At Platform 9 3/4 in King’s Cross station, Harry Potter devotees from around the world gathered to take their picture in front of one of the book’s most celebrated locations.
Fans of all ages were enthused by a particular story that took the internet by storm this week: that a long-rumoured Potter TV series could be in the works after reports that a deal was imminent between HBO Max and JK Rowling.
After a Bloomberg report indicated that each season of a series would focus on one of the seven books, global Google searches for “Harry Potter cast” jumped by 250%.
“It’s something we’ve been saying should happen for a long time,” said 30-year-old Sofia Correa, who was visiting London from Spain with her husband and baby.
She added: “A TV series could include everything from the books that was left out of the movies. For example, in the books Ron is really smart, he’s an amazing wizard, and in the movies he seems like an idiot. Ginny also developed a great personality in the books after growing up with six brothers, but in the films she’s kind of lame. If you had one episode per chapter of a book, you could have all the details that were missing.”
Similarly, Noelle Alcom, 31, who was visiting from San Diego, said a TV series would be an opportunity to stay more true to the books. “Peeves was so funny in the books but he was completely left out of the films. In Goblet of Fire, there was so much that would have been cool to show in the movies which they never did. They also didn’t include any of Dudley’s redeeming qualities. They could get a lot of those details in.”
“I’m very excited because it gives a chance for my generation to enjoy Harry Potter in a new way,” said 19-year-old Simon Hippenstial from Berlin, who was in a long queue snaking around the Harry Potter gift shop. “It could also introduce the books to new fans – it will open up a new world to so many people and change their minds.”
He added: “I think it’s really important that they ask the fans what they’d like to see. I’m hoping it will tell a different story to the films. I’d like more about Voldemort and his backstory, building on the information we got in The Half-Blood Prince.”
When reports of the new TV series emerged, opinion online was divided. While the Potter franchise is one of the biggest cultural success stories of the 21st century – the books, films, theatre show and video games are worth an estimated $25bn (£20bn) – some Potter fans feel they can no longer support Rowling’s work because of her comments on gender identity.
Mike Schubert, who documented his journey of reading the Potter books as an adult in the popular podcast Potterless – which has been downloaded more than 78m times and has more than 600,000 subscribers – said this was the reason he was not excited by the news.
“I’m sure it will be a success in terms of viewership and it’s a great opportunity to see things on screen that were left on the cutting-room floor from the films, but I don’t think it’s a good idea,” he told the Guardian. “JK Rowling’s involvement in the project and profiting from it is the biggest issue I have. Beyond that, though, the movies are still fairly recent and beloved, so I don’t see the need to retell the same stories.”
While he has only been “a part of this fandom for seven years”, Schubert said, “I know folks who have been waiting for a Harry Potter TV show for decades. It’s immensely disappointing that Potter fans may be finally getting something we’ve been hoping would become a reality, but JK Rowling has ruined that excitement for many of us.”
HBO’s parent company, Warner Bros Discovery, which produced the original Potter film franchise, has retained close links with Rowling and signed previous deals with the author for the spin-off Fantastic Beasts series, as well as a theme park.
But the author was absent from the Harry Potter 20th anniversary reunion special, which featured cast members from the films reminiscing about working together and bringing the magic of the books to screen. Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have previously spoken out against Rowling’s remarks on transgender issues, while Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes have defended the author.
Hogwarts Legacy, Warner Bros Discovery’s big-budget video game spin-off, which was released earlier this year, was also caught in the controversy surrounding some of Rowling’s statements, with some gamers deciding to boycott. Nevertheless, it spent five weeks at the top of the UK sales chart, and generated $850m (£700m) in revenue in two weeks.
Others said a TV show could be an opportunity to improve on the books and films’ perceived lack of racial and queer diversity, especially after Rowling revealed in 2007 that Dumbledore was gay.
Warner Bros declined to comment, and representatives for Rowling did not respond.
