During a recent appearance at C-Suite Conversations, Warner Bros' television CEO Channing Dungey says HBO's Harry Potter series will be more “in-depth” than the movies. That is a bold claim comparing the upcoming series to the previous epic adaptations of J.K. Rowling's books.
Talking about the upcoming adaptation, Dungey made a bold promise. Dungey aims to explore the Harry Potter books even more than the previous movies.
“It's an unbelievable dream, honestly, and as somebody who is a huge fan of books, the opportunity to get to explore them in maybe a little bit more in-depth than you can in just a two-hour film, that's the whole reason we're on this journey,” Dungey promised.
Dungey was also asked about the Harry Potter HBO series (per The Hollywood Reporter). The CEO praised the writers' room, though Dungey also conceded that there's “not a lot to talk about at this moment.”
“We've got our fantastic writing staff in place, and they are doing what they need to do,” Dungey said. “And casting calls have opened up in the U.K. and Ireland, so the process is moving along. It's going quite well.”
It is still very early in the development of the Harry Potter series. Once the ball gets rolling, expect more exciting announcements regarding the cast, release date, and more.
The upcoming Harry Potter HBO series
The new Harry Potter HBO series was confirmed in 2023. This series marks the second major adaptation of Rowling's books. Warner Bros previously covered them in eight movies.
They were huge hits. The Harry Potter movies made over $9.5 billion worldwide at the box office. That includes the Fantastic Beasts spin-off series.
The Deathly HallowsL Part 2 remains the highest-grossing entry in the series. It grossed over $1.3 billion worldwide and is the only movie in the franchise to make over $1 billion.
Fantastic Beasts, a prequel spin-off franchise, started in 2016. Eddie Redmayne leads the ensemble as Newt Scamander, a magizoologist.
The first entry, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, grossed $816 million on a $180 million budget. It was a promising start to the trilogy.
A sequel, Crimes of Grindelwald, was released two years later. It grossed $655 million on a $200 million budget. While not nearly as successful as its predecessor, it was a promising start to the new trilogy.
The third entry had a rocky road to release and was a disappointment by all accounts. The Secrets of Dumbledore made $407 million worldwide in 2022.
Beyond the big and small screen
Harry Potter's legacy has continued beyond the big and small screen. A stage play, The Cursed Child, is currently on Broadway. It originally began as a West End production in June 2016.
After debuting in London, England, The Cursed Child made its way to Broadway in November 2021. One key difference between the productions is that the Broadway iteration is a single three-and-a-half-hour show. The West End play was split into two acts.
There have also been several video games released based on the franchise. There are several Lego Harry Potter video games, and Hogwarts Legacy was released in 2023 by Warner Bros Games.