Harry Potter: HBO Rendition

It's been recently announced that a new Harry Potter TV series is in the works, and I'm curious about the reactions from its fandom. These book series and movie adaptations were a huge part of my childhood. I still remember going to the theater with my mom and sisters the day the first movie came out. We had a blast watching it, but I recall even as a child feeling disappointed that the movie didn't cover enough of the book. Which brings me to the question: what should we be expecting this time?

From what I know about HBO is that they are praised for making high-quality content, such as Game of Thrones, Euphoria, and Succession, to name a few. But in addition to being brilliantly produced, I think what makes these TV shows such a hit is that they don't shy away from the darker sides of human nature. Instead, they explore them in great detail, which is wonderful for us since this is something that the Harry Potter books are known for- its dark elements.

Now, that's not to say that Warner Brothers didn't succeed in portraying the twisted attributes of the wizarding world, but I feel like they missed a few important aspects that basically made the books. For example, Hermione had a lot of negative traits that went with her personality and intelligence, such as she was insensitive, she belittled others, she was overly competitive to a fault. She was also arrogant and self-righteous. BUT, despite these awful qualities, many fans loved how she was represented in the books. It made her a more realistic character in that world, though I wouldn't say she was a good role model or relatable in any way to ours. However, I'd like to see Hermione's wicked tendencies portrayed since the morals of the wizarding universe are ambiguous and gray. Which brings me to my next discussion point: our beloved mysterious Professor.

I adored Snape, but he was grossly trivialized- no fault to Alan Rickman. Snape had a huge character arc throughout the books, and the movie did its best to showcase his malfeasance but failed to elucidate the capacity of this fully, making his sacrifices seem less impactful later. I'll admit, I cried when Snape died and his truth was revealed in the movies. But the book's build-up was far more effective in delivering that brutal emotional trauma. He was calculating and cruel in his punishments to students, especially Harry, because of his vindictiveness of how much the world wronged him (in the beginning we're meant to assume it's because he's evil). But for the most part, he withheld his rage, never letting it get the best of him, though he'd still have his moments of weakness where they'd slip and reveal themselves. We also see his vulnerability in these moments and THAT'S why they're so important! All these little hints throughout the collection finally made sense once Snape's story became exposed, and the guilt we felt after viewing him as a monster all along destroyed us. Or, at least it destroyed me. Primarily, the truth about his relationship with Dumbledore. It was known that Snape was Dumbledor's puppet, but just how bad was it?

Many didn't know (unless you read the books) that Snape was a Legilimen, which was the ability to tap into a person's thoughts. Though the movie Order of the Pheonix slightly touches on it when he's helping Harry keep Voldemort out of his head by teaching him "Occlumency". I felt like this ability twisted his own mind as he was being used to spy on both sides of the war. Yet because the movies didn't relay this information to the audience, we never understood his true value to each side...

Dumbledor saw Snape's ability as an asset and wielded him as a weapon to be used against the Dark Lord. He made Snape look like the villain by forcing him to do things against his will and by placing him in a position where he seemed like a loyal servant to Voldemort. Snape was a complex character throughout the saga because he actually wasn't evil. But his grief over Lilly and other tragedies he suffered at the hands of Voldemort led him down a doomed path, and Dumbledor took advantage of that. Unpopular opinion: I honestly felt terrible for Snape. He deserved better than how the world treated him...

Then there's the arch nemesis, Draco Malfoy. For being such a crucial and essential character in the plot, the movies didn't do him enough justice. He was underutilized and underdeveloped. To be fair, it might've had to do with the fact that in all eight films, he had a total of 31 minutes of screen time. So, to give him the credit he truly deserves, you should really read the books, but I'll do my best to highlight some aspects I think are worth mentioning, starting with what we know about his background.

First and foremost, in any world, being spoiled and raised by power-hungry parents with a twisted belief in preserving the superior "purebloods" would turn anyone into a menace. He was essentially bred to become a villain and fit the role perfectly, but as time went on and the end of the saga neared, we saw a new side of him, which was fine. However, it was a great injustice to his narrative that we didn't get to properly witness the gradual evolution of his change.

Just like with Snape, his depravity was a crucial part of his character's development. He was a brat, but he was also a misunderstood boy, tangled in his family's mess. If we consider the task Draco was given to kill Dumbledor, we know that his getting the Dark Lord's favor was setting him up for failure. The expectations placed on him were insurmountable, and yet what were his options? This was the life he was dealt by being born into a wicked family. And as Draco suffered for his and his father's sins, he was beginning to understand the direction he was heading.

We knew the catalyst that prompted him to take his new and defiant path was that he couldn't actually stomach committing murder or ending up like his parents and thus began the internal war within himself. But in the film, I felt that the revelation was a bit rushed given what little we'd seen of him. He was a bully through and through, even when he knew what he was doing was vile and wrong. His deplorable behavior only escalated as the years tacked on since he wanted to please his father and his Dark Lord. Little did he know what that entailed. This was where the movies began to lose us. Had they shown more of this climactic significance, then his moments of reflection on whether he wanted to become the monster they were forging him into would've been more powerful. It'd have shown just how much this deep-rooted inner turmoil was destroying him, and why he was still making the wrong choices even though they were starting to eat him up inside. Yet since we had little to go off, the film just made him look like a cowardly, sniveling boy. Therefore, I feel HBO should really delve deeper into his character as his actions have a huge impact on the sequence of events that lead to Dumbledor's death, and subsequently, the Dark Lord's downfall.

Also, it's worth mentioning that Draco was more intelligent than the movies let on. For starters, he mastered the Occlumency spell at a young age and was able to keep Snape (a powerful Legilimen) out of his head his entire youth at Hogwarts. He also was the one to come up with the genius plan of bringing Death Eaters into Hogwarts through the Cabinets. To sum it up, he was mean, ingenious, and snarky before his redemption phase. So hopefully, HBO gives his character more credit where it's due and more screen time, because people should know that the person he amounted to was comparably better than who he was designed to become.

It goes without needing to be said, but I'm going to say it anyways. More Tom Riddle. It was his historical events that made the books in the first place. Most of which involved Dumbledor. The Headmaster might seem like the most benevolent character in the book, but that's far from the truth. Because the truth is, he had questionable ethics. While he wasn't exactly a bad guy in a traditional sense, he had no problem using others for the sake of preserving the wizarding population.

"You've been raising him like a pig for slaughter!" Snape's words to Dumbledor when he learns the truth about Harry being a Horcrux. But I digress. There's not much about Tom Riddle's character's early years in the movies, which is fair considering most of the topics he's involved in are of him committing murder or talking about things kids his age shouldn't talk about. But this is exactly what I mean by HBO might get into those darker particulars Warner Brothers steered clear of.

On an unrelated note: I'd like to see more Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff involvement. I feel like the other Houses need some representation. Chao Cheng and Luna were great! I wouldn't mind seeing more of them, and Cedric seemed to be the only Hufflepuff, so hopefully, they either give him an earlier debut or throw in some other book characters.

Anyway, these were my thoughts on the matter. I want to trust that HBO will focus more on the cryptic and warped underlying tones that essentially made the books such a phenomenon in the first place. Having seen the shows Game of Thrones and Euphoria, I have little doubt that they'll be able to grasp that level of raw moral ambiguity and hook our fascination. But I'd like to hear what others think about HBO remaking Harry Potter. Please, share your thoughts in the comments :).