In modern day Hollywood, no property is safe from interpretation. Movies, television shows, and stories that we adore have the potential to be reimagined, whether they be 50 years old, 100 years old, or barely two decades old. Most of you reading this won’t be able to imagine anyone other than Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, as he captured our hearts and our imaginations over the course of the legendary film adaptations. But we’ll have to get used to a fresh face in the part, because Warner Bros. plans to approach each book with a broader scope, and adapt them into season-long TV series. That, to me, sounds equally interesting, and troubling.
We will know right away if the early Harry Potter books can sustain an entire television season. The first two books are the thinnest, with the mythology really blossoming once we reach book three, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I don’t have the strongest memory of the Prisoner of Azkaban book, but I do know that the film adaptation is my absolute favorite of the series, primarily because director Alfonso Cuaron took over from Chris Columbus, and took the material seriously, injecting maturity, danger, and dramatic stakes into the story. Cuaron also cast Gary Oldman and David Thewlis in the franchise, and showed how experimental filmmakers could elevate JK Rowling’s text.
Cuaron recently appeared on an episode of CinemaBlend’s official ReelBlend podcast to talk about his stunning AppleTV+ series Disclaimer. And when we picked his brain about handling a full season of TV for Disclaimer, we also brought up the pending Harry Potter adaptation, and his thoughts on something like Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban being told over the course of several episodes. And Cuaron confessed to CinemaBlend:
Look, it’s going to be a completely different experience.It's not Azkaban. It's a whole Potter thing. It's going to be a completely different experience. Because what you can do by doing it as a series is that you can do a more faithful adaptation of the book, you know? Not missing any single beat. Now, is that good for a cinematic form? No. That it could work on television? Probably. But probably, as a cinematic form, it wouldn't. And I think that's something that Steve Kloves – who is the writer of the Potter saga – he was able to condense the books into a film length, just (by) brewing out the essential.
This is going to be the challenge for all of the Harry Potter novels as they try and adapt them for long-form television. Yes, you can focus on every small detail that’s available in the books. But sometimes, “brewing out the essential” helps a story to move quicker. I suppose it’s possible that die-hard fans of the novels will want to see every story beat brought to life in the planned show. But I wonder how that will affect pacing.
Still, it’s comforting to hear Alfonso Cuaron verify that he thinks this can work in serialized-television form. The movies themselves had all sorts of obstacles they needed to overcome to make the adaptations soar. The TV shows can learn from those mistakes, and make some of their own mistakes. But so long as they treat the TV adaptations as a “completely different experience,” as Cuaron says, they have a good chance at creating something special.
Here's our full chat with Alfonso Cuaron on ReelBlend:
Make sure that you have your HBO Max subscription up to date, so you can binge the Harry Potter movies, and then dial into the new show once it’s finally available on the streaming service.
