New Harry Potter TV Show Update Instills Hope It Might Actually Follow the Books

SUMMARY:

• The rumored new Harry Potter projects turned out less exciting than expected, but there are still silver linings in its updates.
• David Yates, the director of four original Harry Potter movies, announced that he wouldn’t be involved with the HBO Max TV show.
• Director Yates’s approach to adapting the Harry Potter books wasn’t faithful enough for most fans and they’re glad he won’t return.

The Harry Potter franchise is a Schrödinger’s cat: on the one hand, it’s one of the most popular fictional worlds ever; on the other hand, it severely lacks content and is generally underutilized, especially compared to its fandom’s scale. The Wizarding World has been too small for many years — and it’s only changing now.

A book series with a live-adaptation movie series as a follow-up — that’s the current state of the Harry Potter content base. Sure, there was also a screenplay and a prequel movie series, but both were so terrible that most fans pretend they never existed in the first place. Pretty much the same goes for the recent video game.

Least Exciting Development

After years of borderline stagnation, Harry Potter fans were excited to receive an update about the franchise’s future, and many had high hopes for the promised TV show. So many topics were left unexplored by the original book and movie series; it could go anywhere! Instead, the upcoming show will adapt the same books again.

Now, most Potterheads are either cautiously optimistic about the new HBO Max Harry Potter show or don’t believe in its success whatsoever. Fortunately, some great news just dropped for the former group: admittedly, the Harry Potter TV series has a chance of being way more faithful to the source material than the movies.

David Yates Won’t Return to Harry Potter

While the original Harry Potter movies had had several directors throughout the years, David Yates directed most of them: four, to be exact. While infinitely better than his predecessor Mike Newell, Yates still strayed pretty far from the books — and even changed essential canon facts to fit his movies’ narrative.

But the good news is, Yates won’t be involved with the HBO series.

“Honestly, I could not, in any conceivable way, get involved. <...> I spent a long time at that school, in those corridors, and in those classrooms, and it was an exquisite experience and one I will always treasure. But to go back and do another year or two, for me, I feel I've left it,” the director told ComicBook.

There’s hope for a faithful adaptation still! Especially if Newell doubles down on his successor’s statement. We wouldn’t mind Chris Columbus being involved, though.

What Does Yates Think of the New Harry Potter TV Series?

Despite claiming that he wouldn’t want to return to Hogwarts himself, David Yates admits he still has warm feelings toward the Wizarding World. Having spent years developing it, he wants to see the new HBO show properly re-explore the Harry Potter books and introduce this magical world to the new generations of Muggles.

“I wish that show so well, it's gonna be amazing to see them re-explore all it can be for the next generation. I think it'll be a challenge for everyone involved, but it's a very exciting enterprise and I wish it well. It was an amazing experience for me, and [for] the other filmmakers who were involved, and it will be for the next generation of filmmakers,” Yates concluded.

Many fans reacted quite sarcastically to David Yates’s revelation that he wouldn’t return for the Harry Potter show. We can definitely see why, considering the director’s questionable approach to adapting the books back in the day. Either way, this update from Yates somewhat brings our hopes for a faithful adaptation higher.

Source: ComicBook