Season One: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
With the rapidly growing popularity of television and the convenience of several new streaming platforms, we are currently living through an exciting transition in the ways that stories are being told. In 2019, Amazon Prime announced that they would begin work on a Lord of the Ring television reboot; and Star Wars has entered a period of rebirth through the ultra-popular series The Mandalorian (2019) on Disney+. So with all of this energy and momentum being directed toward rebooting popular book / movie series into television shows, where is the love for Harry Potter?
I believe that with the current intensive shift we are experiencing in the world of film and television, there is a high probability that the Harry Potter series will be rebooted into a television show. Now, before all of my fellow Harry Potter readers close this blog, remember all of the times we all sat in the movie theater and experienced small moments of disappointment because, “the book was better?” With a television reboot, studios would be able to go further into the story and develop storylines that were missing from the original films; this would satisfy those who have always loved the books, as well as reopening the wizarding world to a whole new population of fans.
Now for the fun part: building a Harry Potter television series! Ideally, the show would premiere regularly for over roughly a decade – putting the show at a full length of about seven seasons. What are the essential components to a television show? A studio (obviously), directors, screenwriters, score composers, new actors and much more. In this post, I’ll be choosing who I would personally like to see play a part in a potential Harry Potter television series – both in front of the camera and behind the scenes.
HARRY POTTER – TV REBOOT
Season One: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
Studio: HBO
I mean, really? Look at HBO’s original television series, and tell me that they do not produce the highest quality of television that exists today. HBO leads the Emmy nominations with an overwhelming presence at the Awards every year, and they are known for adapting popular fantasy novels into television.
Game of Thrones (2011), was arguably the most popular television series in the world for almost a decade. HBO created an adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s popular book series, which brought a tremendous wave of popularity to both Game of Thrones as a franchise, and HBO as a television network. I believe that HBO, with studios all over Europe, would be the only network I would trust with a series as beloved as Harry Potter.
Director: Taika Waititi
Taika Waititi – my personal favorite director – is probably one of the biggest up and coming directors of today. His career has exploded within just the past ten years, from Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) to Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and, most recently, Academy Award winning Jojo Rabbit (2019).
Waititi is a quirky director, with a sense of humor unlike any other director today. He is also known for having a true talent for working with child actors. In fact, three out of his total of five films star child actors.
Apart from humor, the new Harry Potter television series must grow darker in tone and more complex as the story develops. Waititi is perfect for this aspect of the series, in that critics have revered him for finding the perfect balance between comedy and drama.
So with all of this being said, Taika Waititi is the perfect director in my mind; He is gifted in working with child actors – which is essential for Harry Potter – he has a unique sense of humor, he is not American (which is important to J.K. Rowling for some reason), and finally, he is able to successfully balance comedy and drama without tonal disruption.
Producers: Bernadette Caulfield and David Heyman
Bernadette Caulfield is one of HBO’s top executive producers, having produced all eight seasons of Game of Thrones. Caulfield has won several Emmy awards for her work in the genres of fantasy and drama, and I believe that she will provide a colorful, detailed and dramatic perspective to the world of Harry Potter.
David Heyman is the first Harry Potter veteran on our list, as he produced all eight of the original Harry Potter films. In fact, he was even the man who cast a then nine year old Daniel Radcliffe as the Boy Who Lived back in 1999.
As a producer, Heyman oversaw the production of the Harry Potter films and even developed a close friendship with the creator of the wizarding world herself, J.K. Rowling. Heyman’s close relationship with the creator of Harry Potter, his 15+ year long career of working in Harry Potter, and his experience in working with child actors and a vast array of different directors will prove to be an essential part of creating the series.
Score: Ramin Djawadi
DO NOT FREAK OUT, WE ARE NOT GETTING RID OF THE ORIGINAL JOHN WILLIAMS THEME!
One of the things Ramin Djawadi is best known for is his ability to compose innovative and unique covers of popular modern day music. For example, in the score for Westworld (2016), Djawadi uses a saloon-style piano to play music from bands like Nirvana and Radiohead. For a new and revamped Harry Potter series, I would expect Djawadi to create his own rendition of John Williams’ classic theme from the original films.
Apart from the main theme, I would be interested to hear other ideas he would have for the score. The original Harry Potter films went through several composers throughout the series’ ten year run, therefore the sound of the series changed quite drastically from film to film. Djawadi has composed music for “long haul” television shows in the past, having won several awards for his work on Game of Thrones (2011), Westworld (2016), and Iron Man (2008); so I believe that he would be the obvious choice as our score composer.
Cinematography: Mihai Malaimare
Mihai Malaimare, The Hate U Give (2018) and Jojo Rabbit (2019), is another up-and-coming filmmaker to watch out for in the new decade. His work on the second feature film of his cinematography career earned him an Oscar nomination in 2020.
The thing that sets Malaimare apart from other cinematographers I’ve seen is the fact that he has a truly unique eye for the art of telling a story from a child’s point of view. When I was a kid, everything looked big to me, including the adults, and everything was bright, colorful and vibrant. Childhood itself is vibrant, colorful and exciting, and the world of Harry Potter is the same! There is also a degree of silliness in the world of Harry Potter – especially in the earlier parts of the story – and Malaimare has a knack for humorous cinematography, having worked with director Taika Waititi in the past.
Again, one of the most important aspects of Harry Potter is the tonal shift that occurs as the story gets darker. Malaimare is incredibly creative in his approach to conveying dramatic / emotional moments in his films. For example, below is a screenshot taken from the second half of Jojo Rabbit. The second half of Jojo Rabbit is dedicated to showing the final moments of World War II as Germany took their last stand against the entire world. With the yellow and orange warm temperature of the GIF above (^^), there is a feeling of safety that comes with the comedic half of the film; while during the dramatic half, that warmth is replaced by cool tones of blue and gray in order to convey darkness and a degree of unrest.
I believe that mastering these tonal shifts, as well as providing the unique eye-level perspective of a child, is essential to creating a new and original version of Harry Potter.
To wrap this thing up, there are obviously a HUGE amount of talented filmmakers out there who could do just as well at rebooting the Harry Potter series into a television show; however, I believe that a dream team behind the camera such as this would be the best hope any network would have of answering the expectations set for them by fans around the world. All of this being said, I truly hope a Harry Potter television series is on some executive’s desk at HBO.
In my next post, I’ll begin creating my dream cast for this hypothetical series. I will write a post for each season of the show (7 in total, one for every book in the series), and show you guys which actors I think should appear in a Harry Potter television series.
Thank you guys for reading, I hope you all think that a Harry Potter television series would be exciting. If you have any other ideas for the positions listed above, let me know down in the comments below! 🙂
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