The Harry Potter TV series is getting closer to becoming a reality. In April, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that a series set in the magical wizarding world would be available on its streaming service, Max. Now, there’s a flurry of writers pitching their ideas to adapt J.K. Rowling’s seven books into the TV series.
Martha Hillier, Kathleen Jordan, Tom Moran, and Michael Lesslie are sharing their ideas with the streaming service and Warner Bros. Television. This diverse group of British and American writers has been asked by Max to create pitches for a series that showcases their unique perspectives on the intellectual property.
The initial pitch meetings took place in Los Angeles this week, and the best ideas are moving on to the next round in the UK, sources say. It’s not clear how much input J.K. Rowling, who resides in Edinburgh, Scotland, has had in the process, but she is expected to be part of the decision-making for the series, as she serves as the executive producer.
There’s a chance that more than one of these writers could be involved, and Max is open to the idea of exploring multiple concepts based on Harry Potter.
It’s important to note that the whole process is still in the early stages, sources emphasized. Representatives for Max and WBTV chose not to comment.
Martha Hillier, a British writer, served as the executive producer for Netflix and BBC’s fantasy series, The Last Kingdom, and its spinoff film, The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die. She began her career with British soap operas like EastEnders and Holby City.
Kathleen Jordan, the creator of Netflix’s Teenage Bounty Hunters, produced by Jenji Kohan, is also collaborating with the Orange Is the New Black creator on The Decameron, which received a series order in 2022.
Tom Moran, a British writer, is the creator of Amazon series The Devil’s Hour, starring Peter Capaldi. He has also contributed to Amazon’s sci-fi series The Feed and the Rob Lowe cop drama Wild Bill.
Michael Lesslie, known for writing The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, was the executive producer of AMC’s John Le Carré drama, The Little Drummer Girl, featuring Florence Pugh, Michael Shannon, and Alexander Skarsgård. At one point, he was linked to Peacock’s reboot of Battlestar Galactica.
The Harry Potter series will be produced by Brontë Film and TV, chaired by Rowling’s agent Neil Blair, along with Warner Bros Television. Executive producers will include Brontë CEO Ruth Kenley-Letts and David Heyman, the movie producer who is in discussions to also serve as an executive producer.
In April, Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav mentioned that Harry Potter on Max is planned to be a “decade-long” venture. Reflecting on his own family’s experience with the books, he expressed the significance of having Harry Potter on HBO for 10 consecutive years.
This marks the culmination of a process that started in early 2023 for Casey Bloys, Chairman and CEO of HBO & Max Content. He mentioned that before officially announcing the project in April, the company had been cautious about keeping details under wraps.
“We haven’t reached out to external agencies yet. Internally, we’ve been considering individuals, but we haven’t actively sought candidates externally. Now that the information is public, we’ll begin collaborating with the Blair Partnership and start engaging with the industry.”
Rowling’s Wizarding World, originating from her immensely popular seven Harry Potter books with 600 million copies sold globally, extends to various domains such as retail stores, theme parks, a widely successful stage play, and a blockbuster feature franchise grossing $7.7 billion. Additionally, there are the lucrative Fantastic Beasts movies, which have grossed $1.8 billion worldwide.
Source: Deadline
