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The wizarding world is coming to HBO with the Harry Potter TV show, and the new project has the potential to be much more faithful to J.K. Rowling’s source material than the movies. While the eight-part film saga was immensely popular, a great deal of story had to be trimmed from the original stories. After all, only so much can make it into a movie that runs for less than two hours. The TV show, which will start with an eight-episode first season, can flesh out stories much more, and ideally also fix Harry’s post-Hogwarts career path.
Admittedly, the original seven books don’t canonically establish what Harry did with his life after the war ended, other than marry Ginny and have three children within 19 years of the Battle of Hogwarts. That said, he expressed interest in becoming an Auror, or a dark wizard catcher for the Ministry of Magic, as far back as the fourth of the seven books.
Speaking with TODAY after the publication of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as the final book of the series, Rowling confirmed that “Harry and Ron utterly revolutionized the Auror Department” and “are now the experts” because it “doesn’t matter how old they are or what else they’ve done.” Years later, the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child stage play confirmed that he’s still working the stressful job of an Auror after the end of the original epilogue. So, it stands to reason that the TV show will reveal Harry as an Auror when all is said and done.
A more satisfying route would be to create a different path for his future in the show. Certain details the Deathly Hallows epilogue, and the majority of the story of The Cursed Child, have been controversial within the Harry Potter fandom for years, and one particularly divisive twist was the reveal that Harry chose a career that involved more of the kinds of battles he spent seven years fighting. Changes from book to screen aren’t always enjoyable with TV adaptations, but fixing Harry’s Auror future could be worth the shift from canon.
The Problem With Harry Potter Becoming An Auror
Harry’s drive to become an Auror started in the fourth book, Goblet of Fire, and continued through Order of the Phoenix and The Half-Blood Prince. Since he was actively fighting to take down Voldemort and his supporters at the time, a career that would give him resources to do just that naturally seemed like the perfect fit. The Golden Trio were battling dark witches and wizards over the course of The Deathly Hallows, so he certainly had accumulated some experience.
From when he first got the suggestion to become an Auror in Goblet of Fire until the last 15 or so pages in The Deathly Hallows, Harry becoming an Auror made sense. Then, Harry’s last spoken lines prior to the epilogue established that he was ready to step back from facing life-or-death stakes on a daily basis. In the final chapter of the final book, he told Ron and Hermione:
That wand’s more trouble than it’s worth. And quite honestly, I’ve had enough trouble for a lifetime.
Even the epilogue ended on a note that suggested Harry had spent the past 19 years in a more peaceful profession. According to the final page of The Deathly Hallows, his “scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years,” and “All was well.” There was no question that Harry had the talent for spending his days hunting down dark wizards, but he seemed ready to step back from the constant fear and pain to live more of a normal life by the end of the book saga.
Before J.K. Rowling established in an interview that Harry had gone into the Ministry to become an Auror, fans could even imagine that he had chosen a peaceful life.
The Job Harry Potter Should’ve Had
One of the most popular suggestions for an alternate profession for the Boy Who Lived would have taken him back to the first place that ever felt like home to Harry: Hogwarts. The same aptitude for fighting dark wizards and defensive magic that made him a good candidate to become an Auror would have served him well as a teacher. Who better than Harry Potter to become the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?
Harry had already stepped up to teach defensive magic to his fellow Hogwarts students, when the arrival of Professor Umbridge in Order of the Phoenix meant that they had to go rogue if they wanted to learn any practical Defense Against the Dark Arts magic that year. Although he was originally relucant to become the leader and teacher of Dumbledore’s army, he had a knack for it once he tried, and the DA lessons were ultimately crucial to the heroes winning the Battle of Hogwarts.
The saga ending with Harry as Defense Against the Dark Arts professor not only would have fit with his decision that he’d had enough trouble for a lifetime at the end of Deathly Hallows, but also could have established that the position was no longer cursed to cycle through one new teacher every year. Harry getting a happy ending that put his talents to good use without putting himself back in mortal peril on a regular basis would truly have felt like “All was well” when all was said and done.
HBO Has An Even Easier Fix For Harry Potter’s Future Job
The good news is that even though HBO will have more time to adapt lore to the screen than the movies did, there’s no reason why the Harry Potter TV show has to actually include what happens for Harry in his career as an adult. The books only went as far as giving the Golden Trio (plus Ginny) a happily-ever-after with their kids heading off to Hogwarts together, so a faithful adaptation of Deathly Hallows wouldn’t have to include the twist that Harry becomes an Auror. In fact, the show could likely skip the epilogue altogether, which could help set it apart from the movies.
Of course, the first season hasn’t even premiered yet to show HBO’s take on Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone, so fans are a long way off from seeing the network’s adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
- Release Date
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December 25, 2026
- Showrunner
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Francisca Gardiner
- Directors
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Mark Mylod
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Dominic McLaughlin
Harry Potter
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Janet McTeer
Minerva McGonagall
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