So the first trailer for that new HBO Harry Potter series has arrived

Cafe Society
1

I have such hate for Rowling, but this is probably going to do fabulously for HBO (we plan to cancel HBO when it lands and tell them why, but they really don’t give a shit).

Two thoughts on viewing it:

  • It’s weird seeing new people in all these roles, kind of like someone did an AI video. But the casting looks okay.
  • That dismal color grading that’s so popular in superhero movies? It’s also used here.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone | Official Teaser | HBO Max

2

i think it looks brilliant. from the trailer it looks like they are taking a line or two from the book and bringing it forward. the clips of harry’s life with the dursleys, the haircut, dudley using him as a punching bag, how fast he is, all good.

as for rowling, i trust the story, not the story teller.

3

How is it different than the movies?

4

It’ll actually include Peeves, and the writing for Hermione and Ginny will hopefully not be dreadful.

5

It’s a totally different type of adaptation. Imagine if season 1 of Game of Thrones, which corresponds to the first book, was an hour and a half long movie instead of a nine and a half hour series.

Is this aimed at kids, like a new generation of Harry Potter fans? Or is it HBO’d up to make it appeal to adults who liked the movies as kids?

6

Each book is an entire series and one series a year?

Edit: I’m not at all familiar with GoT

7

Yes, this is the setup. They’ve said they’re adapting the books as directly as possible.

8

That is quite a commitment to all involved. Seven years.

I’m not a fan of fantasy generally but at some point after the third book came out, my then wife’s friend lent the books to her and I read them and enjoyed them enough to buy them as they came out. By the time the last couple came out I was dating a woman with a teenager son and I’d buy them and give the book to him when I was done.

9

Are they actually releasing a season per year? because shows with little kids and 2-3 year breaks between seasons get silly real quick. ETA not that I have any plans to watch, already get forced into interacting with Harry Potter stuff at work and that is all the exposure I need.

10

Yes, each book will have a full season of the show dedicated to it. That’s how Game of Thrones was, before they ran out of books. Harry Potter won’t have that issue.

The early (and imo best) seasons of GoT were very faithful to the book, often recreating scenes line by line. They’d shuffle scenes around to make them flow better in a visual medium, but the scenes themselves were just the book brought to life.

I don’t know if Harry Potter would be my go-to of a book series that needs that kind of treatment, but I’m excited to see what they do with it.