Does HBO Max’s new ‘Harry Potter’ series reek of Wizarding World desperation?

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

Harry Potter may be a cultural phenomenon, but the mastermind behind the creation of the Wizarding World has been the subject of trenchant criticisms and endless vitriol for quite a while now. J.K Rowling’s outrageous comments against transgender people and her unabashed refusal to accept transgender females as ‘women’ is already well-known and it is not surprising that she has gained an enormous amount of hate for that.

Just as we thought, the Harry Potter on-screen adaptations are reaching a culmination after the prequels, a very recent piece of news is proving us wrong. To many of the fans’ delight or chagrin, it was announced on April 12 that HBO Max and Discovery Plus are collaborating to produce a TV adaptation of the Harry Potter series that — as per the information revealed — will dive deeper into the book series.

With this new revelation, a vast majority of people are speculating about the possible reasons for this decision. One of the reasons is stated to be the desperation on the part of the franchise’s creators to extend the reach of the series.

It is deemed a ‘desperation’ as many fans think that a series adaptation is extremely unnecessary at this point, especially as the franchise has diverted into numerous spin-offs with different story arcs.

Many Harry Potter aficionados have put forth the opinion that it doesn’t make any sense for a global franchise that has huge opportunities to focus on creative story angles such as Voldemort’s rise, Cursed Child, or the founding of Hogwarts, to delve into the same old plot for a television series.

Others believe that the step is nothing more than compensation for the Fantastic Beasts series, which is extremely lackluster with an objectively bad storyline. One of the Twitter users, Siddhant Adlakha holds a similar opinion, as he went on decrying the Fantastic Beasts prequel as well as Rowling, who he implied to be a ‘fascist’ for her controversial take on the transgender population.

The tweets were met with customary disagreements as well as a nod from many users. Here are some of the comments and responses.

Incredibly funny that this happened because the Fantastic Beasts series was so bad they stopped making it and folks like Daniel Radcliffe don’t want to come back for The Cursed Child https://t.co/j3XzFLZnoA

— Siddhant Adlakha (@SiddhantAdlakha) April 12, 2023

Anyway, can’t responsibly talk about Harry Potter anymore without mentioning how its influential author and steward is actively invested in fascist rhetoric towards transgender people, and if there’s anything at all we can do about it, we should. https://t.co/MKTWqAS2ze

— Siddhant Adlakha (@SiddhantAdlakha) April 12, 2023

The Fantastic Beasts movies were pretty good. Better than most of Marvel

— Tony Ruggio (@TonyRuggio) April 12, 2023

“I must not tell lies” ???? pic.twitter.com/33KpeuyTOJ

— Komrade Kommander (@KMNDR_) April 13, 2023

The Fantastic Beasts fans aren’t going to accept the opinion.

After all the hate crime, it’s doubtful wether they will manage to get attract a similar calibre of British thesps to come play dress up.

— Cornelius Beer & Wine (Leith Walk) (@corneliusbeers) April 12, 2023

Rowling’s statements and controversies will have an impact.

HP is the only real success JK has had so she’ll beat it into the ground to keep it relevant and keep the $ rolling in. The movies were fun. Nothing that happened after Deathly Hollows needed to happen.

— Ghostly Toast (@WhatAmICooking) April 12, 2023

Only a way for Rowling to fill her pockets.

With diverse opinions, the question remains as to how far this reboot is going to salvage Rowling’s image. Guess it all depends on how she behaves in public from now on.