Wish List for the HBO Reboot
I can't remember a time I got more joy and excitement from a single announcement than what I felt when it was announced HBO was developing a Harry Potter reboot in the form of a TV series. While nothing will beat the nostalgia of the OG films, the format of doing a show over several seasons and hours of footage is a creative way to dive much deeper into the books and characters than the movies could have ever crammed into their two to two-and-a-half hour windows. As a massive Potter fan who grew up reading the novels and watching the movies, this got me reflecting on what sorts of things I'd like to see in the reboot that would differ from or simply weren't included in the films. I wanted to shoot for a nice round number like 10 or 15, but there ended up being just 8 I truly settled on, though many of them encompass a collection of smaller things. Naturally, I had to rank them from least important to most important as well. So without further to do...
This is a nitpicky one and why it's my least-important of the 8 things mentioned, but in re-reading the books I'm finding there are several differences between the appearances of the book characters and the actors who portray them in the films. To name a few: Harry should have green eyes (fun fact, they tried giving Daniel Ratcliffe colored contacts for this but he had a bad reaction), Dudley should be blonde, Hermione isn't beautiful, Snape is younger, and Voldemort should have blood red eyes. The recasting process is already going to be an uphill battle for HBO trying to replace the actors and addresses we fell in love with over 8 movies, but one thing they can do to get a leg up is focus on those small details that make the appearances more accurate to the books.
While we get healthy doses of Ron, Ginny, the twins and the parents, we're deprived of Charlie and could use much more of Percy & Bill. Charlie is a fan favorite who contributes the plot in indirect ways. For example it's him and his team who end up rescuing Norbert and taking him off Hagrid's hands, which ends up leading to Harry, Hermione, Malfoy, and Neville being caught out of bed and receiving the detentions that lead to the unicorn blood in the Forbidden Forrest. But he's an interesting character with his fascination of magical creatures and more specifically dragons. The feud between Percy and the family is an interesting dynamic as he eventually rejects his parents and pursues his own endeavors within the Ministry, but it makes it all that more fulfilling when in the end he and Arthur fight alongside one another in the Battle of Hogwarts. Bill's only appearances come in Deathly Hallows Pt 1 at his wedding and with Fleur but the films choose not to include other moments like book 6 when he had been mauled by Fenrir Greyback but Fleur still chose to love him unconditionally.
There are several honorable mentions for characters from the books that didn't make the cut in the movies: Charlie, The Longbottom's, Winky, Professor Binns, etc. But the one most fans would tell you should have been included is Peeves the Poltergeist. He didn't contribute much to the plot, but he was one of the better sources of comic relief next to the Weasley twins and probably the second most well-known Hogwarts ghost next to Nearly Headless Nick (which side note I'm re-reading Book 2 now and the Deathday Party should be included too!). He was actually cast for the first movie, but Christopher Columbus felt the CGI wasn't up to par. It's 2023 now so that problem should be fixed. But Hogwarts wasn't truly Hogwarts without it's mischievous poltergeist causing chaos periodically for the students. I'd love to see that iconic scene where he salutes Fred & George as they escape Umbridge during O.W.L's.
There are a number of important flashbacks and memories from the books that the movies simply do not spend enough time on or disregard completely which give some of the characters needed backstory. These include Godric's Hollow, the Marauders, entries from Tom Riddle's diary, Snape's worst memory from Book 5, the Longbottom's & St. Mungo's, the backstory of Dumbledore/Grindewald/Abberforth/Arianna, more on the Black family, and most notably all of Snape's memories that appear to Harry at the end of Book 7 that reveal his true intentions and motives. There's another character/set of memories & backstory I'll refer to separately in this list as it's the focal point of one of the books so more on that later, but the TV show has a grand opportunity to better utilize more drawn out and detailed versions of the flashbacks and memories that will add much to the characters.
This is partially my bias as a sports fanatic but at the same time I feel that it's completely justified. The first two movies capture two of the most iconic matches: Harry's first ever match and then the rogue Bludger/Draco Malfoy Slytherin rematch, but then only two other Hogwarts Quidditch matches are shown (Dementor attack in 3 and "Weasley is Our King" in book 6). The books reference 15 different Hogwarts quidditch matches (including the 4 seen in the films) as well as the 422nd Quidditch World Cup. In addition to better capturing the arc of Harry's entire Quidditch career, this would give us some other interesting match ups and storylines like Ron's arc in the later books, Harry facing off against other known Seeker's like Cho & Cedric, Harry's transition to captain in book 6, Ginny as a Seeker, and Gryffindor seizing victory in three house cups. Additionally the World Cup match from Book 4 should be included as this would show a whole different level of speed and skill not seen in the Hogwarts matches that would have been visually spectacular. It would be comparable to how much more advanced the Lightsaber fights become in the Star Wars prequels as opposed to the originals, and would be cool to see things like Viktor Krum's signature move the Wronski Feint, where he pretends to see the snitch and dart after it before pulling up last minute and tricking opponent seekers into crashing. Quidditch was something thst made Harry feel truly alive and the student body as a whole loved the sport and the race for the House Cup. Give us all the Quidditch in the Reboot please HBO!
These are a MASSIVE part of the sixth book and giving our evil villain some real depth and backstory, but the movies don't devote anywhere near enough time to Harry and Dumbledore's private lessons diving into these memories. Several of these give context to which objects became Horcruxes and how they were acquired, like stealing the Gaunt family ring from his uncle or stealing Slytherin's Lockett and Hufflepuff's Cup from Hepzibah Smith after charming and killing her, while others introduce us to his muggle father and other members of the Gaunt family. But my personal favorite which I would love to see included is the meeting between Voldemort and Dumbledore where Voldemort asks for a teaching job at Hogwarts, which when Dumbledore turns him down leads to him cursing the DADA post, thus giving explanation to the six year revolving door of different professors. All of this would be fascinating to see and give Tom Riddle's character much more backstory and thus it should be a high priority for HBO.
While 97% of the Harry Potter casting choices couldn't have been more perfect, this was one that the movies butchered. It completely disregards Ginny's arc, where in the books she grows from a shy and timid girl into a woman who exudes confidence, beauty, athleticism, and becomes a character every woman wishes to be and every man takes notice of. Bonnie Wright's portrayal is a bit dull and leaves much to be desired, and the chemistry between her and Daniel Ratcliffe just seems forced and non-existent. Some of the scenes are awkward and just cringy like her feeding Harry pastries or tying his shoe. I also prefer the true first kiss from the book: in the Gryffindor common room in celebration of her winning the house cup filling in for Harry as Seeker, as opposed to the film's take where he's blindfolded as she hides the potions book in the Room of Requirement. Hopefully HBO can help bring more life to Ginny's character and arc true to the book version and more chemistry and romance between her and Harry.
Some of HBO's finest work is Game of Thrones and one thing it did so well was using several episodes to set up and lay groundwork for a climatic battle and then devoting the entirety of an episode to said battle. Replicating that same formula would be a perfect way to do justice to the series' epic final act. The movie glosses over several key deaths of heroes, instead just opting to give a brief shot of a body lying motionless (Fred, Lupin, and Tonks are 3 that come to mind that deserved more of a death scene), and several marquee battles within the war like Voldemort fighting off McGonagall, Flitwick, and Slughorn all at once and various other battles between good guys and Death Eaters. A full episode would also allow for a fuller conversation between Harry and Dumbledore at King's Cross, as well as other things the films glossed over like Harry announcing/explaining to everyone why he is the true owner of the Elder Wand. Most importantly, HBO can illustrate Voldemort's true demise: dying a human death as a result of the Elder Wand refusing to attack it's true master. Dying a human death was the ending he truly feared in his quest to be extraordinary and was much better in my opinion than the weird turning to specs of dust after being disarmed that we see in the film after all the strange flying around and trippy scenes of combining their faces and the whole cheesy "let's finish the way we started, together!". This would make an amazing penultimate episode for HBO before using a final one to cover the aftermath and put a bow on what is hopefully a truly amazing series.
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