HBO is keeping the broom cupboard door shut on spin-offs
HBO boss Casey Bloys says the network is not planning to turn its new Harry Potter TV series into a sprawling franchise with prequels, side stories, and the sort of universe-building that keeps studio executives busy for years.
“The idea is not to turn it into a DC or a Marvel,” Bloys told Radio Times. “The idea is to go in and do the books.” In other words, don’t expect the wizarding world to start multiplying itself into endless offshoots just because it can.
That also suggests there are no plans for follow-up projects in the style of the Fantastic Beasts films.
Close to the books, but not a carbon copy
Bloys said the series will include material that was left out of the films, while still staying within canon.
“There will be things in the show that were not in the movie… but are not off-canon,” he said. “The opportunity is to spend more time with the books.”
So the point is less to reinvent J.K. Rowling’s world and more to give the adaptation room to breathe. A radical concept, apparently: adapting the source material with attention to the source material.
Don’t expect yearly seasons
The show also will not arrive every year. Bloys said the production is too large for that schedule, but he does not want long breaks between seasons either.
“It’s not going to be an annual; the show is too big and too massive. But… they’re writing the season 2 now,” he said in another recent interview.
That at least suggests the machine is moving, just not at the speed of a sitcom.
