Harry Potter and the TV show?!

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

Don't forget to join the movie thread to talk about how much you love (or loathe) them! I came across this yesterday about the new Harry Potter HBO TV show that's set to come out and realized there isn't a thread to talk about it! (or if there is, someone link me and I'll combine this to that one!)

So, what are your thoughts? Excited to see "a faithful adaptation"? Do you agree with any of the items that writer wants to see in the show? Anything she missed that you'rehoping makes it from book to small screen?

To point 13 in the link, I feel like that's the one thing we're guaranteed to get more of because of how TV usually goes, and it's the one thing on the list I wouldn't be enthused to see

 

[Nicolas King]

I appreciate the quotes around "faithful adaptation" because come on, it's HBO. They'll be faithful-ish until the last season when they'll deviate entirely and phone it in and by saying turns out Harry did want to join Voldemort after all and Dumbledore's master plan was always to facilitate the overthrow of the ministry.

The very first thing in that list-icle feels silly - how in depth about the marauders will a book adaption really go? Reads like fan service given the amount of times people have asked for marauders-era stuff.
I also think Percy's problems are handled decently well in the films, but fair enough on hoping there's more time for it in a TV series. (I noticed Percy helping Umbridge in OotP and think there's enough else to highlight later that not making a big deal of him makes sense, the movies already have enough characters to wrangle to justify not paying much attention to Percy.)

But I definitely trust Peeves will be present and hope that, without needing to spend each scene driving plot, we can have a better appreciation of the realiites of Hogwarts. (The listicle made a good point about not noting Ron & Hermione's prefect promotions in the films, whereas the prefect/head-student aspirations of characters within school was always something the books spent time on.)

I also think the author misses what I always took as the meaning of "Neville could have been the chosen one" - which is just that prophecies become what we want them to be. Not only did Voldemort make Harry, not Neville, the chosen one - his trying to solve the problem at all created the problem. Without murdering children the love charm wouldn't be in play, and he wouldn't have an accidental horcrux walking around. So I'd be happy for that criticism of the magical world to be made plain, but I hope it's robust and not as simple as "well it could've been Neville" because I think it could have been no one is the underlying point. Voldemort caring about it is what made it powerful.

Having just watched OotP I also hope Kreacher's arc can be followed more in the show. His appreciation for Harry, and turning on Voldemort (out of loyalty to Regulus) really shines... and before he improved the Christmas gift of maggots to Harry is pretty special.

I think this show is yeaaarrsss away, though. (I think it took 4 years or something from GoT announced to airing.) So let the hype begin to build and casting decisions be rigorously scrutinized (I'm hoping for a frizzy hair Hermione!).

 

[Monty Pendleton]

Oooh, interesting!! Yeah quite a lot of the things on the article seem a little too optimistic but I'll be keen to watch this when it comes out!

Normally I'm not super keen when shows follow the books too closely, because I feel like I'm not seeing anything I haven't seen before, but in this case never having read the HP books will be good for me

 

[Nicolas King]

in this case never having read the HP books will be good for me

Ya, the more you mention this the more it unsettles me.

New goal: Claire reads the HP books before the TV show airs.