The new Harry Potter series is picking up steam after it cast the three leads, and fans of the Harry Potter universe are still on the fence about it. One fan even put together a list of shows they want more than the new series, which will be streaming with an HBO Max subscription. It’s still hard to predict how it will turn out and how it will compare to the books and beloved film franchise, but OG Lucius Malfoy actor Jason Isaacs opened up about the changes and how he feels.
It was announced in 2023 that then-Max would be developing a “faithful” Harry Potter series that would be “authentic to the original books.” That being said, the film series remains a cultural phenomenon and is loved by many, so it will be interesting to see how the show does, but Isaacs is looking forward to it. Having played the villainous head of the Malfoy family in the Harry Potter film franchise, Isaacs told Entertainment Weekly what he thinks of Johnny Flynn taking over:
Johnny will do his own thing. Maybe he'll be more charming. I doubt that he'll look like me, because that was the look I came up with, and he's far too original to want to copy anything.
Considering there are not one but two source materials for Flynn to pull from, it might be hard for him to do mostly do his own thing... but it’s not impossible. Plus, Isaacs sounds pretty confident that he’ll be able to do it, and it’s not surprising. The two actually worked together in 2021’s Operation Mincemeat. However, the White Lotus star wouldn’t say if his former co-star reached out to him after being cast as Lucius. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t reach out himself:
If he had, I wouldn't tell anyone. I texted him, and I can say that because that's my domain to talk about. I texted because we did a film together, and we were friendly. He's absolutely delightful and phenomenally talented, and I have no doubt he's going to do something completely different from what I did because I did my own thing.
How Flynn will do as Lucius is hard to tell, but the fact that Isaacs is sure he’ll do a good job definitely means something. The same can be said for the rest of the cast of the new series. There is a lot of pressure knowing that the books have already been adapted, and they are still loved along with the films. The best that can be done is keeping an open mind about it, especially since it will look a lot different from the movies. As Isaacs pointed out:
They're redesigning everything from scratch. They're redesigning Hogwarts and the costumes and they're writing all these fabulous new scripts that are expanding each book into whole season. And it'll be fab — it'll be for a new generation. It'll be their version of Harry Potter.
As of now, an exact plot for the show has not been revealed, but much like the films, there are reports that one book will cover one season. And it should run for “10 consecutive years,” as Chairman and CEO of HBO & Max Content Casey Bloys previously said. If anything, it sounds like fans will be able to look forward to a different adaptation than what was done for the movies, and at this point, it could really go in any direction and tell any story.
A premiere date for the Harry Potter series has not been revealed, but filming has kicked off, with the series set to premiere sometime in 2027. Along with Flynn, the cast includes Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout, Arabella Stanton, John Lithgow, Janet McTeer, Paapa Essiedu, and Nick Frost.
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