Can we let go of Harry Potter already?

One of the great injustices of my life is that I was never made president of my high school’s Harry Potter Club. Everybody knew the position was meant to go to me - I was close with the upperclassmen who founded the club and, perhaps more importantly, I was elected vice president the year before they graduated. The presidency was so clearly mine… And then my parents decided to move.

Tough luck, eh?

It might sound like I’m complaining, but in reality, I’m just trying to make sure you know just how much I loved Harry Potter - I was a Pottermore beta tester for crying out loud, and I was proud of it. By all accounts, I’m the demographic for the new HBO show… And yet I can’t help but ask myself why we’re still going back to the same material again.

Look, I can’t lie to you. A big part of my issue with the franchise at this point is JK Rowling. I listened to The Witch Trials of JK Rowling, a podcast where she basically got the chance to defend her transphobia, so I understand why she is the way that she is to a certain extent… But she’s still kind of a witch, and I’m using that pun in the least flattering way possible. Even if she doesn’t realise it, she’s a hateful person, and she uses her platform to spread that hate, so I refuse to engage with Harry Potter at this point just out of hope that it takes away even a tiny bit of her power.

BUT that’s not my only issue with the new series. Because also, why are we still going back to IP from the 90s? The books were written, the movies were made, what more is this new series going to give us? Oh, it’s going to be a “more faithful” adaptation? Not to be rude, but it’s a bit stupid to imagine that including Peeves or Dumbledore’s funeral is going to improve the story so much that it beats the nostalgia factor of the original films.

I can at least kind of understand the studio’s perspective - trying to bank on nostalgia is basically their MO at this point. This is nothing new, it’s just a stupider choice than usual given that the books have always been hated by one half of the political spectrum for promoting devil worship, and are now also hated by the other half of the political spectrum because of the woman who wrote them.

But the newly announced cast?

Okay, fine, I can forgive the lesser-known and/or unknown actors for taking part. Being in the new Harry Potter series is too big of an opportunity to turn down, even if they disagree with the creator’s politics. It’s risky, but I can understand it.

Nick Frost, though? John Lithgow? Neither is desperate for fame at this point, and I can’t imagine they’re that desperate for money either, so why are they doing this??? Frost has said he’s grateful for his “gay following” and Lithgow openly supports queer rights and has played queer characters. So explain, please, why they’re now betraying their fans and presumably their basic sense of human decency for the sake of an HBO that I’m almost certain is going to flop anyway???

Harry Potter was not their only option for work... But more importantly, it’s not the only great fantasy series left on Earth, either. Hell, I’d even argue that it’s not that great at all, but that’s a whole other article. There are so many new and brilliant fantasy series being written, with loyal fanbases that would love to see their favourite works be brought to life. Even if there weren’t, I’m sure there are thousands of screenwriters dying to be given the chance to write an epic fantasy that could change our culture forever…

But they never will. Because we can’t let go of Harry frickin’ Potter.

Every studio is desperate to produce the next huge cultural phenomenon, but for some unknowable reason they think that the best way to do that is to remake a film franchise that isn't even 25 years old yet. It’s irrelevant to the current cultural moment, and the studios aren’t trying to update the story to make it relevant either.

Maybe show me the Hogwarts of 2025, full of the wizard equivalent iPad babies. Maybe show me the fight to introduce magic to the rest of the world, because let’s be real, it’s pretty messed up to hide something that potentially life-saving from more than 99% of the population. I don’t care, but if you aren’t going to give me a new world to explore, at least give me something.

Anything.

As an ex-Potterhead, I say this with a heavy heart - it’s time we let go of Harry Potter. It’s like keeping an old dog alive on life support. By not pulling the plug, we’re not just prolonging its suffering, we’re tainting all of the good memories we used to have. Just like there are puppies out there waiting for a chance at a forever home, there are movies out there, desperate to be made. So please, let this series be the last. Let Harry Potter go gently into that good night, if only so that something better can finally be born.