‘Harry Potter’ Series, ‘Game of Thrones’ Spin-Off Part of Warner Discovery’s Massive Max Lineup

A Harry Potter TV series, a new Game of Thrones spinoff, and another Batman villain showpiece — Warner Bros. Discovery announced and teased a slew of programming as it revealed its new all-encompassing streaming platform, “Max.”

To start, the new live-action Potter series will be based on the original books, meaning it will also be covering the same ground as the eight-movie film franchise that culminated just over a decade ago. Warner Discovery plans to bring a whole new cast into the fray and expects the series to run for about a decade “with the same epic craft, love and care this global franchise is known for.” 

Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling will serve as an executive producer on the series. In recent years, Rowling has faced a lot of criticism over her record of transphobic comments — remarks that have cast a shadow over various new entries in the Harry Potter universe, such as the recent Hogwarts Legacy video game. A Warner Discovery rep did not immediately return Rolling Stone’s request for comment regarding Rowling’s remarks.

Along with Harry Potter, Warner Discovery has big plans for plenty of its other tried, true, and lucrative intellectual property. It offered up a new teaser for The Penguin, a new eight-episode series that will star Colin Farrell as the titular Batman villain (Farrell first played the Penguin in last year’s movie, The Batman). The show will also star Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz, Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo, and Deirdre O’Connell.

Additionally, a second Game of Thrones spin-off got the green light to join House of Dragon. This new series, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, will be set a century before the events of Game of Thrones and center around Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire Egg. George R.R. Martin will serve as a writer and executive producer on the show, so fans should probably prepare themselves to keep waiting for The Winds of Winter. 

Also revealed Wednesday: First teasers for True Detective: Night Country, starring Jodie Foster and Kali Reis, and produced by Barry Jenkins; and the adaptation of Viet Than Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning spy satire, The Sympathizer. The latter limited series will star Hoa Xuande, Sandra Oh, and Robert Downey Jr. (playing multiple parts), with Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar serving as co-showrunners. 

The plethora of programming announcements from Warner Discovery was accompanied by the news that the HBO Max streaming service would be combined with Discovery+ to create the new streaming service, Max. The platform is scheduled to launch on May 23.