Warner Bros. has big plans for the Harry Potter universe. Hogwarts Legacy was one of last year’s best-selling games, proving fans are hungry for more open-world wizarding adventures. A new HBO adaptation that will remake the story of the original books as a TV series is also in the works. According to the head of Warner Bros. Games, both projects will coordinate on “storytelling elements” moving forward.
“We have known for some time that fans are looking for more things in this world, and so we’re spending a lot of time thinking about that,” David Haddad, president of Warner Bros. Games, told Variety in a new interview. “Our insights tell us that there are not huge distinctions between a younger version of a fan and an older version of a fan. They’re just deep Harry Potter fans, and we try to build authentic experiences to delight them.”
Those experiences include Hogwarts Legacy 2, which, while not officially announced yet, is a “one of the biggest priorities” for the publisher, and an HBO series that will give the original books the Game of Thrones treatment. Here’s an excerpt from the Variety piece:
Haddad says the games team has been coordinating some of the big-picture storytelling elements in the “Hogwarts Legacy” sequel with the storylines that will play out in the “Harry Potter” HBO series coming from Warner Bros. Television. He notes that the success of “Hogwarts Legacy” helped stoke confidence that the time was right to make a major Potter push: “The rest of the company was very curious about what we helped to unlock with ‘Hogwarts Legacy’ last year.”
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zazlav confirmed earlier this year that the plan was for the Harry Potter TV show to hit in 2026, with casting for main characters like Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley already underway. Hogwarts Legacy 2, meanwhile, seems unlikely to arrive until 2027 or 2028 at the earliest as big-budget games continue development timelines of 4-6 years and beyond.
The original game takes place in the 1890s, and while it’s not clear when a sequel would be set, it would likely be laying the groundwork for the particular flavor of Hogwarts’ history to be referenced in the TV remake, no doubt with Marvel-style easter eggs to pull fans from one to the other.
As for J.K. Rowling’s ongoing involvement in Harry Potter, Haddad said that while she is not directly involved in any planning related to the universe outside of the books, the controversy-courting YA author is still kept in the loop. “If we’re going to ever go beyond a canon conversation, we make sure that we’re all comfortable with what we’re doing,” Robert Oberschelp, Warner Bros. Discovery’s head of global consumer products, told Variety. The company has so far stayed quiet when it comes to commenting on Rowling’s anti-trans politics.