New HARRY POTTER Casting, Canon, And Episode Runtime Details Revealed By HBO TV Show's Creative Team

New HARRY POTTER Casting, Canon, And Episode Runtime Details Revealed By HBO TV Show's Creative Team

Following the rumoured addition of Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape, Harry Potter's creative team have revealed some intriguing new details about the HBO series as it gears up to begin shooting next summer.

News
By JoshWilding - Dec 06, 2024 08:12 AM EST
Filed Under: Harry Potter
Source: SFFGazette.com

HBO has revealed (via SFFGazette.com) that the new Harry Potter TV series is set to begin shooting next summer. Showrunner Francesca Gardiner (Succession) and executive producer Mark Mylod (The Last of Us) appeared at the Max Showcase in London yesterday to share new details about this small screen adaptation of J.K. Rowling's beloved series of novels.

"We have 8 hours to tell the first book, so we can dig into the real depths and crevices and how the language of magic can evolve," they revealed, likely confirming that the HBO series is getting an 8-episode first season with one-hour episodes. 

Gardiner told attendees that she "devoured" the Harry Potter books as a 14-year-old and revealed that upwards of 32,000 young actors have so far auditioned for the lead roles of Harry, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. 

The casting team has the mammoth task of reviewing between 500 and 1,000 audition tapes a day, and while no decisions have been made yet, Mylod revealed that the plan is to "workshop with some of our shortlisted candidates" next month. 

As expected, the plan is to stick much closer to the books as well because they intend to cast characters to their "canonical" ages, meaning Severus Snap will be 31 and the Dursleys will also be much younger than they were in the movies. This also means that James and Lily Potter will be in their early 20s.

While not mentioned at the event, Mark Rylance is still believed to be the frontrunner to play Professor Albus Dumbledore.

Gardiner noted that the benefit of a TV series is that it gives them a "bigger sandpit to play in" than the movies, with Mylod adding that they'll "dig into the depths and crevices of Hogwarts."

Having more room to adapt these stories also means they can "really dig into the character arcs," though their intention is not to "undo what was done so brilliantly" on the big screen. We will, however, get an updated take on Hogwarts and "get to have some fun with Peeves in the corridors."

As for the ongoing controversy surrounding author J.K. Rowling caused by what many feel are anti-trans views, HBO's Casey Bloys said, "We are totally comfortable with" continuing to work with the author and added that he'd prefer to "do what the creatives want to do" rather than "listen to fan conversation."

HBO's Harry Potter is also executive produced by J.K. Rowling, Neil Blair, and Ruth Kenley-Letts of Brontë Film and TV, and David Heyman of Heyday Films. The series is expected to premiere either in 2026 or 2027. 

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TheJok3r
TheJok3r - 12/6/2024, 8:12 AM
This entire cast will be hated, no matter who they are or how well they play the roles. They should've just made a prequel to the movies, a sequel set 100 years into the future, or stories set in other schools during the time frame of the original books.
grendelthing
grendelthing - 12/6/2024, 8:16 AM
@TheJok3r - Oh Harry's adventures as an auror.
IronGenesis
IronGenesis - 12/6/2024, 8:35 AM
@TheJok3r - Speaking as an admire of Mark Rylance (if he is choice) he will Not be hated.

One, because he is incredible stage actor with Shakespearean background.

But maybe more important he will now be the 4th actor to portray Dumbledore…to which the shock of a new interpretation for audiences should go smoother.
BabyLasagna
BabyLasagna - 12/6/2024, 9:12 AM
@TheJok3r - they tried doing a prequel or something with Fantastic Beasts and we all know how it went.
Urubrodi
Urubrodi - 12/6/2024, 9:13 AM
@TheJok3r - "This entire cast will be hated, no matter who they are or how well they play the roles." Well there are certainly ways to mitigate that, by actually being faithful to the characters in the books. If let's say Adam Driver was cast as Snape, do you really think he'd be hated no matter what? Or like Cillian Murphy as as Voldermort? Don't think so. Now if you cast an unknown actor that looks nothing like the character that they are meant to portray, then yeah you get those reactions from the fans.

But I do agree that a prequel series (maybe about the school founders) or maybe a series in another school of magic, would be more interesting options.
TheJok3r
TheJok3r - 12/6/2024, 9:33 AM
@BabyLasagna - Hogwarts Legacy, a prequel game, was the most success games in 2023. Fantastic Beasts didn't fail because it was a prequel, it failed because it wasn't good.
TheJok3r
TheJok3r - 12/6/2024, 9:36 AM
@Urubrodi - If you get someone like Adam Driver, fans will just complain that he's a cheap imitation of the guy who played Snape in the movies. If you get someone totally different, fans will complain that it's not faithful enough. A series about the founders of the schools is far more interesting in my opinion. Another thing they could do is an anthology type of series, where each seasons focuses on something completely new. The Harry Potter world is so rich that it's unfortunate they just want to retell stories already told so well in the movies.
Taonrey
Taonrey - 12/6/2024, 9:38 AM
@BabyLasagna - the first movie did well, the issue with that series was writing not it being a prequel
Taonrey
Taonrey - 12/6/2024, 9:39 AM
@Urubrodi - shit even a series still set in Hogwarts but way after the 90s would work. HP is extremely popular, you don’t need to redo the original movies.
OptimusRhyme
OptimusRhyme - 12/6/2024, 9:44 AM
@TheJok3r - Sad but oh so true.The way the world is ...It'll only be appreciated by a few.
Itll go the route of star wars where the trolls will just hate for hates sake. Regardless of how good of it they make.
Izaizaiza
Izaizaiza - 12/6/2024, 11:02 AM
@Urubrodi - I'm not sure they have the budget for Driver and Murphy, but that is some 5 star fan casting, especially with driver! 👍🏻
KaptainKhaos
KaptainKhaos - 12/6/2024, 8:16 AM
The cast better be British
Matador
Matador - 12/6/2024, 8:59 AM
@KaptainKhaos - Mostly from West Virgina but close enough.
Se4M4NSt4ine
Se4M4NSt4ine - 12/6/2024, 10:33 AM
@KaptainKhaos - I think they’ll change the ethnicities of a few characters to involve inclusion. I just wonder who? They can’t make Hermione black, due to the fact she’s already a character dealing with a lot of race complexities of being a Muggle.

Weasleys are trademark ginger for obvious reasons.

Which leaves Harry, who let’s be honest would be pretty bold to make Harry a different ethnicity.

Snape, McGonachal or Voldemort getting race swapped is my bet.
SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 12/6/2024, 11:27 AM
@Se4M4NSt4ine - Isn't Voldemort as described to be very pale white and snake like in the book though?
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 12/6/2024, 11:33 AM
@Se4M4NSt4ine - Already went there with Hermione with the stage play I believe and a tad easier in some ways with a muggle born than to change a long lineage family like Harry's but tbh they only REALY need to find logical ways to give the non-white characters from the film versions a bigger role in it.

That being said Snape as a half blood and Harry having a 'mudblood' mother too does allow fairly easily to move towards mixed race although suspect they probably won't go there with those two esp as in the case of Severus it would make him more obviously 'half blood'.

The easy one is simply to add more in regards to kids at the school as supporting characters, I don't by that mean add them to the plot as such but you have a school full of kids most of whom were not named or described which nobody would flinch at being changed and given a line here and there if it doesn't impact the narrative and who the main characters are.
TheFinestSmack
TheFinestSmack - 12/6/2024, 4:02 PM
@Se4M4NSt4ine - I'm calling it now that Harry will be a British Indian boy.
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 12/6/2024, 4:50 PM
@TheFinestSmack - Already have the Patel sisters to tick the Indian box (not saying they should or are doing so but if they were and/or a concern it is already ticked) and Cho for oriental Asian origin. All three of which will likely be introduced early in the first season and/or have more prominance in it compared to the books where they were either absent or barely mentioned that I recall in the first one.

UK population is about 7% Asian last I checked (which here includes Arab, Indian and all other regions of the middle East and south Asia as well as China, Japan etc) btw so not that odd to have a number of prominant characters of those origins in a British based show of a school with around three hundred students according to most calculation. I think each house had about a dozen students in every year (hence the 300 calculation if 40 to 50 per house times by seven years) which could easily be slightly increased to add one or two here and there considering JKR contradicted that when asked how many students there were at Hogwarts saying there was about 1,000.

They also have Angelina Johnson, Blaize Zabini, Lee Jordan and Dean Thomas as non-white named kids at Hogwarts in the films so there is diversity there which could easily be added to with un-named background students and/or those characters featuring more/sooner than in the books.

IS however a decent chance they will opt for a non-white Hermione depending on who they feel best fits the role with the open casting considering a black actor was cast for her in the stage play and the description in the books although implied as probably white made more of a thing about her frizzy hair at first without specifying race so not that much of a stretch. The only time I can think of in the books was summut along the lines of 'her face was white' in relation to shock and fear which is still applied as a term here if someone of ANY race is in a state of shock/fear. As time went on there were more imlications she was likely white white due to references to sunburn and such like but at first when reading book one at least it was less than clear so...
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 12/6/2024, 8:54 AM
Sounds good to me!!.

Putting aside the “need” for this adaptation given the movies are more or less still relevant and popular , going in depth to the characters & things from the books that the movies couldn’t get into it or just excluded could be fun so we’ll see.

𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞'𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 "𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨" 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 "𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧."

That’s already a plus in my book because fans themselves don’t know what they want half of the time or have differing viewpoints of what it should be that you are bound to upset someone in order to please someone else , it’s become a damned if you do or don’t situation I feel…

Hence its best to just listen to a singular vision that the collaborators have agreed on and tell the story you want to tell and how you want to tell it because it’s bound to connect with someone.
soberchimera
soberchimera - 12/6/2024, 9:23 AM
We have 8 hours to tell the first book, so we can dig into the real depths and crevices and how the language of magic can evolve
That is way too much for the first book, it's only 200 pages, it should be 4 hours at most. Chamber of Secrets isn't much longer either. The only payoff this show is going to have is when they adapt Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix since those movies cut alot out, but the rest of the series was pretty adequately adapted.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 12/6/2024, 9:28 AM
@soberchimera - I had the same thought. It was barely enough to fill out a 2 hr movie.
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 12/6/2024, 9:56 AM
@soberchimera - From an actual plot PoV I tend to agree, the first book was a lot shorter than the latter ones.

It does allow more time to get to know the supporting characters more than you did with the first book and ample ways they COULD do that without making the main narrative feel overly stretched out with too much filler (whilst helping reduce as much need to do so with the other books).

If they can pull that ballance off well however is a whole other matter thus remains to be seen.
soberchimera
soberchimera - 12/6/2024, 10:00 AM
@Apophis71 - That's what I'm afraid of, they're just going to add a bunch of stuff that wasn't in the book, just like they did with American Gods, it didn't enhance the story, it just stretched it out to increase the episode count. At least we'll probably get to see Peeves and The Deathday Party eventually.
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 12/6/2024, 10:06 AM
@soberchimera - Yup, too oft it doesn't work but have been times it refreshingly has with adaptions so we'll see in time.
DocSpock
DocSpock - 12/6/2024, 9:28 AM

No thank you please.
Matchesz
Matchesz - 12/6/2024, 9:33 AM
Why do they think age has be accurate for a character but not their whole ethnicity. Maybe 40 year olds want more representation?
MG0019
MG0019 - 12/6/2024, 9:55 AM
@Matchesz - Yes! There’s absolutely No Way I can be invested in make believe characters unless the pretend actors are my Exact ethnicity, age, sexuality, shoe size, a banjo player like me, and avid chili dog enthusiasts. Otherwise I am not represent, And We Need To Talk About That!

/s 😏

For real though, this trend needs to die. As a kid I loved Superman. That was my hero, loved the suit, & I loved how much of a good guy he was. It wasn’t his super strength, it was his ability to fly, and fly in to save the day! I was a little brown kid. That Did Not Matter. I don’t need a brown Superman. And honestly, I think making him brown ruins the design aspects; that’s not an invitation to change his suit either, lol. They’ve tried giving my people “their own” superhero. That’s fine I guess, the hero is way too focused on the damn culture stereotypes and not an actual character. Really did feel more like being profiled and stereotyped than being “represented.” Why, when Thor becomes black, does he lose his cool armor and wear super Sneakers and a Hoodie? Jesus. Also, I’ll add that just because I like Superman as he is, that does not mean I want to be white. Heard that argument before, just ridiculous. Most of us are not fixated on race, creators need to stop placating the small percent that screees the loudest.
Matchesz
Matchesz - 12/6/2024, 10:26 AM
@MG0019 - its just corny since its giving a vibe like this is what a bunch of liberal white ppl think is “hip” and “cool” and they’re being down with the kids. Its cringe and ironically kinda racist. How many white “hand me down” side characters have they race bended but Static Shock cant even get a show or movie? Or why cant Spawn get a reboot first?
TheFinestSmack
TheFinestSmack - 12/6/2024, 4:11 PM
@MG0019 @matchesz You're both spot on. When i was really young, I remember my dad taking me to see Meteor Man. It was original; i identified with the hero/cast a bit more because they looked like me, I suppose. But I never needed to identify with my entertainment. I loved Thor growing up. Spiderman. Batman. The idea of taking those characters and changing them so that I can "identify" with them or feel represented misses the entire point. I find it disrespectful when it happens and I'm supposed to enjoy those leftovers. Nah I'm good. Let diverse creatives create diverse ORIGINAL properties.
Taonrey
Taonrey - 12/6/2024, 9:37 AM
Honestly don’t know how they’re going to do this show, the way streaming works it will take 15+ years to get 7 seasons.
SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 12/6/2024, 11:29 AM
@Taonrey - Perhaps the way Disney+ filmed Daredevil. Film Seasons 1 & 2 at the same time and then move onto Seasons 3 + 4 when Season 2 begins.
TheFinestSmack
TheFinestSmack - 12/6/2024, 4:13 PM
@Taonrey - I really appreciate you being honest about that. And yeah, at the rate these shows take to produce, they'd be lucky to put out 1 season every 3 years. These kids gonna be 37 when they graduate Hogwarts.
Taonrey
Taonrey - 12/8/2024, 8:25 PM
@SonOfAGif - don’t think you can pull that with kids can you? These shows already film for awhile
Super12
Super12 - 12/6/2024, 9:40 AM
By remaking so quickly a beloved masterpiece like the HP movies, they are knowingly playing with fire. By making absurd castings like Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape they're setting the place on fire. This is on them, the executives who put their own political posturing over the fans wishes and respect for the source material. Let it all burn. Not another dime to Max or any HP properties. They need to hear the message.
soberchimera
soberchimera - 12/6/2024, 10:05 AM
@Taonrey - Exactly, Season 1 should be both Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets, S2 should be Prisoner of Azkaban and maybe 1/4 of Goblet of Fire, S3 should be the rest of Goblet, S4 should be Order of the Phoenix, S5 should be Half-Blood Prince, S6 Deathly Hallows.
slickrickdesigns
slickrickdesigns - 12/6/2024, 9:47 AM
When they realize they’ll make more money with Harry Potter as a film franchise and not a streaming show this series will get canceled.
Izaizaiza
Izaizaiza - 12/6/2024, 11:00 AM
I doubt this will do well. The franchise lost fans because of J.K.'s ongoing attack on trans kids, and rumored "race-swapping" seem like a ham-fisted attempt to win those fans back by producers that don't understand them. Obviously, that won't work. Other fans will be turned off by "race-swapping". Still other fans are not ready to see new faces for their beloved characters. Even if there had been no controversy with Rowling, and casting was perfect, a lot of people would just be asking "why?"

I don't see this making it through all the books
Waifuslayer2
Waifuslayer2 - 12/6/2024, 11:22 AM
@Izaizaiza - I do vending at conventions and there are always Harry Potter cosplayers and a good number of the are trans. If a handful of people in a group of less than .04 percent of the population has left the franchise behind I wouldnt be sweating either.
Izaizaiza
Izaizaiza - 12/6/2024, 4:00 PM
@Waifuslayer2 - Oh, if it was just trans folks, I would agree. J K. definitely soiled her brand for people who saw her comments as bigoted. We could also point out that white people make up about 15% of the population, with the percentage that cares about race swapping being a fraction of that. I still think it will have an effect on the popularity of this show
TyrantBossMedia
TyrantBossMedia - 12/6/2024, 11:10 AM
Remaking the Harry Potter books into a series and recasting legendary and culturally established characters that have been part of the lexicon for over a generation is as dumb a choice as killing off culturally established characters from Star Wars who had an over 40 year following without letting them reunite on screen one last time.


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