Warner Bros. DiscoverysHarry Pottertelevision series isset to begin filmingthis summer.
Deadlineexclusively profiledshowrunner Francesca Gardiner with insighta from her colleagues and more.
Lithgow sinceconfirmed the castingtoScreen Rant.
Max’s ‘Harry Potter’ TV SeriesMax
Cryptically, on March 20 Frost posted toInstagram, Its happening, its actually happening.
Daniel Radcliffe was cast in theHarry Pottermovie franchise when he was 11.
His co-stars, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, were 10 and 12, respectively.
Gardiner beat Tom Moran and Kathleen Jordan to win the gig.
Mark Mylod, who worked with Gardiner onSuccessionwill direct multiple episodes of the series in addition to executive producing.
At its Maxstreamingevent in April 2023, Warner Bros. Discoveryconfirmed a new era is coming for Harry Potter fans.
The company announced a TV series based on all seven books about the boy wizard written byJ.K.
See below for the most current answers to the most important questions about the project.
What is the Harry Potter TV series about?
Has HBOs Harry Potter TV series started production?
Not yet, but HBO confirmed that the show willstart shootingin the summer of 2025 at Leavesden.
The April 2025 casting timeline would seem to confirm this.
ShowrunnerFrancesca Gardinerand EPMark Mylodmade a surprise appearance at theMaxShowcase in London to reveal the big step inproduction.
Who is creating the Harry Potter series?
SuccessionduoFrancesca GardinerandMark Mylodhave signed up as its writer and director, respectively.
They were Martha Hillier, Kathleen Jordan, Tom Moran and Michael Lesslie.
Deadlinebroke the newslast month thatSuccessionwriterFrancesca Gardinerwas among the finalists.
Gardiner was a consulting producer on Seasons 3 and 4 of HBOsSuccession.
She has also written on shows including StarzsThe Rookand AmazonsThe Man In The High Castle.
The writers room now also includes Laura Neal, scribe ofKilling Eve.
Jordan created Netflix seriesTeenage Bounty Hunters.
Tom Moran is a British writer, who created Amazon seriesThe Devils Hour, which starred Peter Capaldi.
He also worked on Amazon sci-fi seriesThe Feedand Rob Lowe cop dramaWild Bill.
Rowling was understood to be involved in this pitching process.
A deal is not yet done.
When will the Harry Potter series be released?
The series is expected to be on air in 2026 or 2027.
Both sides just thrilled to be reigniting this franchise.
Our conversations were great.
Giventhe resultson that earnings call, WBD needs Harry Potters magic sooner rather than later.
CEO and Chairman of HBO and Max Content Casey Bloys gave an update about the series after this win.
He foresees the series arriving in late 2026 or early 2027.
Ditto J.K. Rowling, whose production company posteda 74% dropin profits in 2022.
That rebounded somewhat after the stage version ofHarry PotterAnd The Cursed Childproved to be a post-pandemic crowd pleaser.
The authorgot a $10.5 million paycheckfor it in 2023.
The success of the stage show demonstrates that theres still an appetite for Hogwarts-related content.
(Thats fantastic, but for comparison Rowlings seven bestsellingHarry Potterbooks have moved 600M copies worldwide.)
At a Goldman Sachs conference last year, Warner Bros.
Discovery CEO David Zaslav made pointed out the need for more Hogwarts magic explicitly.
Zaslav called that pop in of big-ticket IP one of the big differentiators of this company.
And he seems to be counting on it to make a big difference.
When you put those franchises in, its the best-performing studio in the world.
ThePotterseries will follow suit, according to execs.
So if you have HBO via your cable provider, youre all set.
Which actors are starring in the series?
Are any of the originalHarry Potterstars returning?
Again, no deals have been made, butthis is heavy speculation.
There will be new actors playing the series main characters, but no one has been cast yet.
But they may not look like the Harry, Ron and Hermione fans have come to love.
We have been trying to be very close to the vest, said Bloys.
We havent gone out to agencies.
Now that the news is out there…well start going out to the business.
Responses about a potential return from veteran guest stars in the series range from willing to coy.
The team behind the reboot has not approached him yet with any ideas.
But Daniel Radcliffe has said he is fine with sitting on the sidelines.
So Im definitely not seeking it out in any way.
But I dont think it needs me to physically pass it.
Radcliffeechoed these thoughtsin an interviewwithE!
Newssaying he is excited to watch as an audience member.
In addition, Yates took on thePotterspinoffFantastic Beaststrilogy.
He says there has been no conversation about his involvement with the series.
And it sounds like hes ok with that.
Huge affection and a lovely group of people I worked with,Yates told Deadline.
But we havent had a conversation since we finished it.
Never say never, I would say, but Im excited about moving on, he said.
Is J.K. Rowling involved in the new Harry Potter TV series?
That agreement was finalized in 2023.
David Heyman, who developed the films, was talks to do the same.
Rowlings Bronte Film and TV is producing with Warner Bros. Television.
Bronte Film and TV was founded by Rowling and her literary agent, Neil Blair, in 2012.
No, I dont think this is the forum [to discuss that], he said.
Thats a very online conversation, very nuanced and complicated and not something were going to get into.
Our priority is whats on the screen, Bloys continued.
Obviously, the Harry Potter story is incredibly affirmative and positive and about love and self-acceptance.
Thats our priority whats on screen.
Shes an executive producer on the show.
Her insights are going to be helpful on that.
The authors involvement could prove a hurdle to having the principals from the films involved in the series.
Bloys was clear, however, that WBD wasnt entirely dependent on Rowling for the project.
The TV show is new and were excited about that.
But, remember, weve been in the Potter business for 20 years.
This is not a new decision for us, were very comfortable being in the Potter business.
He pointed out that the company had huge success with last yearsHogwartsvideo game.
He said he would rather do what the creatives want to do than listen to fan conversation.
How much will the Harry Potter TV series cost to produce?
You know we make shows at this scale withHouse of the Dragon,Game of Thrones, said Bloys.
I imagine will be that scale or higher.
The shorter answer is whatever it takes to make a quality show.
So fans can expect a similar outlay for thePotterseries or higher, according to HBO/Max boss Bloys.
Will there be other Harry Potter-related projects?
Were free to do anything we want, Zaslav has said, before hedging a bit.
Some areas we need to do with J.K., other areas we have the full ability to go forward.
This is a full deployment on Max of Harry Potter.
We can still develop other properties.
Its unclear where those boundaries lie, but it is clear that Warner Bros.
Discovery would like more Potter.
How long has this been in the works?
Max and its then-parent company WarnerMediastarted exploringa potential Harry Potter TV series a couple of years ago.
After the Discovery acquisition was completed a year ago, that unit was disbanded andAscheim exited the company.
However, the importance of theHarry Potter IP has only grown post-merger.
Zaslav spoke abouthis familys own personal connectionto the series.
