Rumors have been swirling for years about a potential HBO series rebooting Harry Potter. The alleged plan would involve one season per book. Immediately I saw a ton of people online ripping this idea to shreds. Who wants this? It seemed everyone was asking. Not me! I agreed. Or did I? Let’s look at all the reason we should or should not have a Harry Potter reboot.
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Pros
Improved graphics — as good as these films looked when they came out, and as well as they still hold up today, computer technology has come a long way. I think Quidditch, at the very least will look better. As long as HBO has competent people working on the show and are willing to spend money, of course.
More accurate storytelling to the books — For me this is the most compelling argument for rebooting the series. I love the movies, but if you are like me and love the books a lot more, the movies leave a lot to be desired. Particularly the hatchet job done to books 4-6, due to the length of the books vs the length they can make a movie. For me and my friends, we’ve long fantasized about HBO doing a series for the books, to do them justice. If we have a full series, we can have depth to Hermione, Ron, and Harry. We can fully see Hermione’s evolution from uptight rule follower to uptight occasional rule breaker. We can see that Ron is actually useful. We can see my favorite character that is often MIA in the movies: Sassy!Harry.
Sirius will be correctly written (fingers crossed) we will get more Neville backstory and Dobby scenes, and we should care more about Cedric when he dies, just to name a few. The themes from the book will be better represented and the mysteries and plots in 4-6 should actually make sense if they’re doing justice. For this reason, I’m probably more inclined to think favorably of a reboot than most people. However…and this is a big one…this is all assuming the reboot is more faithful to the books. The reboot might be even less faithful to the books, for all we know!
Cons
Too soon for a Reboot– it’s barely been ten years since the last Harry Potter movie came out…is now really the time for a reboot? The main cast are still younger than they are in the epilogue, for goodness sake!
JKR — Let’s address the definitely not rainbow striped elephant in the room…JKR has built a recent ugly reputation for a decent amount of the population. Even a lot of the original cast has come out and denounced some of her statements and opinions. When Hogwarts Legacy came out, there was a significant backlash online about supporting it. I know myself personally, I posted an instagram tribute to Robbie Coltrane that went semi-viral. And I noticed I immediately started getting comments about being a TERF just from that. Is doing a reboot the best idea with all these bad feelings around?
The original cast are multiple generation’s icons– For me, the movies came out when I wasn’t a small child, so I’m not as attached to the actors and the movies as I am to the books, but for so many millions of people from various ages, the cast of the movies are their icons. It’s like remaking the original trilogy of Star Wars on HBO for some people. Blasphemy!
Theme Parks–I recently went on the Spiderman ride at Disneyland and Tom Holland was our Spiderman, not Andrew Garfield or Toby Maguire. And what happens when Tom Holland hangs up the spidey suit? (Disney will probably redo the ride…) It’s not just the Harry Potter rides, which (spoiler alert!) have Bellatrix, Voldemort, Bill, Ron, Hermione, Harry, Dumbledore, Hagrid, the twins, Malfoy, Moody, etc etc with the actor’s faces…its every item of merchandise. The bags themselves! The actual shops and Hogwarts and almost everything you can buy is directly pulled from the movies. Unless they do the reboot with all original designs, I’m not sure how this works with the theme park.
No John Williams– of course the later movies (4-8) already don’t have John Williams as the composer…and I’m sorry, but you can tell. The famous and amazing score that everyone remembers comes mainly from the first three movies (and also a bit of the 4th/5th to be fair.) Can the reboots even use this music? Would they want to? It’s like watching the Star Wars spinoffs. Super fun shows, but they are missing the magic of a John Williams score.
Constant comparison– for me the biggest con of all is the constant comparison that is sure to ensue between the original movies and the reboots. People will proablay be mean online to the new actors. Pour one out for the poor soul who is going to be cast as Snape if the reboots happen. To me the perfect Lucius, McGonagall, Umbridge, Voldemort, Bellatrix, and Hagrid already exist. How can recasts ever hold up? Will they have to do a different “take” on the character? We all saw how that worked out with Michael Gambdon as Dumbledore after Richard Harris.
Particularly for the first three movies, this comparison will be rough for the reboots. I think the reboots will fair well in later seasons (as long as they have good writing, casting, directing, special effects, and are faithful to the books, a lot to ask) because the reboot in season 4-7 will actually make sense if they stick to the books. Not just…wait, who the hell is this guy from Doctor Who? Why is Snape the half-blood prince, and why does that matter? Why is more than half of book 5 missing from the movie? etc. For me, I never pictured the trio looking like Rupert, Emma, and Dan based on the book descriptions but millions of other people do picture them, and will judge the new actors accordingly.
Overall, I wouldn’t hate the reboots as much as other Potter fans…unless, of course, they weren’t more faithful to the books than the original movies. What are your thoughts?
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