Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2026 HBO Max)

[+primortal Subscriber²]

(HBO) Max is working on a Harry Potter series that will do each book as a season.  They announced a list of actors that will play the various characters in the Harry Potter universe.

https://www.theverge.com/news/648099/harry-potter-tv-series-hbo-warner-bros-casting-announcement

[FloatingFatMan]

Rowling is utterly toxic these days, so there's a reasonable chance HBO lose their shirts on this one...  Fans already kicking off about the casting for Snape...

[seta-san]

Absolutely unnecessary. 

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

Looking forward to this, decent casting. I just hope they can distance it from JK 

[FloatingFatMan]

On 16/04/2025 at 17:55, Dick Montage said:

Looking forward to this, decent casting. I just hope they can distance it from JK 

Generally, casting doesn't bother me much, but it does annoy me when they cast someone utterly different to the source's character description.  I'm looking forward to seeing how they pull off Snape's long greasy hair and sallow skin complexion...

[Som]

On 17/04/2025 at 07:43, FloatingFatMan said:

Generally, casting doesn't bother me much, but it does annoy me when they cast someone utterly different to the source's character description.  I'm looking forward to seeing how they pull off Snape's long greasy hair and sallow skin complexion...

curtesy of chatgtp :P, works for me. Although it will be near impossible to out do alan rickman, which is probably why they went in a different direction 

[Som]

On 16/04/2025 at 17:55, Dick Montage said:

Looking forward to this, decent casting. I just hope they can distance it from JK 

i heard that they tried to buy if off her but she wouldn't sell, the wagon

[FloatingFatMan]

On 17/04/2025 at 11:28, Som said:

curtesy of chatgtp :P, works for me. Although it will be near impossible to out do alan rickman, which is probably why they went in a different direction 

Eh, at the end of the day, all that really matters is their performance.  I just hope it's not a big a clusterduck as Amazon made of their Lord of the Rings prequel... 🤮

 

Also, I hope Lithgow can do a decent English accent!

 

[Som]

On 17/04/2025 at 11:45, FloatingFatMan said:

Eh, at the end of the day, all that really matters is their performance.  I just hope it's not a big a clusterduck as Amazon made of their Lord of the Rings prequel... 🤮

 

Also, I hope Lithgow can do a decent English accent!

 

didn't he play churchhill in the crown? I never saw it so can't tell how his accent was. 

I'm one of those weirdos who likes the rings of power, although it's the elves who should be Irish , not the hobbits, but she does a fairly decent accent so I'll allow it

[FloatingFatMan]

On 17/04/2025 at 12:08, Som said:

didn't he play churchhill in the crown? I never saw it so can't tell how his accent was. 

I'm one of those weirdos who likes the rings of power, although it's the elves who should be Irish , not the hobbits, but she does a fairly decent accent so I'll allow it

The instant they had a lady dwarf with NO BEARD, they completely went off the rails with Tolkien's universe.  Might as well have had a 6ft Hobbit or an elf that only lives 20 years...  

[Som]

On 17/04/2025 at 12:14, FloatingFatMan said:

The instant they had a lady dwarf with NO BEARD, they completely went off the rails with Tolkien's universe.  Might as well have had a 6ft Hobbit or an elf that only lives 20 years...  

i think she had a goatee in the second season 😛

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

On 17/04/2025 at 11:45, FloatingFatMan said:

Also, I hope Lithgow can do a decent English accent!

He is an astonishingly competent actor who is seemingly only recently able to move on from his “comedy series” perception 

[+primortal Subscriber²]

 

[dipsylalapo Supervisor]

Very much divided on this

I'm old enough to have grown up reading the books as they were released and watching the films as they came out. Fell in the love with the world that was created. Watching this felt strange because so much of it looks familiar (after all it's all from the same source material) but different at the same time.

I read a comment on the trailer, can't remember where, but it was basically that the films were for our generation of Harry Potter fans and this TV show is for the next generation of fans. 

We had a long car journey over the weekend and let my eldest listen to the first  5 chapters of the first book on Audible and he was hooked. We'll be finishing off the audio and paperback together!

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

On 31/03/2026 at 08:24, dipsylalapo said:

the films were for our generation of Harry Potter fans and this TV show is for the next generation of fans. 

I feel that's a good way of looking at it.

Like with Star Trek at some point the fan base is going to split and whatever new content is created will not appeal to everyone.

As to if franchises like this should just be left alone at some point is another matter... for better or for worse when something is one of the top top 10 highest-grossing media franchises of all time it's going to be used to try print money until it doesn't any more.