According to sources close to Bloomberg, Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. is about to close a deal for the series, with different seasons each following one of the seven novels; series author J.K. Rowling will reportedly be involved, but not as a primary creator or showrunner.
It’s really happening. According to Bloomberg, a Harry Potter television series will soon be in development, effectively rebooting the franchise, with different seasons each portraying the events of one of the seven books.
Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. is rumored to be close to finalizing a deal for the series, which will become the shining jewel of a new streaming strategy yet to be announced. The format will allow each book, many longer than 500 pages, to be fully fleshed out without time constraints. The series author J.K. Rowling will be (reportedly) extremely involved, but not as a primary creator or showrunner.
We have known for a couple months that a new Harry Potter project was potentially in the works, but nothing has been officially confirmed. In a recent panel at Morgan Stanley’s investor conference, Warner Bros. Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels stated, “Take Harry Potter as an example, the Wizarding World, the fact that we are enjoying this massive success with the Hogwarts Legacy launch, 12 years after the last film came out, shows that there is so much opportunity and we’re only just starting to expand that.”
Wiedenfels added, “David [Zaslav] made a promise, quote unquote, very early on to revitalize some of that iconic, tentpole IP and we’re starting to make progress. It’s exciting to see how people are coming in and out and how the creative community is embracing this opportunity to work with us. That’s going to bear fruit, over time.”
If the Bloomberg scoop is to be fully trusted, we should be hearing about the project very soon. In the meantime, Harry Potter fans that also enjoy video games can check out Hogwarts Legacy, which has proven itself a massive success and one of the most profitable games of the year. The magical RPG is available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and PC.
Cybersecurity specialist by day, investigative journalist by night.
