Chris Columbus is giving his thoughts on the upcoming Harry Potter television series being adapted by HBO.
In an interview with People magazine, the director, who helmed Harry Potter and the Philospher’s Stone (also known as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone) and the Chamber of Secrets, said a series adaptation of the books is a “spectacular idea.”
“I think it’s a spectacular idea, because there’s a certain restriction when you’re making a film,” Columbus said.
“Our film was two hours and 40 minutes, and the second one was almost as long,” he said. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter for the 20th anniversary of the Sorcerer’s Stone, Columbus recalled a rigorous shooting schedule for the films. “Sorcerer’s Stone took 160 days of shooting, which is ridiculously long. And then, immediately after we stopped shooting, we started shooting Chamber of Secrets, which was another 160 days. That’s roughly 320 days — not counting second unit — back-to-back shooting,” he told THR.
He went on to explain that a series offers the opportunity to explore more plot points in the book that couldn’t be shown in the films.
“The fact that they have the leisure of [multiple] episodes for each book, I think that’s fantastic,” Columbus said. “You can get all the stuff in the series that we didn’t have an opportunity to do … all these great scenes that we just couldn’t put in the films.”
Amid news of the TV series, Potter fans have given their dream casting choices for the new Harry Potter roles including Cillian Murphy as Lord Voldemort.
“Well, Cillian is one of my favorite actors, so that would be amazing,” Columbus said. Ralph Fiennes, who portrayed the dark wizard throughout the film franchise, also approved the casting choice saying during a broadcast of Watch What Happens Live, “Cillian is a fantastic actor … I would be all in favor of Cillian.”
During a Max 2025 slate presentation with Casey Bloys last December, several members of the show’s creative team revealed that they plan to start shooting the series mid-summer 2025 and will debut in 2026.
The series is written and executive produced by Francesca Gardiner. Mark Mylod will executive produce and direct multiple episodes of the series for HBO in association with Brontë Film and TV and Warner Bros. Television. Despite being the center of controversies, Rowling will be an executive producer of the series. Neil Blair and Ruth Kenley-Letts of Brontë Film and TV, and David Heyman of Heyday Films will also exec produce.
The Harry Potter show was described by HBO as one that will be a “faithful adaptation” of author J.K. Rowling’s mega-successful fantasy series and “more in-depth” than the films. The series is set to star “a new cast to lead a new generation of fandom, full of the fantastic detail and much-loved characters Harry Potter fans have loved for over 25 years.”
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