two hours, generally.
The story of the Marauders could use way more time to be told, and a miniseries would be far superior to a movie to give them that room to really stretch their legs.
Depth of Character
When there are time limits to how much screen time each character can get, movies like Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban aren’t really all that faithful to how much space the characters actually really need. In a miniseries, though, because there’s so much more space for depth, the writers and actors are able to really dive into their characters and bring out an understanding the audience wouldn’t be able to see in any other format. This setup would be perfect for a Marauders miniseries because the main characters need far more depth than they were given in the books and the movies.
New Actors
The actors that were chosen to play the Marauders in the Harry Potter film series were good actors, for sure, but possibly not the best choices to actually play the Marauders. The characters were supposed to be in their thirties during the timeline of the Harry Potter series, and in their late teens/early twenties during flashbacks to Harry’s infancy, and yet they cast middle-aged people to play all of the young characters.
Optimistically, in a miniseries setting, the new actors that would be chosen to play the Marauders would be far better suited to the actual roles rather than suited to the warped interpretation of the roles that existed in the Harry Potter movies.
Separate Storyline
One of the biggest problems with the Harry Potter franchise is that, once the main series of films ended, the overall direction became kind of vague. Nobody was quite sure what to make next, and so Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them happened, and mostly was nowhere near as successful as the original series.
Creating an entirely separate storyline with brand-new characters to explore that really have not been explored in-depth before would help provide the franchise with some direction, plus a new medium that people may enjoy more and be able to distance themselves from the original series for a while.
Departure from Source Material
Sometimes, the source material—be it the Harry Potter film series, or J.K. Rowling’s series of Harry Potter books—leaves some things to be desired. Be it outdated concepts, author bias, or just a fumbling of plot or character, sometimes the reader is a little turned off by the direction an author goes.
Of course, once the art is created and goes through the “death of the author” process, a departure from the source material can actually be really cool to explore. Diving deeper into the foundation the source material laid, and building a new story structure from there would be an interesting way to tackle the story of the Marauders.
Modern Interpretations
Nostalgia and reflecting on the stories of the past are concepts in media that are all the rage right now, especially as we watch the popularity of shows like Mad Men and Stranger Things only grow and grow as time goes on.
Since the story of the Marauders would mostly take place in the 1970s and 1980s, a modern show looking back at these time periods would be incredibly relevant right now. A Marauders miniseries would fit right into the cultural moment and contribute to our current zeitgeist. Plus, we’re in such a golden age of television, what better time to try and tackle such an exciting prospect?
Thematic Relevance
So much of the story of the Marauders is fighting back against tyranny, even on a small scale. The Marauders are involved in the First Wizarding War, part of the original rebels fighting back against the Death Eaters and other bad guys who will come back to serve as antagonists for the next generation, Harry Potter specifically, after decades of silence.
The thematic relevance of a group of dissenters fighting back against a messed-up system cannot be ignored in today’s society. A miniseries about the Marauders is not only timely, but could even be influential and contribute to the conversation on revolution and protest.
A Second Chance
Let’s face it, the Marauders were really not handled well in the Harry Potter film series. J.K. Rowling made her fumbles in the books, sure, but the movies really did dirty by our favorite characters. James and Lily Potter get pretty much zero screen time and are very rarely acknowledged, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin both undergo serious character assassination, and the Marauders’ friendship with (and subsequent shocking betrayal by) Peter Pettigrew is incredibly glossed over.
Getting a second chance to explore this truly amazing story would be one of the best reasons to tackle the tale as a miniseries rather than any other format.
Something New
The Harry Potter franchise as a whole has been getting a little stale, and, sometimes, so has the content we have been seeing on television. A miniseries about the Marauders would be a total departure, something exciting and new, and could even create new storylines.
Fans of the Harry Potter series have been coming up with theories, suggestions, and headcanons for the Marauders characters for years now—ever since the books came out, really.
Finally, a miniseries would be a great way to get to explore the characters in a way fans have done for years but canon is afraid to do. What key moments or characters would you want to see in a Marauders miniseries?