©Courtesy of Warner Brothers

Chris Columbus, who directed two of the Harry Potter films, thinks that HBO’s upcoming plans to adapt the movies for a televised series would be a “spectacular idea.”
In a recent interview with People magazine, Columbus was quoted as saying “I think it’s a spectacular idea, because there’s a certain restriction when you’re making a film.”

Columbus, who directed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets, declared that a television series would allow the directors to explore more details than could be included in a film. “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.”

Columbus also endorsed the selection of Cillian Murphy to play Lord Voldemort in the series, saying “Well, Cillian is one of my favorite actors, so that would be amazing.”  Additionally, Mark Rylance, who won an Oscar for Bridge of Spies, is reportedly being considered for the role of Dumbledore, the headmaster at Hogwarts.

Shooting for the new series is expected to start shooting this summer, with a debut planned for sometime in 2026. Francesca Gardiner will be the writer and executive producer for the HBO series, and Mark Mylod will serve as executive producer and director in association with Brontë Film and TV and Warner Bros. Television. J. K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books, will also be an executive producer.

Gardiner added that she was excited to “really dig into the character arcs” and explore Hogwarts more, including the lives of its staff. Mylod agreed that their intention was to “evolve” the production— not to “undo what was done so brilliantly” with the films.

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