As HBO gears up for its upcoming Harry Potter TV show, it's also had to face questions surrounding the involvement of author J.K. Rowling. HBO and Max content boss Casey Bloys fielded the latest of those questions at a press event on Tuesday, clarifying that she's been "fairly involved" in the series' early development.
During a Q&A with reporters, one brought up the controversy surrounding Rowling, who's been posting anti-transgender rhetoric on X/Twitter since 2020. The reporter asked Bloys how involved Rowling has been in the series and if her "passionate views about trans issues" have affected HBO's ability to find its cast.
"She's been fairly involved," Bloys responded. "She was very involved in the process of selecting the writer and director, and I imagine she'll have opinions on casting. It hasn't affected the casting or hiring of writers and production staff. So we haven't felt an impact from that."
HBO previously announced that Rowling would be an executive producer on the show, and that it would be a "faithful adaptation" of her Harry Potter novels.
These are only Bloys' latest comments on Rowling's social media posts and the backlash to them. Last year, shortly after HBO officially confirmed the new Harry Potter show, he called the controversy a "very online conversation" and added, "Our priority is what’s on the screen. Obviously, the Harry Potter story is incredibly affirmative and positive and about love and self-acceptance. That's our priority — what’s on screen."
HBO announced earlier this year that it recruited Succession producers Francesca Gardiner and Mark Mylod as creative heads for the Harry Potter show, with Gardiner serving as showrunner and executive producer while Mylod will executive produce and direct multiple episodes. It's still in the thick of finding its cast, however; in September, HBO posted an open casting call to find child actors to portray Harry, Ron, and Hermione, while Mark Rylance is reportedly at the top of the network's wishlist to play Dumbledore.
"It hasn't affected the casting or hiring of writers and production staff. So we haven't felt an impact from that."HBO parent company Warner Bros. has repeatedly pointed to IP like Harry Potter as a priority moving forward, particularly in the wake of the success of Hogwarts Legacy. Still, that doesn't mean HBO is massively rushing to get the new series out the door. In another part of the Q&A, Bloys was asked when the show might premiere, as well as if he's worried about the filming schedule in regards to the child actors getting older (i.e., the Stranger Things problem).
He estimated that it could debut around the beginning of 2027, "but don't hold me to any of that, because we're just getting started, the writing and casting process."
"One of the ideas we've talked about is shooting the first season and the second season very close to each other time-wise because kids, from 11 to 13 is a big jump in kids' lives," he continued. "You can get away with 13 to 15, something like that. So we are gunna have to think about scheduling and shooting so that they don't grow too much between seasons. It is a consideration."
That early 2027 window is a tad bit later than what was said in the past, with Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav previously telling investors that they were aiming for a debut in 2026. Still, as noted, the show is still early in development, so there's still plenty that's up in the air as of yet.
For more from today's HBO event, check out what Bloys had to say about George R.R. Martin's criticism of House of the Dragon Season 2, as well as narrowed release windows for the second seasons of The Last of Us and Peacemaker.
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
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