Max execs explain why they used the old Harry Potter logo for new series

As we learned recently, a new adaptation of the Harry Potter book series is coming to HBO Max (now just called Max). We’re heading back to Hogwarts, ya’ll! And this time as a TV show rather than a series of movies.

Not much is known about the show, except that it will adapt around one book per season. With seven books, that means seven seasons of TV.

Of course, I have reservations about the new show because the movies aren’t that old and some wonder if we need a revival. Part of the challenge for the series will be differentiating itself from the version of the story we know. But based on the announcement teaser, they’re leaning into nostalgia instead:

HBO Max executives explain the marketing behind the new Harry Potter series

In that teaser, Max used the logo, images, and music from the original Harry Potter movies to announce the series. Will this show be a rehash?

Warner Bros. Discovery executive Pato Spagnoletto spoke to Variety about this. “We are so excited to have that franchise come back,” he said. “It’s really entertained so many of us in the last 20 years. It’s so early on, honestly, that I don’t want to mislead you one way or the other. We are just starting on the journey of what the content will look like, how it will be produced and shot. And obviously the marketing point is intended to reflect the actual content. So what we showed on the screen was just an illustration of the history and the richness of that, and is not necessarily an illustration of what we plan to market and how we plan to market the new content.”

That makes sense. The best way to pull in people from the get-go is to use the music and imagery that we already know. It definitely sold me, and I imagine it was the same for many Potterheads around the world.

Whatever Max decides to do, I just ask this of them: don’t screw up Harry Potter; give it the same attention, love, and care as the movies got. And maybe give us some spinoff shows. There are so many stories they could have made into a series, e.g. one about the four founders of Hogwarts, the Marauders, etc.

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