Авторка книг про Гаррі Поттера Джоан Роулінг і Алан Рікман у ролі Снейпа. Фото: Depositphotos, Warner Bros.
J.K. Rowling said that she has already read the script of the first two episodes of the upcoming Harry Potter series from HBO — despite the fact that she is not involved in its writing, she «closely» cooperates with the authors.
«I’ve read the script for the first two episodes of the upcoming HBO Harry Potter series, and they are so, so, so good!», — wrote Rowling on X (formerly Twitter).
As you know, the author of the original Harry Potter books is involved in the series as a producer, but despite the fact that she has not written any lines for the script, she carefully monitors the work of the authors, as she said in the comments to the post.
«I worked closely with some extremely talented writers», — Rowling writes.
Does this mean that the series will be really «extraordinary»? Not at all. Writers often praise their adaptations, while the real result is the opposite — remember George Martin’s praise for the movie «In the Lost Lands», which eventually failed at the box office. However, Rowling’s words will undoubtedly attract the attention of the franchise’s army of fans and potentially add a significant share of viewers to HBO.
After the announcement of the cast, some longtime fans said they would ignore the show — in part because the team did not follow the canon of the books in the case of the new Severus Snape, played by Paapa Essiedu (and this despite the fact that showrunners promised a faithful adaptation). While the actor Pedro Pascal called for a boycott of the series because of Rowling’s own statements.
The rest of the new characters introduced seem to have had a more decent reception: Janet McTeer (Minerva McGonagall) and John Lithgow (Albus Dumbledore), Nick Frost (Rubeus Hagrid), Luke Tallon (Quirinus Quirell) and Paul Whitehouse (Argus Filch), who, by the way, is also a member of the team, appeared in the original Harry Potter films in a cameo role, as well as The new Dursleys and Malfoys and most importantly a trio of children: Dominic McLaughlin (Harry Potter), Arabella Stanton (Hermione Granger), and Alistair Stout (Ron Weasley), who were chosen from more than 32,000 candidates.
Some episodes will be directed by Mark Milod («Game of Thrones»), while Francesca Gardiner («The Heirs») is the head writer. The series will consist of 7 seasons in total, and its production will take about 10 years. Filming of the first one may start in the coming weeks, and the premiere is scheduled for 2027.
Earlier, insiders reported that for the Harry Potter series built «a mini-city» for $1.2 billion — with Dursley House, Tudor-style Privet Drive, and a school for child actors.
We would like to remind you that Gary Oldman, who played Sirius Black in the films, previously expressed interest in playing the headmaster of Hogwarts and the former Voldemort suggested that Cillian Murphy would do a good job with his role in the series — Rafe Fines himself, by the way, has already found a role for himself as a new cult villain, President Panem in the prequel «Hunger Games» about Gameitch.