We don’t know much about the Harry Potter reboot yet, but it’s said to be more accurate to J.K. Rowling’s books compared to the films. With the series planning to shoot next year, everyone is curious just how far into the production process the series actually is, and we have a small update from WB higher-up Channing Dungey.
Speaking at MIPCOM’s C-Suit Conversations (via THR), Dungey talks about the Potter series:
“There’s not a lot to talk about at this moment. We’ve got our fantastic writing staff in place and they are doing what they need to do. And casting calls have opened up in the U.K. and Ireland, so the process is moving along. It’s going quite well.”
So far, the casting call has been announced looking for child actors who would be 11-years-old by the time the production started shooting sometime next year. Besides that, no other pieces of casting of pre-production have been confirmed. Dungey continues:
“It’s an unbelievable dream, honestly, and as somebody who is a huge fan of books, the opportunity to get to explore them in maybe a little bit more in-depth than you can in just a two-hour film, that’s the whole reason we’re on this journey.”
Admittedly, the series has managed to nab some great talent with Francesca Gardiner attached as the showrunner and Mark Mylod directing multiple episodes—both have had significant work done on HBO’s latest hit series Succession. Then again, we don’t know how that would translate into a children’s series that is expected to age up over the next couple of years.
As a huge fans of the films (who has also read the books), I do think that rebooting Potter seems like a huge gamble—and one that doesn’t even need to be made. The original movies feel pretty timeless; but the franchise has unfortunately gone stagnant, and attempts at spinoffs like the Fantastic Beasts films failed to get off the ground.
No release date has been set for the first season of the Potter series, but maybe a 2026 premiere would be a realistic guess.
