‘Harry Potter’ director Chris Columbus shares thoughts on new HBO TV adaptation

"I look forward to seeing what they're trying to do with it"

Chris Columbus has shared his thoughts on Harry Potter being adapted by HBO for a new TV show.

The US filmmaker directed the first two instalments of the original movie series, 2001’s Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone and 2002’s ...Chamber Of Secrets. He then served as a producer for 2004’s Prisoner Of Azkaban.

During a new interview with People, Columbus gave his verdict on the plans to bring the wizarding world to the small screen.

“I think it’s a spectacular idea, because there’s a certain restriction when you’re making a film,” he explained. “Our film was two hours and 40 minutes, and the second one was almost as long.”

Columbus, who also directed Mrs. Doubtfire and the first two Home Alone films, continued: “The fact that they have the leisure of [multiple] episodes for each book, I think that’s fantastic. 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.

“I look forward to seeing what they’re trying to do with it. I think it’s great.”

Recommended

He then responded to Harry Potter fans’ calls for Cillian Murphy to portray the villain Lord Voldemort in the upcoming series. This idea has been backed by actor Ralph Fiennes, who played the character in the films.

Columbus said: “Cillian is a fantastic actor … I would be all in favour of Cillian.”

Last October, it was confirmed that the forthcoming Harry Potter TV series will be “more in-depth” than the movies.

Casting calls for the main stars of the show were announced in September 2024. It stated that Warner Bros. and HBO were committed to “inclusive, diverse casting” for the roles advertised.

The programme is expected to run for seven seasons, with each adapting one of the books in J.K. Rowling’s series. Rowling is said to be involved with the series, which many fans objected to. However, it was later confirmed that the writer was still “fairly involved” in the project.

HBO CEO Casey Bloys said that the show is unlikely to be released before the “top of ’27”, but “don’t hold me to any of that”.

It was recently reported that Paapa Essiedu was in talks to play Severus Snape in the new Harry Potter TV series.