The Harry Potter series was one of the dominant film franchises throughout the 2000s and early 2010s, but its legacy has gotten a lot more complicated in the decade or so since then. As the series has expanded with the likes of the Fantastic Beasts films and the Cursed Child stage play, it has struggled to maintain the same passionate and widespread fan base it once had. Part of the equation is also the controversies surrounding author J. K. Rowling, who has turned some audiences off the franchise altogether with various transphobic comments and views that she has made in recent years.

Despite some of the bumps along the way, there is still a lot of ambition behind the scenes to keep the Harry Potter series alive. The franchise recently got a major bump with the success of the Hogwarts Legacy video game, which launched last year and quickly became one of the most successful games of the decade so far. One of the biggest endeavors to breathe new life into the franchise, however, came from Warner Bros. Discovery, which announced a new Harry Potter television series in early 2023.

This new Harry Potter series will not build on the established world of the films starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint. Instead, it will be a fresh reboot of the franchise, with new actors stepping in to play the iconic roles of Harry, Hermione, and Ron. It will adapt the seven Harry Potter books written by Rowling, who is personally involved in the show’s development, claiming that it will be a more faithful adaptation than the previous films.

The Harry Potter show is set to debut in 2026, though few firm details have been announced so far. However, this week, we got a major development with the show that is undoubtedly going to alter much of the overall conversation around the series, despite it mostly being a PR move. Here’s what we know.

The Harry Potter Reboot Has Moved from Max to HBO

When this new Harry Potter series was announced by WBD CEO David Zaslav, it was confirmed that it would be released as a Max Original, meaning it was being developed as an original series that would be released directly on the Max streaming service. This week, however, that plan was thrown out the window. Instead, the Harry Potter series has been moved from a Max Original to an HBO Original. This kind of change could be a major development for the series, as it puts the Harry Potter show in the same category as hit shows like Game of Thrones, The Last of Us, Succession, and many more.

The Harry Potter series wasn’t the only show that was shifted from Max to HBO, as both the IT prequel series Welcome to Derry and DC’s Lanterns series have been moved to HBO as well. This seems to signal a broader shift from WBD, as they have found much more success with series under the HBO Original branding than with Max Originals. As of yet, this approach does not seem to be applied universally, as other upcoming shows like The Penguin and Dune: Prophecy have not been moved to HBO.

What This Move Really Means for Harry Potter

Moving the Harry Potter series from Max to HBO is clearly an attempt to bring some more prestige to the reboot. Immediately after the announcement, there was already a lot of division among fans about the series, as many did not believe rebooting the Harry Potter series was the right move when there were many other stories and spin-offs that could be embraced instead. However, the effect of branding something an HBO Original cannot be understated, as HBO has cultivated a reputation for only producing stories of the highest quality over the last few decades.

Max, however, does not have that reputation. To this day, very few Max Originals have managed to break into the mainstream. The biggest shows that Max (formerly HBO Max) has produced include The Flight Attendant, Peacemaker, The Sex Lives of College Girls, and Our Flag Means Death. While those shows may have passionate fan bases, they have not achieved the same level of cultural relevance as most HBO series typically do.

The Harry Potter show has picked up some prestigious creatives, as Francesca Gardiner (a screenwriter who was part of the Succession writer’s room) has been hired as the showrunner for the series, and Mark Mylod (who directed many of Succession’s best episodes) has also signed on to direct multiple episodes. Harry Potter being moved from a Max Original to an HBO Original is mostly just a branding thing, though, and it will likely have no actual impact on the quality of the show itself. This show was already in active development, with scripts written prior to the move. Now, it will continue the same path it was on, only under the HBO name instead of Max.

Will This Get Fans More Excited for the Harry Potter TV Show?

While changing the home of the Harry Potter series like this is transparently just an attempt to bring more prestige to the series by slapping the HBO name on it, it is also likely to be successful in that endeavor. The existence of a rebooted Harry Potter streaming series was already drumming up a lot of attention, and it was likely to experience some level of success no matter what brand it was under. However, making the series an HBO Original will undoubtedly add a whole new level of anticipation for the series from both casual and die-hard fans.

That is because “HBO’s Harry Potter” has a much, much better ring to it than “Max’s Harry Potter.” HBO is in a position where it routinely gets a lot of attention for its new shows simply because they are new HBO shows. The network has the kind of star power that most rival networks could only dream of, and WBD would be irresponsible not to use that to its benefit. It is a somewhat ironic development, considering WBD abandoned the HBO branding when it renamed its streaming service from HBO Max to just Max last year. However, it is good to see them finally recognizing the strength of the HBO brand in some way.

The only major concern with this change is what it could mean more broadly for HBO. If WBD begins developing all of its original streaming series as HBO Originals, the HBO brand will likely get watered down very quickly. HBO has developed its reputation through developing carefully crafted stories that, more often than not, have something interesting to say. While not every HBO series is a winner, the attention to detail and willingness to tackle mature, often more difficult, storytelling has brought HBO the esteem it holds today.

If WBD steps in and just starts throwing the HBO name on everything from Harry Potter to The Girls on the Bus, Peacemaker, and Velma, then there will be much less quality control under the HBO umbrella, and HBO's reliable reputation will begin to wither away. The Harry Potter TV series is planned for release sometime in 2026. The Harry Potter film franchise is streaming on Max and Peacock.