Recently, Warner Bros. suggested there may be plans for more than one television series set in the Wizarding World on HBO. Though we’ve no idea what any of those other shows would be about, we know that the only one confirmed is a Harry Potter reboot.
Said to be comprised of seven seasons, each based on one of the books by JK Rowling, the upcoming series will be a “faithful adaptation” of the source material. Warner Bros. is currently sourcing a writer, while Rowling has been brought on board as executive producer.
Given that the new Harry Potter series will wipe the slate clean, a brand-new cast will replace the likes of Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), and Emma Watson (Hermione Granger). As such, it will mark the beginning of a new continuity.
But hold your Hippogriffs. Not only is it possible the reboot will “dovetail” off certain events from the books/films as opposed to being a traditional retelling, Warner Bros. may also look to the wider Wizarding World universe for inspiration for the other planned shows.
Fantastic BeastsContinuation
As we’ve no clue what any of those other Wizarding World shows will be about (assuming the flagship series is a hit and leads to several spinoffs), one of them may be a televised continuation of the failure that is the Fantastic Beasts film trilogy.
So, we can’t rule out the possibility that the canon established in the Harry Potter films will end with the HBO adaptation. That said, the reboot may “adopt” the Fantastic Beasts films, especially as there are no plans to make more theatrical entries in that series.
But even if it remains untethered to the three spinoff films, the reboot may still utilize some of their cast members, leaving Fantastic Beasts as a sort of unofficial connective tissue between both Harry Potter timelines (the film series and the HBO reboot).
It’s also worth noting that the upcoming themed land at Universal Studios’ Epic Universe in Orlando, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Ministry of Magic, will feature areas from the Fantastic Beasts films, so clearly Warner Bros. isn’t done with those spinoffs yet.
But there’s another path HBO’s “Wizarding World-Verse” might take. Following the likes of its very own DC Universe, Warner Bros. may create a Wizarding World “Multiverse,” which could see the new series acknowledging the continuity of all 11 films.
With that all said, interestingly, a Multiverse probably already exists, thanks to three characters: Hermione Granger, Albus Potter, and Scorpius Malfoy. Oh, and, of course, a rather powerful little artifact known as the Time-Turner.
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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Professor McGonagall (Maggie Smith) equips top third-year Gryffindor student Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) with a Time-Turner to enable her to attend multiple classes during the school term (what a cheat).
For a while, Hermione uses it to maximize her education at Hogwarts; however, towards the end of the film, headmaster Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) advises that she uses it to save Sirius Black (Gary Goldman) and Hagrid’s Hippogriff, Buckbeak,from “certain” death.
And so begins a time-traveling adventure, with Hermione and Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) going into the past, where they learn they’re actually now part of a paradoxical time loop and have been since the beginning of the film (and possibly forever?).
Their meddling with time could have easily created a new timeline, thus allowing for a brand-new universe in which everyone from Harry to Hermione, Dobby to Dumbledore, and Tonks to Tom Riddle looks very different (wink, wink). Enter the HBO reboot.
Prisoner of Azkaban would be the perfect segue into the reboot — even if the very first scene is a recap of time-related events from Harry’s third year at Hogwarts. Alternatively, one of the other HBO shows could “diverge” from those events in Azkaban and do its own thing.
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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Thinking about time-travel too much will leave you feeling confunded, but our point is that Hermione must have created alternate realities. And the same can be said about Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy in the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2016).
Set 19 years after the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part II (2011), Cursed Child sees Albus, son of Harry, and Scorpius, son of Draco, use a Time-Turner to try and prevent Cedric Diggory’s death as seen in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005).
But in doing so, the pair end up returning to an alternate future in which Tom Riddle/Lord Voldemort has managed to kill Harry Potter and rule over the Wizarding World, where all witches and wizards must partake in an annual celebration known as “Voldemort Day.”
Interfering with Time-Turners clearly has dire consequences, but in this instance, it could serve to Warner Bros.’ advantage. Whether it uses Azkaban or Cursed Child to do so, the Harry Potter reboot could take place in the Multiverse and maintain the continuity of the films.
It’s one way to pacify fans of the films who aren’t keen on Warner Bros. hitting the reset button. While the reboot won’t necessarily mean the end of one continuity, it does lessen the chances of seeing a Cursed Child film adaptation that would reunite the original actors.
But the odds of that happening are pretty slim anyway, as many of the actors have distanced themselves from JK Rowling now that she’s become a bit of a pariah within the Wizarding World community and beyond for her well-documented comments on gender identity.
Even if Warner Bros.’ new “HBO shared universe” (we coined that, so you read it here first) doesn’t utilize Cursed Child‘s left-over Multiversal segue, one of the shows the studio has alluded to could still be directly based on the incredibly popular West End stage show.
Related:Harry and Hermione May Be Coupled Up in ‘Harry Potter’ Reboot
Hogwarts Legacy
Warner Bros. might even be eyeing the open-world video game Hogwarts Legacy (2023) as a potential source for one of the inevitable spinoffs on HBO.
Last year, Hogwarts Legacy rocked the fanbase — before and after hitting shelves. Prior to its release, the game was boycotted by many fans angry with JK Rowling for her comments on gender identity. But, unsurprisingly, it still became the biggest gaming title of the year.
Now, the rumored Hogwarts Legacy 2 will likely come to fruition, even if it’s probably several years away (as is the case with video games). In the meantime, however, the game may be adapted into a television show alongside the Harry Potter reboot.
It’s unclear as to whether Hogwarts Legacy is canon. It is, of course,a prequel to the Harry Potter era, but from which timeline? The books, the films, the new television series currently in development? Maybe none of the above.
Given the game’s popularity, it would make more sense than not to adapt it for television, but perhaps we aren’t looking further enough into the Multiverse.
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Harry Potter: Manacled
The wider Harry Potter franchise also includes plenty of unofficial material. Whether it’s the Pottermore website — whose stories are only considered “tertiary canon” — or the countless fanfiction stories that fans have conjured up over the past twenty years.
One of the most notable entries is Manacled, which follows a diverging path from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix which finds that Harry died while battling Voldemort and follows a dark romance between Hermione and Draco in a dystopian future.
Author SenLinYu has said that Manacled is inspired by the equally dystopian television series The Handmaid’s Tale (2017), as the fanfiction finds Hermione as a prisoner who’s forced to become a surrogate to fill the shortage of witches and wizards created by the war.
This reality also sounds like one Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy might have created in Cursed Child.
There’s nothing stopping Warner Bros. from utilizing this widely popular piece of fanfiction to serve as the source material for one of their planned television shows. Stranger things have happened — just look at Fifty Shades of Grey, which is based on Twilight fanfiction.
What else is happening in the Wizarding World?
The Harry Potter media franchise continues to expand. Alongside Warner Bros.’ plans to develop a new shared universe with the Harry Potter reboot serving as the flagship series, sequels to the hit game Hogwarts Legacy are now expected. A video game titled Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions (TBA), inspired by the iconic Wizarding World sport, is also in the works. Meanwhile, a new Harry Potter-themed land, the Ministry of Magic, is being developed at Universal Studios’ Epic Universe in Orlando, which will be the fifth Wizarding World theme park location, following Universal Orlando Resort, Universal Hollywood, Universal Japan, and Universal Beijing.
What are you most excited about when it comes to upcoming Harry Potter content? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!
