Photo: Warner Brothers/courtesy Everett Collection
The Wizarding World ofHarry Pottermight be making a return to the screen.
Warner Bros. Discovery is currently in talks about producing aHarry Pottertelevision series, PEOPLE has confirmed.
Sources familiar with the project previously told Bloomberg thepotential multi-season serieswould be based directly onJ.K. Rowling’soriginal seven books. Each book, starting withHarry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stoneand ending withHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, would get its own season of the show, per the outlet.
Unlike the recentFantastic Beastsfranchise, which told new stories within theHarry Potteruniverse, but not about the books' core characters, the series — which would be housed under HBO Max — would revisit the beloved original story in a new way.
Per Bloomberg, they are hoping the series can be a flagship of Warner Bros.' upcoming streaming strategy announcement, set for next week. The April 12 presentation will also see a preview of the forthcoming HBO Max and discovery+ integration and rebrand.
The author has been hesitant to give her approval to many Wizarding World spinoffs, though she supported theHarry Potter and the Cursed Childstage productionand theUniversal Studios Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme parks, which debuted in Orlando in 2010 and later expanded to Universal Studios Hollywood in 2020.
Warner Bros. chief executive officer David Zaslav and HBO chief Casey Bloys have been involved in talks with Rowling, according to Bloomberg, but no deal has been finalized.
courtesy Everett Collection
The latestPotter-inspired project was released in April last year. The third installment of theFantastic Beastsfranchise,Secrets of Dumbledore, took a hit at the box office, with its $43 million opening weekend making it thelowest North American opening of the Wizarding World franchise.
Johnny Depp, who had portrayed villain Gellert Grindelwald in the first two installments,resigned from his role after losing his libel case in the U.K.in 2020. His character wasrecast with Mads Mikkelsenin what the Danish actor called a “deliberate” move.
“Everybody knows why [the actors changed],” Mikkelson toldThe Hollywood Reporterahead of the third movie’s release. “The entire world knows why. It would almost be like an Easter egg to reality to point out we swapped actors. Hopefully we drag them in with the first scene and from there they accept this world.”
Warner Bros. / courtesy Everett Collection
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Ezra Miller, another regular in the franchise who played dark-magic wielder Credence Barebone,fell into legal trouble in Hawaiijust days beforeSecrets of Dumbledorehit theaters.
The film also came under fire after Warner Bros. confirmed thatan edited version of the third installment was rolled out in Chinato uphold local censorship requirements. Mentions of a past romance between Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) and Grindelwald (Mikkelson) were edited out for its release in the country, where censoring of LGBTQ+ content is common.
source: people.com
