Earlier this week, a new slew of rumors started circling that said Warner Bros. and the powers to be behind the scenes of the wizarding world of Harry Potter were finally getting their act together and planning a prequel TV series based on author J.K. Rowling's classic book series. But don't get too excited just yet. It looks like these rumors have been firmly shot down by Rowling's representatives who have said this.

"There are no plans to develop the Harry Potter stories into a TV series. Any reports are purely speculative."

Bummer. I guess there's really no point in getting into what this week's rumors originally were. But I'm going to all the same so that we can talk about it a bit. Here goes: this week's gossip said that Warner Bros. was in the very early stages of developing a TV series based on the massively popular Harry Potter franchise of books and movies for their upcoming streaming service. I'd buy that rumor for a dollar as Harry Potter is one of the biggest franchises Warner Bros. currently hold the rights too.

But moving on, the rumor then went on to say that the potential series would be a prequel set at Hogwarts and was expected to feature all new characters. And here is where I call bull. Not to get into it too much here, but we all know well and good that if there were a Harry Potter prequel series in the works - TV show or otherwise - it would totally follow The Marauders, who are famous for conjuring that magical map. For those unfamiliar, The Marauders includes a young version of Harry Potter's father, James Potter and his adventures with young Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Sirius Black. But I could, of course, be wrong about that.

The last time we saw Harry Potter and his friends up on the screen was way back in with the release of director David Yates' epic Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. That film marked the (current) end to the Harry Potter saga on the big screen with Daniel Radcliffe returning one "final" time as Harry Potter, along with Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley, and Emma Watson as Hermione Granger. Since then there has been a book and a play based on Rowling's sequel Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and a series of spin-off movies set in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The first of these spin-off movies was called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and its sequel was dubbed Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

While there are no plans for a TV series based on Harry Potter in the works at this time, there is the third installment in the Fantastic Beasts franchise headed our way on November 12, 2021. From there, the plan is for two further Fantastic Beasts motion pictures. And from there? I guess we all just need to keep re-reading the book and re-watching the films as it might be several years before anything - let alone a film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - hits a movie theater near us. Meanwhile, this updates comes to us from Hypable.