HBO’sHarry Potterremake is coming out in 2026, andthere are so many new things it can bring to the table, including one intriguing villain’s backstory.TheHarry PotterTV showis in the midst of an open casting call for the Golden Trio: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. Meanwhile, HBO seeks its adult cast among stars, with rumors of Mark Rylance andMark Strong being tapped for Albus Dumbledore. That makes the prospect of one villain’s origin story particularly exciting.
HBO reportedly has a 10-year plan for the show, presumably adapting one book per season. This will give it an unprecedented chance to explore all of J.K. Rowling’s main characters on a totally new level.Harry Potter’smost powerful wizardsand witches will get another chance to shine in the HBO show. As they get reinterpreted by new actors, each character will be revealed in a new light. With any luck,Harry Potterfans will get to unearth the full breadth of secrets always held by mysterious figures like Professor Quirrell.
Harry Potter Season 1’s Runtime Leaves Room To Expand On The Sorcerer’s Stone
The Harry Potter TV Show Can Be More Detailed Than The Movies
Season 1 of theHarry PotterTV show will adapt the first book in J.K. Rowling’s book series, expanding ontheHarry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stonemovie. With a whole season to exploreHarry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,the HBO show will be able to include all the book content that the movie cut and more.Harry Potterseason 1 is going to be eight hours long, so each episode will likely be about one hour. Arguably, even eight hours isn’t long enough to adapt book one, but there is definitely huge scope here.
One Detail Of The Harry Potter Remake’s Snape Casting Will Make His Story More Tragic Than The Movies
Already a tortured and misunderstood character, Snape is a complex figure in Harry Potter. The TV show’s casting indicates a tragic arc for Snape.
One of the reasons that HBO is making theHarry PotterTV show is to create aHarry Potteradaptation that is more faithful to the books than the movies were. This is fair enough, as the movies couldn’t quite capture everything about the books and didn’t quite nail their every nuance. However, the Warner Bros. movie representing book one is actually reasonably faithful.Season 1 has four or five hours more than the movie to tell its story, presenting it with the exciting opportunity of diving deeper into its main antagonist, the mysterious Professor Quirrell.
The Harry Potter Remake Should Use Its Runtime To Dig Deeper Into Quirrell’s Backstory
The Harry Potter Show Should Explore Quirrell
TheHarry Potterreboot should use its long runtime to exploreHogwarts' famous professors, particularly the dangerous and tragic Professor Quirrell. Both the book and the movie version ofHarry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stoneexplain how Professor Quirrell met Lord Voldemort and where, butthere is so much more detail to glean from the vague narrativeand so much more story to tell. TheHarry PotterTV show could show Professor Quirrell or Lord Voldemort’s perspective, offering a whole new level of intrigue that wasn’t provided in either the book or the movie.
The TV show can show Quirrell meeting Voldemort in Albania.
The TV show will have enough time to do this and may even have to branch out into never-before-seen territory, sincethe movie was so faithful, and it won’t want to offer a simplistic repeat of the movie’s scenes. The TV show can show Quirrell meeting Voldemort in Albania, revealing the horror, tentative partnership, and intricacies of the relationship. This would allow the show to exploreimmortality inHarry Potter, one of the franchise’s main themes, and also dive deeper into Quirrell’s fascinating character. The show could explore Quirrell even more than the books did.
Quirrell’s Backstory Would Need To Be Handled Carefully In The Harry Potter Show
The Show Should Retain The Magic Of The Original Movie
It is well worth theHarry PotterTV show exploring Quirrell more, as it would allow it to stand out from the movies. But if it did, it would have to be very careful with the subject.The Quirrell reveal at the end ofSorcerer’s Stonewas one of the highlightsoftheHarry Pottermovies, and it may be wise for the show to recreate this moment. If the show displays too much backstory before the big reveal, there won’t be a big reveal, so it would have to show Quirrell’s past cleverly.
Ian Hart played Professor Quirrell inHarry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
TheHarry PotterTV show could use selective flashbacksto uncover more about each teacher, including Quirrell, so that the reveals of his past don’t alert unsuspecting audience members to his being the villain of the piece. Of course, most millennial viewers will be totally aware of Quirrell’s story. However, the show is also targeting new fans and younger viewers, so there will, presumably, be a lot of the audience experiencing the story for the first time. Clever flashbacks are the way to go with Quirrell inHarry Potterseason 1.
The TV show could pursue a route all its own and surprise viewers of all generations with its Quirrell story.
That said, theHarry PotterTV show is under no obligation to use the same twist as the movies. The twist is present in the book, so if the show wants to remain faithful to the book, it will pursue it. However,there is more than one way to portray the ending of the book. The TV show could pursue a route all its own and surprise viewers of all generations with its Quirrell story. Either way, Rowling gave Quirrell real depth - she “saw Quirrell as a gifted but delicate boy” (viaHarry Potter). That deserves exploration in theHarry Pottershow.
Harry Potter
Cast
Harry Potter is HBO’s remake of the iconic Wizarding World film series that consisted of eight films between 2001 and 2011. Each season adapts a book from JK Rowling’s popular series and provides more book-accurate details than the movies did.
