Harry Potter fans are divided after it was revealed the franchise is to be made into a TV series, with some vowing to boycott the show over creator JK Rowling’s views on gender identity.
A deal is said to be imminent between Warner Bros., Discovery, and Rowling to stream the series on HBO Max, with plans for each season to focus on one of the author’s seven books, reports Bloomberg.
Rowling has endured a backlash after voicing concerns that dismissing biological sex in favour of focusing on gender identity would harm women’s rights.
Some fans fear the series will be tainted due the controversy around Rowling.
Rowling will retain a level of creative involvement with the upcoming project. However, she will not serve as the project’s showrunner nor be credited as the creator of the series.
Mike Schubert, creator of a popular podcast Potterless, is less than excited by the news, despite agreeing the TV show would be a ‘great opportunity to see things on screen that were left on the cutting-room floor from the films’.
He added: ‘I don’t think it is a good idea… JK Rowling’s involvement in the project and profiting from it is the biggest issue I have. Beyond that, though, the movies are still fairly recent and beloved, so I don’t see the need to retell the same stories.’
Others were more excited, saying they hoped the series would ‘give a chance for the people who have only seen the movies to really get into how the books told the story’.