‘Harry Potter’ TV Series at HBO Will Be “Biggest Streaming Event” Ever

Next year’s TV reboot of Harry Potter could well be “the biggest streaming event” to ever happen, reckons Warner Bros. Discovery CEO, JB Perrette. We’re now into the 15th year since the endlessly enchanting movie franchise (excluding the spin-off Fantastic Beasts trilogy) ground to a halt, with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 capping off a $7.7 billion colossus that made icons out of Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint. With the dust settled somewhat, HBO has been hard at work on a small-screen adaptation since 2021, with the intention being to turn each of the seven J. K. Rowling books into a season of its own.

Speaking in London today, Perrette took it upon himself to spread the hype even further, given the fact that the network’s streaming service, HBO Max, is going global just in time for our return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Per The Hollywood Reporter, he described the Potter series as “the biggest streaming event in the history of HBO Max and arguably in streaming, period. It’s number one, two and three in many ways. We can’t wait for this global streaming event.”

The excitement for this one from inside the factory, so to speak, is understandable, expected even, but is Perrette forgetting just how big of a deal The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was when it first launched over on Prime Video in 2022? Or HBO’s own Game of Thrones spin-off, House of the Dragon, that same year? Objectively it’s hard to disagree with him, though.

The Chances of ‘Potter’ Series Being a Success

Dominic McLaughlin is the new Harry Potter

HBO Max

Considering HBO has produced many of the finest TV dramas these past three decades have had to offer, this all-new Potter couldn’t have been blessed with a better starting position. The Sopranos, The Wire, Six Feet Under, Game of Thrones, The Leftovers, The Last of Us, True Detective, Succession; you name it, this is where quality lives more often than not. When you put master composer Hans Zimmer in charge of the music, and seasoned pro Mark Mylod in the director’s seat, that’s always going to work in your favor too.

According to Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets director, Chris Columbus, the show’s unique structure benefits the saga. He exclusively told MovieWeb:

“They get to do something we didn’t get to do, which is basically do the entire book. You know, I had to cut a lot of my favorite things from the movies, because we didn’t have enough time, and even so, you know, those movies are long, you know, they’re two and a half hours, but now these… they’ve got 10 hours to basically bring the whole book to life, which is fantastic. So, I think that’s great.”