Harry Potter director opens up about the new HBO Max series and how he feels about it 

Chris Columbus' legacy as the director of the first two Harry Potter movies is truly remarkable. Having been at the creative end of Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, Columbus initiated the worldwide phenomenon of J.K. Rowling's highly successful franchise of the wizarding world.

After more than a decade, fans of the Potterverse are all set to return to the world of magic, as Max announced there will be a show adapted from the franchise, casting, and more details that are still under wraps. As fans await more information on it, Chris Columbus shared his opinion on the show and how he feels about the reboot.

Calling it a "spectacular idea," the director told The Hollywood Reporter how the show can utilize more of the book series, as one of the drawbacks of a film is that it comes with a lot of restrictions due to limited time.

“Our film was two hours and 40 minutes, and the second one was almost as long. Sorcerer’s Stone took 160 days of shooting, which is ridiculously long. And then, immediately after we stopped shooting, we started shooting Chamber of Secrets, which was another 160 days. That’s roughly 320 days — not counting second unit — back-to-back shooting."

He also mentioned that because the show will have the luxury of several episodes, it will be able to include more scenes from the Harry Potter series.

“The fact that they have the leisure of [multiple] episodes for each book, I think that’s fantastic. You can get all the stuff in the series that we didn’t have an opportunity to do … all these great scenes that we just couldn’t put in the films.”

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More details on the Harry Potter show

The show is set to start shooting this year and will likely release in 2026. Written and produced by Francesca Gardiner, Mark Mylod will sit in the director's chair as well as also producing the series. Rowling will also be a part of the production team.

The film will revolve around the seven years Harry Potter spent at Hogwarts and has been rumored to consist of ten seasons. Casey Bloys, Chairman and CEO of HBO Max, talked about the project and said,

“This new Max Original series will dive deep into each of the iconic books that fans have continued to enjoy for all of these years."

He also assured fans that it will be a "faithful adaptation."

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav also talked about the series with Wall Street and added,

“We’ve not been shy about our excitement around Harry Potter. I was in London a few weeks ago with Casey [Bloys, CEO of HBO] and Channing [Dungey, chairperson of Warner Bros Television] and we spent some real time with JK and her team. Both sides just thrilled to be reigniting this franchise. Our conversations were great.”

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As for castings, confirmations are still underway for all the main characters. However, Paapa Essiedu was eyed to play Severus Snape but has not yet been confirmed.