For some reason, Harry Potter is coming back.
Warner Bros. Discovery announced that it is creating an all-new “decade-long” tv series based on the popular, and recently adapted, Harry Potter books to air on the streaming platform Max.
“My wife and I, we read (the Harry Potter books) to each of our three kids,” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said. “It’s really moving, for ten consecutive years, people will see Harry Potter on HBO; I mean it’s really something.”
While we were puzzled by the announcement, (it’s only been 12 years since the original Harry Potter film franchise ended, and the Fantastic Beasts franchise just prematurely ended last year after three out of five planned movies were made), we became disappointed once it was announced that J.K. Rowling will be serving as an executive producer on the show.
“Max’s commitment to preserving the integrity of my books is important to me, and I’m looking forward to being part of this new adaptation which will allow for a degree of depth and detail only afforded by a long-form television series,” Rowling said in a statement.
Nowadays, Rowling is known equally for her writing the Harry Potter books and for her transphobia, racism, ableism, and anti-semitism. She is especially vocal against trans people, calling trans women “men who say they identify as women” and saying it’s “concerning” to see people come out as trans men and nonbinary people.
Rowling has repeatedly doubled down on the false idea that trans women are men pretending to be women to gain predatory access to women’s spaces. She also continues to depict goblins as large-nosed, greedy, duplicitous bankers, drawing criticism from groups that fight ant-semitism.
It seems Warner Bros. Discovery has no problem with this.
The series will run on Max, the new name for Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming service. It will host HBO originals, Warner Bros. films, Max Originals, the DC movies and shows, the Harry Potter franchises, and Discovery content.