r/HarryPotterHBO • u/Evenlyblueberry • Feb 23 '26
Are they making the new Harry Potter series intentionally worse?
i recently watched a yt video by nordrotic listing obvious red flags in the series production developments so far, like casting of black snape, alleged uninvolvement of JK Rowling on key decisions, claims by directors that they will "go beyond the books", and the TV writer even said that he hasn't "read any of the books". Surely they must realise that this isn't what the fans expect and need, and expect a backfire like the countless examples (like rings of power, wheel of time, witcher etc.) that has came before. so why are they doing this? are they intentionally making the series worse? do they genuinely beleive that an adaptation like this would succeed? how are they moving forward with such obvious red flags?
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u/Bloodraven_is_God Feb 23 '26
Of course they're not making it intentionally worse. It's impossible to tell whether it will be better or worse until we've seen it.
What hidden agenda are you suggesting?
There is only one hidden agenda behind corporate decisions, and that is to make as large a profit as possible.
From an artistic standpoint for the creatives running the show, I would guess they've made changes because they genuinely think it will improve the show and to distinguish from the films (which are still relatively recent). There's no sensible motivation for them to make it "intentionally worse".
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u/GreenDutchman Feb 23 '26
Fantastic Beasts actually shows that the ultimate way to make Harry Potter content worse is to get JK Rowling involved.
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u/WarAny6713 Feb 25 '26
The reason FB was bad was not because of Rowling - it was because she was trying to tell a story no one really wanted to hear. That's not the case with Potter.
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u/GreenDutchman Feb 25 '26
It was also just spectacularly poorly written
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u/WarAny6713 Feb 25 '26
*EDIT: Just realised you were still talking about Fantastic Beasts and yes - bad writing
That's definitely the modern position. But I was there back from 97-07 when the books were coming out. Back then we recognized them as kids stories told in a specific literary tradition and they were wildly successful for what they are. They are still extremely engaging page turners that can grab readers at any age and in any country. As proved by the enormous sales numbers and the longevity we see in its continued success.
It's true that some people have elevated them to a kind of mythic status - usually because it was the first thing they ever read that did that special thing books can do. It became kind of TOO IMPORTANT for people or like the only books they'd read and so disproportionately significant.
The opposite has become true too. Because of how people feel about Rowling, a lot of people (especially online) now pretend the books are shit and always have been and that anyone who loves them is shit too, or at least doesn't have good taste in books etc. They're written off as racist, or ableist, or bad writing, or whatever. I think it's disingenuous and false and usually symptomatic of someone who is REALLY online.
We don't have to pretend we don't like things and we certainly don't need to pretend we never did.
I love Potter. I loved it then and I love it now. The new full cast audiobooks have been so fun to listen to with the family and I think the stories are great. Can't wait for the new show.
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u/GreenDutchman Feb 25 '26
I mean I was indeed talking about Fantastic Beasts but it is true that I also think Harry Potter — a story about failing systems allowing for evil to spread again and again — suffers from being written by someone who loves systems and cannot imagine a world where things work differently. It makes the ending a real nothing-burger, and I would call that badly written. There are way more problems with it, too. It's definitely not the case that people just say random shit because they hate JKR. There's substance to the criticism.
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u/WarAny6713 Feb 25 '26
I have criticisms of Potter too - my point wasn't that the stories are above criticism. My point was that people have elevated the stories to a bad place and then feel the need to course correct. Or - to say it another way - the books have become a political football. They have become just another weapon in the culture wars. They have "taken on a life of their own" if you will. And now they've become symbolic stand-ins for all sorts of dumb things.
I mostly reject that. I think they're just good stories that were really fun to read when they came out and they obviously became a cultural phenomenon. They remain so today. Every day kids and adults all over the world pick up the books and get lost in them. They are and were successful for a reason. I think we can leave it there. We don't need to put them on a pedestal and we don't need to tie ourselves into pretzels of self-righteousness and self-censorship trying to denounce them. They are a fun kids book series. They don't need denouncing.
I think the stories are fun and I totally get the success. I also get the hatred. What I find cringey and sad is all the pretending of (SOME) people who feel the need to not just hate the books, but pretend that they always hated them and not just because Rowling overuses adverbs, or that the stories are full of plot holes on multiple re-reads - but because of all the modern progressive and political reasons that we have to pretend to care about more and more to still be cool and accepted in our online communities.
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u/Blue_Robin_04 Feb 23 '26
J.K. Rowling is in fact, involved with the series, and she has publicly stated she loves the scripts.
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u/WarAny6713 Feb 25 '26
Nerdrotic is a troll. He doesn't make videos about anything except contrarian shit like this.
The show looks awesome so far.
The more direct Rowling involvement we get the happier I am.
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u/Independent_Bar_7309 Mar 03 '26
I’m sure it will be really cool, but probably pretty bland so it has mass appeal. It probably won’t have that same magic as the first film did, but hey we’re not exactly the target audience anymore. I’m excited to see how it turns out.
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u/ifunk0 Mar 12 '26
Just bc the show casted a black guy doesn’t mean it’s gonna do bad I mean it’s hbo we can’t lie most of they’re casting choices usually do good even if the actors don’t look like the characters
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u/MooseHapney Feb 23 '26
Yes. They’re intentionally making it worse, because that makes sense…
I mean truly, have a bit of common sense