The Harry Potter universe isn't going anywhere, it's weaved into the fabric of our society now, from theme parks and board games, to clothing and tons of PC, console, and mobile games. At the beginning of April, a remake of Harry Potter was officially announced—a TV series where each season will cover one book, with HBO looking to make this happen with a Game of Thrones-level budget.
My question is why? I know that remakes and sequels are all the rage right now, but original stories can be great if given a chance and a decent budget.
The Harry Potter universe is huge, and there are plenty of other stories that could be made instead of a remake. Who wouldn't want to see Professor McGonagall grow up to be the boss professor she is? Or an anthology where each episode follows a different Hogwarts ghost before they became a ghost? Literally any other story than a repeat of The Boy Who Lived. Let's dive deeper into some possibilities that would be a better choice for a Harry Potter franchise TV show.
Hogwarts Founders Era
Let's go back to the beginning, when Rowena Ravenclaw, Salazar Slytherin, Helga Hufflepuff, and Godric Gryffindor discovered they had magic, and embarked upon their new lives. There’s a lot to cover about how the founders met and became friends, the magic bonding them, and how they came together to set up a wizarding school. I want to see them scouting for a cool location, the actual building of Hogwarts, who made the decision for those staircases to move, and how the Sorting Hat is spelled to sort first-years into their houses. Why did Helga choose to tickle a pear in order to get into the Hufflepuff common room? Why was the Chamber of Secrets really built? When did the first ghost appear, and who was it? Were the uniforms always the same or was it a trial-and-error situation?
It’d be an opportunity to explore romance and intrigue among the founders as well, looking into whether any of them ever got ‘beyond friendly,’ if you catch my drift, and whether perhaps it was a terrible breakup that made Salazar leave. We could get introduced to Helena, Rowena’s daughter, and her life as a student at Hogwarts. If the series delved deeper into her part of the story, we would get to see why Helena stole her mother’s diadem, the history between her and the Bloody Baron, and what led to her death.
Spill the tea!
The Marauders Era
This is the story most fans have been dying to see. The Marauders’ era leads us right up to the first scene of the first movie where little Harry is left on the doorstep of the Dursleys. It would give us a glimpse of James, Sirius, Remus, Lily, Peter, and Severus' home life before they all received their Hogwarts letters. Let us see how these individuals became close friends and how Lily and Severus were still friends at the beginning.
Naturally, we’d get to see here how the Marauders came to be, how Lily's friendship with Severus began to fray, the boarding school life drama, and life at home during the summer. Since Sirius mentions to Harry that he runs away from his family home and ends up living with the Potters in the fifth movie, it would be a powerful change of pace to see unfold.
Sirius clearly wasn’t happy at home, and the switch from a terrible home life to one that was more loving would be a great connection and throw forward; Harry, after all, went through a similar experience with the Dursleys, and eventually found a loving family when the Weasleys welcomed him in, cementing his friendship with Ron.
It could depict all the shenanigans that the Marauders got into, what happens once they graduate, and how Voldemort gains power. One of the key moments that should also be explored is when the Marauders and Lily turned down Voldemort’s offer in joining the Death Eaters. Fans would also love to see Lily and James getting married and their life together with their friends before they find out Lily’s pregnant. Once she finds out and tells James, did he faint or freak out and accidentally turn into a stag in the middle of the living room with Sirius and Remus laughing so hard they had tears in their eyes?
Inevitably, a big moment would be Voldemort killing the Potters, so the show could depict each domino piece falling as we build up to that, as well as the immediate aftermath. We need to see why the Potters decided to have Peter keep the secret to their location after they went into hiding once Dumbledore told them about the prophecy.
Beyond Hogwarts
There’s more to the wizarding world than just Hogwarts. According to the Pottermore website, there are “11 long-established and prestigious wizarding schools worldwide," and eight of their locations are known.
Beyond Hogwarts, which is in Scotland, there’s Beauxbatons in France and Durmstrang is located somewhere in Northern Europe. Both of these were featured in the fourth Harry Potter film, and it's known that Nicolas Flamel attended Beauxbatons. There's also Ilvermorny which is in Eastern North America, Castelobruxo in Central Brazil, Japan has the Mahoutokoro School of Magic, Uganda has the Uagadou School of Magic, and Russia has Koldovstoretz. The remaining locations and schools have not been revealed.
Just taking a look at how Ilvermorny was founded could be an interesting story, and watching new witches and wizards shaping such an important piece of the wizarding world’s history would be amazing. There are quite a few famous witches and wizards who studied in other wizarding schools that have yet to make an appearance on a TV screen too. Alanza Alves is an exchange student from Castelobruxo who makes an appearance in the mobile game, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery.
It would be interesting to tie in a visiting character from the game since she eventually helps the player investigate the brother’s disappearance. People who have played the game would already have a recognizable character on screen while a new school and characters are introduced. Whether the series would introduce how one of these other schools was founded or give us an insight into school life in a new place, this could be a great opportunity to provide a more varied cast of new characters and storylines.
And yet, despite all the possibilities, the powers that be decided to make a remake of characters and a storyline that we're already so familiar with. There’s a whole lot more to the wizarding world out there, and even Hogwarts Legacy showed that you don’t need to revolve around Harry Potter to be a success.