As the final deadline approaches, I find myself shirking responsibilities in favor of watching the Harry Potter movie. Nineteen hours later, I wasn’t late for class, but I felt incredibly let down.
I’ve been so immersed in the “Harry Potter” world for so long that I forgot just how much I dislike the film adaptations. While they aren’t necessarily deceitful, they tend to lack depth and skip over my favorite parts of the books.
I wasn’t particularly concerned about the Harry Potter Shop in Chicago opening on April 10th or the upcoming TV adaptation expected to be the biggest release in 2026. Many people feel that J.K. Rowling’s personal views have tainted the franchise, and the story hasn’t translated well across different media.
The novels excel in conveying nuanced character motivations through Harry’s inner thoughts, whereas the films reduce these complexities to simplified caricatures. Instead of presenting characters fully, the movies rely on broad strokes to dictate their behaviors.
The portrayal of Harry’s Aunt Petunia in the films is particularly poor. Her character’s cruelty is exaggerated, depicted in an almost cartoonish manner, justified by her jealousy of Harry’s deceased mother.
In contrast, the book presents a more nuanced view, implying that her mistreatment of Harry stems not from hatred but from a misguided effort to suppress his magical heritage out of a twisted sense of protection.
Although a TV series might have the chance to rectify these misinterpretations, capturing the complexity of Petunia’s character without making it overly obvious could be a challenge. The text meticulously balances themes of oppression and resistance.
Still, the film manages to provide Aunt Petunia with a sufficient amount of screen time.
While Luna Lovegood’s character remains largely consistent, her personality often feels secondary and inconsistently portrayed—appearing or disappearing at plot’s convenience without logical justification.
Relationships between characters are just as poorly developed.
The fifth book, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” dedicates a significant part of Harry’s romantic interest to a secondary character, Jung Chang.
These shortcomings are a result of an inactive script that struggles to condense a lengthy novel into an overly bloated two-hour movie. A series might allow the story to unfold at a more organic pace, but it wouldn’t solve the problems present in the film format.
After “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” the subsequent books do not lend themselves well to adaptation. For instance, “The Half-Blood Prince” delves into intricate and vital character development, yet the film feels more like an episode filled with unnecessary filler.
If each season of the HBO Max series adapts a single book, narratives heavy with dialogue could significantly slow down the series, similar to the films.
Nevertheless, the film does succeed in creating a captivating depiction of the magical world through impressive visual effects and set designs. If only the creative team had placed greater emphasis on consistency.
A lot of continuity errors stem from editing lapses, especially with Luna appearing inconsistently throughout the story. Moreover, issues arise directly from the source material, with the “Fantastic Beasts” prequel trilogy presenting a narrative that can’t be overlooked.
For example, Voldemort’s pet snake Naggini was once a woman who had a fleeting romance with Professor Albus Dumbledore’s nephew, and Professor McGonagall is portrayed as a Hogwarts teacher, despite not being born yet during that timeline.
If a TV series were to continue the prequel storyline, many narrative adjustments would be necessary to address current continuity issues, but altering them would likely lead to similarly skewed and misleading adaptations.
The most prudent course of action would be to leave the original story as is. It’s time to stop making Harry Potter films and reconsider the drive for a TV series. Given the box office performance and the lukewarm reception of “Fantastic Beasts,” there seems to be little appetite for more Harry Potter content, much less a reboot.
