HBO's Harry Potter Show Doubles Down on an Exciting Genre Trend

— Warner Bros. Pictures

HBO’s Harry Potter reboot has been quietly gestating for a few years now. As development finally heats up, Warner Bros. is doing everything it can to set the show up for success. The studio is planning a 10-year commitment to the new adaptation, and it’s already assembling a promising (if unorthodox) team to shepherd the series.

Two Succession alums have been chosen for its creative team: producer Francesca Gardiner will serve as showrunner, while director Mark Mylod is set to helm multiple episodes. As Succession became one of HBO’s most beloved shows, it makes sense to see key members return for another series. Whether Gardiner and Mylod are the best fit for a family-friendly story remains to be seen — Succession was notoriously Not For Kids — but maybe this project will allow the duo to flex different muscles. They wouldn’t be the first to transition from a heavy adult drama to an all-ages adventure; in fact, their new roles are part of a growing trend for fantasy TV.

The past few years have seen an influx in page-to-screen adaptations, with tried and true franchises getting a second go-around in television and film. The Hunger Games saga made a comeback with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which did well enough to generate another novel (and movie). Disney also launched its long-awaited reboot of the Percy Jackson series to great success, much of which can be credited to its showrunners.

Percy Jackson had great leadership in Dan Shotz and Jon Steinberg, the producers of Starz’s edgy pirate drama Black Sails. Under their guidance, the series had a family-friendly tone while still embracing darker, even adult, themes. It resulted in a show with broad audience appeal, and it achieved the prestige that eludes most Disney+ shows.

Gardiner and Mylod could do the same for HBO’s Harry Potter series. Succession is notorious for its acerbic, meme-able zingers, but beneath all the depravity it’s a thoughtful character drama. The dynamics at play were complex, and few shows have been able to make such objectively vile people feel so human. Harry Potter is a simpler story, but the Succession team can still elevate the material and give its iconic characters new life.

The series has been described as a “faithful adaptation” of J.K. Rowling’s novels (Rowling will also produce), so it likely won’t stray far from its source material. Still, the series would be more interesting if the beloved property gets pushed into new territory, and Gardiner and Mylod are capable of doing exactly that.