Years after it changed the landscape of fantasy television with Game of Thrones, HBO is set to make history again with an upcoming series that will last more than 10 years. HBO has been making television history essentially since it began. HBO basically pioneered the term “prestige television” by creating some of the best TV shows of all time, like The Sopranos and The Wire. It was also one of the first networks to strip TV of its censorship of nudity, swearing, and violence in a major way.

Quite famously, HBO also changed fantasy television through Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones introduced the prestige television formula to fantasy and completely dispelled the myth that fantasy was only for children. It became one of the most successful shows of the 21st century and a cultural icon, and it even spawned a franchise of its own complete with two spinoff shows, House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

Now, HBO is set to make history again with the upcoming Harry Potter show. While the Harry Potter series itself isn’t exactly groundbreaking, both because of its lighter tone and because of the eight live-action movies produced in the early 2000s and 2010s, there are two massive details about the show that are groundbreaking. Harry Potter has a decade-long plan in place, and it’s set to be the biggest gamble HBO and Warner Bros. have ever taken.

HBO’s Harry Potter Series Is Already Set To Last A Decade

Though it hasn’t even premiered yet, HBO already has plans to make the Harry Potter series over the course of 10 years. HBO is reportedly using that 10-year plan to go “in-depth” on the seven books written by J.K. Rowling in the series and give each installment its own full season. Though the earlier Daniel Radcliffe series did have eight films, it had to cut extensive parts of the novels for time; HBO is trying to maximize the amount of book content the show includes.

Harry Potter‘s 10-year plan is also groundbreaking for television. While several other shows have gone on much longer than a decade — The Simpsons has 38 seasons under its belt — shows rarely start out with a 10-year plan. At most, some high-concept science fiction series have five-year plans in place, and shows in the streaming era are increasingly renewed on a season-by-season basis.

The Harry Potter show is also making history for HBO specifically. This is by far the network’s largest project since Game of Thrones with its seven seasons. Since Game of Thrones ended in 2019, HBO has mainly focused on smaller-scale shows like The Pitt, a medical drama, and Lanterns, a superhero series that uses CGI sparingly. HBO has always been known for big-budget prestige TV, but Harry Potter marks the network’s return to massive, blockbuster-level television.

Harry Potter Is A Massive Gamble, But HBO Is All-In

Another reason the Harry Potter series is so momentous is because the stakes are so incredibly high. HBO and Warner Bros. are betting big on Harry Potter at a time when they desperately need a win. It’s no secret that Warner Bros. has been struggling in recent years. The company merged with Discovery, Inc. in 2022 to help alleviate some of the massive debt it had piled up, but it didn’t work long-term. Now, Warner Bros. Discovery is in the midst of a hostile takeover by Paramount. Harry Potter is a Hail Mary for Warner Bros. and HBO that might be coming too late.

On top of Warner Bros.’ internal struggles, Harry Potter is also an incredibly big risk. Most visibly, the entire franchise has lost a lot of popularity in recent years due to recent controversies. J.K. Rowling’s controversial stance on transgender people has caused widespread uproar, and some of Harry Potter‘s casting choices have been controversial, such as having the American John Lithgow play Dumbledore or having Paapa Essiedu, a Black man, play the villainous Severus Snape.

Harry Potter is even battling with itself. It’s only been 15 years since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 was released in theaters, calling into question whether it’s even worth rebooting the franchise so soon. The HBO series is also going to be compared to Daniel Radcliffe’s films, which are nearly culturally ubiquitous and virtually universally beloved. There’s no guarantee the show will be able to hold up to the films, especially given how recent they were.

Harry Potter is also, at its most basic level, a massive gamble. There are so many things that could go wrong over the course of 10 years; actors could depart or die, the main stars will be constantly aging, and the show’s budget is going to be absolutely enormous, both because of HBO’s production quality and because of the demands of the fantasy genre in general. In spite of all the uncertainties and problems Harry Potter already has and can easily run into, HBO and Warner Bros. have gone all-in on the show.

Release Date

2026 – 2026

Showrunner

Francisca Gardiner

Directors

Mark Mylod

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  Dominic McLaughlin

  Harry Potter

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  Arabella Stanton

  Hermione Granger

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  Alastair Stout

  Ron Weasley

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  Janet McTeer

  Minerva McGonagall