Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory.
Today we’re going to be discussing the future of the Harry Potter franchise- specifically,
what direction Warner Bros will take if they decide to further pursue a potential Harry
Potter show.
I’m also going to be discussing the FUTURE of Fantastic Beasts.
Over the last couple of years we’ve been teased SEVERAL times about the potential for
a Harry Potter reboot- whether in the form of a TV show or movie.
Most recently was 3 weeks ago, when Warner Bros CEO David Zaslav emphasized the importance
and significance of the Harry Potter IP belonging to them:
“We’re going to focus on franchises," he said.
"What are the movies that have brands that are understood and loved everywhere in the
world?”
“We haven’t done a Harry Potter in 15 years.
The DC movies and the Harry Potter movies provided a lot of the profits for Warner Bros.
… over the past 25 years."
He added: “If we can do something with J.K.
on Harry Potter going forward.”
And it wasn’t long before Zaslav’s statement that WarnerMedia’s former CEO Jason Kilar
ALSO discussed Harry Potter’s potential, as well as his intentions for creating a Harry
Potter TV show.
"There's this little thing called Harry Potter, which is one of the most beloved franchises.
And we're incredibly thankful to be able to partner with J.K.
Rowling and so I would argue there's a lot of fun and potential there as well," Kilar
told the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecommunications Conference during a session
that was webcast.
But these CEO’s, with more power and potential than anyone to re-introduce the wizarding
world, also always seem to leave out the little details.
What form would the REBOOT of Harry Potter take?
And what area of the Wizarding World would it hone in on?
With obscure statements being released from back to back CEO’s, I can’t help but wonder:
are they just pulling at our heart strings?
Or is this an ACTUAL possibility?
First I want to discuss WHY I think that a Harry Potter reboot may actually be a (relatively)
imminent possibility, and then I want to dive in to my predictions for what this show/movie
might have in store.
But before we get to that, I want to discuss the elephant in the room - Fantastic Beasts,
and what this film franchise’s failure could mean for the future of Harry Potter.
We’re now 7 months post Secrets of Dumbledore, the third installment of the Fantastic Beasts
series, and things are not looking good.
Where once there was genuine hope for a 5 part film series looking at the adventures
of Newt Scamander as well as some of the Wizarding World’s origins, now it’s looking an awful
lot like they decided to END it at 3.
Fantastic Beasts 3 was (comparatively) a box office flop, and Warner Bros recently announced
that there are currently no plans to continue the franchise with a fourth film.
But, much like the Phoenix, the death of Fantastic Beasts may present the opportunity for another
Harry Potter spin-off to rise from the ashes.
Personally, I enjoyed Fantastic Beasts- and I did genuinely feel that they were heading
in the right direction.
However, I would venture to say that is an unpopular opinion.
And while Warner CEO’s in the past have openly made remarks about alternative Harry
Potter spin-offs, the reality is that their attention, focus and funding was all being
poured in to Fantastic Beasts.
Until now.
Now that no Harry Potter films are in production or even pre-production, Warner Bros have all
of the time and resources in the world to re-introduce the Harry Potter story from a
more fan-friendly angle.
Warner Bros, if you’re listening, this is what I think you should make:
First of all: an origin story for the Marauders.
The Marauders were a group of mischievous young boys who attended Hogwarts school of
witchcraft and wizardry during the 1970s.
These four boys were characters that you’ve probably heard of: James Potter, Sirius Black,
Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew.
The quartet of boys began their studies in 1971, the same year as Severus Snape, and
they all had one thing in common - they were all Gryffindors.
Before the sorting ceremony even happened the boys hit it off, and when they were eventually
sorted in to the same house, they knew that they were destined to be friends.
Though the boys got on with many of their other classmates, this particular group of
4 boys had a truly special bond, and they eventually came up with a name for their group
- they were ‘The Marauders’.
The boys had a lot in common, beyond the fact that all of them were gryffindors, as they
all also happened to be huge troublemakers.
If there was a rule at Hogwarts, they were hellbent on breaking it, and they were truly
notorious for their rule-breaking and mischief making.
Their group existed for the duration of the time that they spent at Hogwarts, from 1971-1978,
and after graduating they even all went on to join The Order of the Phoenix - a secret
society founded by Dumbledore that opposed Lord Voldemort.
This is a group of 4 characters that are INTEGRAL to the Harry Potter story, that already have
a pre-established backstory that could easily be adapted in to an independent narrative.
James is the father of the boy who lived, Sirius Black is the man who lost his friends
and basically his entire life in one fateful night, Lupin is the boy who was bitten by
the notorious werewolf Fenrir Greyback, and Pettigrew is the snivelling excuse for a man
that went down a very dark path.
These are FOUR MASSIVE characters- and I think that I certainly speak for other fans as well
when I say that this could be a massive opportunity to expand the Harry Potter world.
The NEXT Spin-off that I want to see made involves none other than Lord Voldemort.
Voldemort has always intrigued me, and when we got to see glimpses in to his past- at
varying stages of his life- I was left even more intrigued.
We know that Voldemort turns in to a murderous dark wizard intent on dominating the wizarding
world and achieving blood purity- but what I want to see are the steps in his childhood
that got him to that point.
I want to see him at Wool’s Orphanage- and witness how he interacted with the other children.
I also want to see him at Hogwarts- making ‘friends’ with the original death eaters-
I want to see him grow up.
A Voldemort origins story could be a great way of going back in to wizarding history
and doing a character analysis on the primary antagonist of the Harry Potter films.
The next spin-off that I’d like to see involves the 4 Hogwarts Founders and the founding of
the school itself.
Hogwarts goes with Harry Potter like Marmite goes with Toast- they’re meant to be- so
in my eyes it only makes sense to provide an ORIGIN story that explains how the school
came to be.
The founders are such enigmatic figures- powerful wizards thought to be more powerful than modern
day wizards- and I want to see that on the big screen.
Or at the very least- the small screen in my house.
Hogwarts was founded at some point during the tenth century when 2 witches and 2 wizards
got together and decided that they had, in the sorting hat’s own words: ‘the selfsame
yearning, to make the world’s best magic school’.
These founders were Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Salazar Slytherin and Helga Hufflepuff-
the original creators of the 4 Hogwarts houses.
The school itself was built hidden off somewhere in the Scottish highlands (the exact location
is never actually revealed)- and this was because the tenth century was a time of hardship
for witches and wizards.
During this time, every day, witches and wizards were being persecuted by muggles-who were
intensely hostile when it came to witnessing sources of magic.
This was a different time- a time very much unlike what we are used to seeing in the magical
world.
Wouldn’t you like to know about the struggles wizardkind faced in the 10th century?
What the OG Hogwarts founders were like?
This is a show I’d really like to see made, but for now you could probably pass some of
the time by watching MY complete history of Hogwarts and the Founders.
Next up we’ve got the origins of none other than Albus Dumbledore.
Albus was a magical prodigy- he was able to do things with a wand that no one had seen
before- and given that we’re only really shown the old-age Dumbledore, I really want
to see what he was like as a boy.
The original direction of Fantastic Beasts was centered around his defeat of Gellert
Grindelwald- who plays quite a large role in Dumbledore’s story- but what I want to
see is Dumbledore’s father being sent to Azkaban, and Dumbledore’s sister being killed
after being caught in the crossfire of a three way duel involving Aberforth, Albus and Grindelwald.
I want to see all of this on-screen, and the subject matter is certainly there.
The next direction that Warner could take (which may be a little bit riskier) would
be to explore one of the other Wizarding Schools.
We know from the Harry Potter films that there are alternative academic institutions, such
as Beauxbatons, the French magical school, and Durmstrang, the Northern European magical
school, but did you know that there are actually ELEVEN wizarding schools in total?
Aside from the ones already mentioned this number includes schools like Castelobruxo-
a Brazilian wizarding school that’s located amid the Amazon rainforest.
Koldovstoretz- the wizarding school of Russia located on a hidden section of Lake Ladoga.
Ilvermorny- North America’s wizarding school located at the highest peak of Mount Greylock.
Mahoutokoro- Japan’s school of magic located on the topmost point of the Volcanic island
of Minami Iwo Jima.
&
Uagadou- Africa’s wizarding school located in the ‘Mountains of the Moon’ - the Rwenzori
Mountains of Uganda, found at the source of the Nile River.
With so many wizarding schools around the globe, it would be a complete waste to not
try and explore them further.
But for now if you want to learn a bit more about the school’s I’ve mentioned check
out the video on screen.
Next up we’ve got the Goblin Rebellions.
Despite the state of Goblin / Wizarding relations being less than favourable in our current
era, there were many periods in history where things were actually a LOT worse.
In fact, between 1612 and 1890 there were THREE documented rebellions from Goblins who
were sick of their status in Wizarding Society.
The first Goblin Rebellion took place in 1612 near Hogsmeade Village.
The Goblin forces took an inn as their base, and ravaged the nearby buildings, setting
many of them on fire.
The exact number of lives laid down on both sides has been lost to the years, but the
casualties were remarkably high, at least, according to Hogwarts’ 5th year History
of Magic class.
And when we look at the exact cause of this rebellion, there’s no shortage of reasons
for why the Goblins would have started it.
Goblins were responsible for far more skilled tasks.
Goblins forged the most powerful weapons, indestructible armor, and through their natural
propensity for hoarding gold, Goblins basically kept the entire wizarding economy moving forward.
And yet… wizards and witches looked down on them wherever they went.
The next Goblin Rebellion was in 1752, and this one was even bloodier than the battle
at Hogsmeade, over a hundred years prior.
This time, the Goblins pledged themselves to an unlikely alliance: a partnership with
werewolves.
With the primal beasts on their side, the goblins wreaked havoc across britain.
It wasn’t until Minister for Magic Hesphaestus Gore was elected that the Rebellion was stopped
for good.
But conflict with the Goblins didn’t stop there, with yet another rebellion kicking
off in 1890 with a goblin named Ranrok.
Ultimately, by the time of Harry Potter’s enrollment at Hogwarts, the Goblin Rebellions
were relegated to a short series of lectures in the History of Magic courses.
BUT, I think that there’s more than enough meat here to turn these rebellions (and the
tension between wizardkind and goblinkind) in to a TV show or Movie.
My last suggestion for a potential spin-off centers around the Ministry for Magic- specifically,
the Auror office.
Aurors are magical law enforcement officials that work for the Department of Magical Law
Enforcement inside the Ministry of Magic.
Their job is simple- capture dark wizards and other criminals in an effort to keep the
wizarding public safe.
This last suggestion poses a unique opportunity in that it could take place in the present
day and would allow Warner to cast some of the original Harry Potter actors- including
Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint.
After graduation from Hogwarts Ron and Harry did actually end up WORKING in the Auror office
for a number of years, so this could be perfect..
Obviously with such an in-depth universe and so many different characters/timelines, there
are tons of possibilities- but I think I’ve managed to narrow down the biggest ones.
What do you think?
Do you agree with any of the ideas I’ve proposed?
What shows would you like to see made?
Leave a comment down below.
And, as always, if you enjoy the content please LIKE the video and SUBSCRIBE to the channel.
Until next time
Remember
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live