Harry Potter season 1 is currently in production, and although it isn't expected to arrive until 2027, HBO has provided an update that will undoubtedly thrill fans of the franchise. As reported by Deadline, HBO chairman and CEO Casey Bloys confirmed that the show's writers have already begun working on the scripts for Harry Potter season 2.
Despite operating with such urgency, Bloys explains that "there'll be a break" when Harry Potter season 1 wraps before production on season two begins. That said, the HBO CEO also made it clear that the studio will do "whatever we can to not have a huge gap."
With each season of the upcoming adaptation set to address one of J.K. Rowling's seven Harry Potter books, the show is also planned to be seven runs long. As such, season 2 will bring Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to the small screen for the first time after season 1 has given the same treatment to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
Why Harry Potter's decision to start work on season 2 already is such a smart move
The size of the Harry Potter franchise gives the HBO show an advantage that similar projects often lack. In short, the project is already expected to last for seven full seasons so that the literary saga can be fully adapted, more extensively than ever before. As such, writing the second season before the first has even wrapped isn't going to be a wasted effort. By being so prepared, Harry Potter season 2 can start shooting when everyone else is ready to go, and in theory, there'll be no waiting around for scripts to be completed.
Furthermore, with several members of Harry Potter's core cast being so young, the gap between seasons needs to be kept to a minimum for continuity reasons. As can be witnessed in projects like Stranger Things, child stars quickly grow up during production delays, resulting in them playing characters who look far older than they should. Harry Potter is the perfect kind of story to have a progressively older cast, with each new book/season/movie taking place over a school term. So, it makes sense to really capitalize on that by keeping on track.
How Harry Potter season 2 will differ from 2002's Chamber of Secrets movie
1998's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second book in the series, will serve as the source material for season 2, just as it did for the 2002 feature-length adaptation. The finer points of how the two live-action versions of the story will differ are currently unknown — after all, they've only just started writing the scripts for HBO's second run. Still, expect them both to have notable elements that set them apart.
Some of the more obvious differences will be a new cast, and season 2's runtime will easily eclipse that of its big-screen counterpart. Similarly, the show is expected to cut very little, if anything, from J.K. Rowling's original version of the story. The movies had to ditch some cool moments from the books, even with a relatively short effort like the Chamber of Secrets source material. I would also be very surprised if every season of Harry Potter didn't have exciting new sequences that are original to the show.
Harry Potter season 1 is expected to arrive in 2027. All eight movies can be streamed now on HBO Max.