It’s been 12 years since the Harry Potter film series concluded with The Deathly Hallows — Part 2, and now Warner Bros. Discovery is gearing up to dip back into that well again. Sure, the Wizarding World mythology has been expanded upon in recent years through the Fantastic Beasts movies, but in April, it was announced that a “faithful” Harry Potter TV series is in the works at Max. While Game of Thrones alum Natalia Tena, who appeared in four of the original movies, initially wasn’t excited about this “HBO thing,” she now feels differently because she has an idea for how she can participate in the small screen adaptation.
Tena played Nymphadora Tonks in The Order of the Phoenix, The Half-Blood Prince and both parts of The Deathly Hallows, and earlier this year, she appeared opposite Keanu Reeves in John Wick: Chapter 4. While chatting about the latter movie with ScreenRant to promote its digital and home media release, the actress shared how her opinion on the Harry Potter TV series shifted thusly:
And actually, when I found out about the HBO thing, I think there’s that initial thing as an actor where you’re like, ‘Oh, don’t remake something...’ But then I was like, ‘No, it’s gonna be amazing!’ I got really excited about it. And then I was like, ‘Do you think I’m old enough now to play one of the teachers? How can I get another gig on this amazing project?’ So, I’m definitely putting that to my agent.
The prospect of a Harry Potter TV series was first publicly brought up in January 2021, and over two years later, it’s now moving full steam ahead to be delivered to Max subscribers in the coming years. Still, one can understand Natalia Tena first thinking this Harry Potter remake shouldn’t happen, particularly since just a little over a decade isn’t a lot of time between adaptations on this scale (although in a more extreme case, Disney announced a Moana remake seven years after the animated original came out). But after giving it more thought, she changed her tune, particularly once it occurred to her she could be involved as a professor at Hogwarts. Whether or not that will happens remains to be seen, although if it did, the show certainly wouldn’t be the first project to engage in legacy recasting along those lines.
I Rewatched All Of The Harry Potter Movies And Wow I Have Thoughts
Although there are fair amount of things we know about Max’s Harry Potter TV series, so far no casting announcements have come out yet. While it may be too on the nose to have people like Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint cast in major roles or even cameo, I’d argue Natalia Tena is on just the right level of Harry Potter fame that she could play an important character in this upcoming show without drawing too much attention away from the main actors, yet her presence still serves as a knowing wink to the film series' fans. That said, this TV series is expected to run over the course of a decade, so if Tena were to score a significant role rather than just make a one-off appearance, it would a major commitment.
While we wait for more news about what to expect from this project, use your Max subscription to stream all eight of the original Harry Potter movies and the three Fantastic Beasts movies. Tena’s performance as Katia in John Wick: Chapter 4 can now be viewed digitally, and the movie’s Blu-Ray, 4K UHD and DVD copies come out on June 13.
