There’s a lot of hope for HBO’s Harry Potter remake, but Disney+’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians proves that the upcoming TV show will face an uphill battle. Don’t get us wrong, Percy Jackson is a fantastic show. Fans of the book series have been absolutely thrilled with how it turned out, especially compared to the movie adaptations from the 2010s. The Disney+ series has also performed spectacularly with critics, but it still raises some warning signs for HBO’s Harry Potter.

It seems TV adaptations of beloved fantasy YA book series have become all the rage, and Percy Jackson is a great example of why. These long-form projects are well-suited to extended book series, since there is just more time to tell the original story. The Percy Jackson and the Olympians TV show has managed to cover so much more from the books in only two seasons. This book faithfulness has earned the series a truly impressive 95% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, a drastic improvement over the 2010 film’s 48% score. It’s a great show, but it hasn’t earned much mainstream social hype. Herein lies the problem.

Percy Jackson & The Olympians Proves That Book Faithfulness Won’t Save The Harry Potter TV Show

Book fans couldn’t be more pleased with Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Disney+ delivered on precisely what they had been begging for for years—a book-faithful adaptation. However, the frustrating truth with any book-to-screen adaptation is that those who read the source will always make up only a portion of the overall audience. When it comes down to it, the vast majority have no idea whether an adaptation is book-faithful, and they don’t really care. So, while Percy Jackson and the Olympians is a victory within the fanbase itself, it hasn’t made much noise in the mainstream.

This is where the trouble comes in for Harry Potter. HBO has made it clear that the upcoming TV show will prioritize faithfulness to the books, and this is certainly something for book fans to get excited about. The biggest problem with the Harry Potter movies was how painfully condensed the story was. Still, when it really comes down to it, the majority of Harry Potter fans were perfectly happy with the movies. HBO is targeting a niche audience with its TV show, and only they will really know what they are getting. Mainstream audiences may just be left thinking, “What is the point?“

Harry Potter Is At Both An Advantage & Disadvantage Compared To Percy Jackson

Of course, there are notable differences between Percy Jackson and Harry Potter, especially in terms of mainstream impact. Percy Jackson never gained the same sort of widespread attention as Harry Potter, so it’s likely that HBO’s upcoming TV show will make more social waves than Disney+’s series one way or another. It’s far less niche across the board, so Harry Potter is guaranteed to get attention, whether it’s book faithful or not. In this way, HBO has an advantage.

However, it’s also worth noting that, while the Percy Jackson movies were a disaster, the Harry Potter movies were massive successes. No one would have claimed that the Percy Jackson films were fine and should be left alone, but this has been a frequent argument against creating a Harry Potter TV remake. Therefore, while book fans are likely to be pleased with the new series (assuming HBO follows through on its promise), general audiences may not find it worth their attention.

Said and done, only time will tell. HBO may think that it has a shoo-in with the Harry Potter remake, given the franchise’s massive popularity and its mission to please book fans. However, if general audiences don’t see the benefit of what they have been given, then this will have been an expensive undertaking that only a niche audience will appreciate. In Percy Jackson and the Olympians‘ case, that may not be too damning. With all eyes on Harry Potter, however, there’s a lot more at stake.