As development continues on the remake, twoHarry Potterfranchise veterans share their thoughts on the upcoming HBO series and share whether they think they’d appear. The movie franchise performed well both critically and commercially, with every film earning the Rotten Tomatoes “Certified Fresh” accolade, and earning a whopping $9.5 billion at the global box office.TheHarry Potterseries rebootby HBO was first announced in April 2023 and the creative team has so far focused on casting, especially focusing on who will play the big three of the series, that being the titular wizard, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.
Speaking withDeadline, twoHarry Potterveterans, Oliver and James Phelps, who played the Weasley twins, George and Fred, discussed the upcoming reboot series and shared whether or not they think they’d appear in the show. Oliversays that the brothers know as much as everyone else but has high hopes for the upcoming seriesand for how much fun the new cast will have playing the iconic characters. James, when asked if they’re game for appearing in the series, possibly as professors, joked that he’s available for hire before expressing that the movies created a great friend group for them. Check out what they said in the quotes and video below:
Oliver: It’ll be interesting to see, we only know as much as everybody else really about what’s going on, but if it’s anything like everything else we’ve been involved with Potter, they do it at such a high standard. So we just hope whoever gets up playing the characters we played have as much fun as we did when we did it.
James: I mean, I’m an actor, so I’m available for hire, right? I don’t know, yeah, maybe, but to be honest with you, like we said, we had such a great time doing these, and like in the show, we still got our friends come back in, so Bonnie Wright, Evanna Lynch and Warwick Davis came back and did a guest judging on this show. I’m really saying, it’s just, it creates such nice friendship groups for us, so that was really fun, yeah.
What This Means For HBO’s Harry Potter Series
A casting call has been put out for the series, calling for children in the UK between the ages of nine and eleven, and children of all races and ethnicities. Since the series is still in its early stages of development, rumors have surfaced regarding who will be playing who. While most of these are probably dream casts and should be taken with a grain of salt,interesting names have been brought up, specifically Tom Felton, who’s rumored to play Lucius Malfoy, the father of the character he played in the movies, Draco Malfoy.
Our Take On The Phelps Brothers’ Thoughts And The Prospect Of Them Returning
I have mixed feelings when it comes to HBO’s reboot of theHarry Pottermovies.The films, on top of making the right choices in casting, captured the essence of each book and characterand streamlined them to fit the medium with much success. However, as all movie adaptations go, there were a few storylines and characters I would have liked to see, like Hermione’s creation of SPEW (Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare) inHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fireand the chaotic poltergeist Peeves.
With this new series, HBO will have the proper opportunities to capture the full depth of the books and include things the movies just didn’t have the runtime for.
With this new series, HBO will have the proper opportunities to capture the full depth of the books and include things the movies just didn’t have the runtime for. It also helps thatHBO’s track record for adapting bestselling book series to the small screen has seen a lot of success, excluding the infamously divisivefinal season ofGame of Thrones.
How Will Harry Potter’s Show Cover 7 Books In 10 Years?
The upcoming HBO Harry Potter series will run for 10 seasons but with only 7 books in the main franchise, the timeline of the series is up for debate.
When it comes to the casting of the new series,I think I’d prefer the absence of actors who played a character in the movies. Their inclusion would be too jarring, as viewers already know them as other characters, especially the Phelps brothers, who played their parts well. I may be persuaded to accept either of them as Arthur Weasley, the father of Fred and George, and the same could be said about Tom Felton appearing as Lucius. Ultimately, if HBO puts in the same care they did for other book-to-TV adaptations, I could fully get behind theirHarry Potterseries.
Harry Potter
Cast
Harry Potter is HBO’s remake of the iconic Wizarding World film series that consisted of eight films between 2001 and 2011. Each season adapts a book from JK Rowling’s popular series and provides more book-accurate details than the movies did.
