Harry Potter as a franchise seems to have been steadily declining since the release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Despite weakening box office numbers and J.K. Rowling's cancellation, Warner Bros. Discovery is determined to continue with the franchise. When David Zaslav became the company's CEO after a recent merger, he announced he had made plans to meet with Rowling to produce more Harry Potter-based content. However, that increased production might be preceded by a slew of cuts and cancellations. With the new head of the company taking it in a new direction, there comes a reassessing of just what the new Harry Potter universe will look like.
In 2019, Harry Potter became rebranded as The Wizarding World, changing with it, Pottermore.com. But the change opened the world up to include more stories that didn’t have to involve the Boy who Lived. And so, we got the Fantastic Beasts movies. Initially, there was a plan to make five of them, but after the performance of The Secrets of Dumbledore, the other two films seem to be in limbo. Though J.K. Rowling’s name comes with a political curse, it’s balanced by the fans' honest love of her fiction. So let’s speculate on what we could see from the franchise.
Unexplored Tales of Wizarding World Characters
Hogwarts has always been the center of the Harry Potter canon. Even Fantastic Beasts couldn’t avoid going back to its hallowed grounds. And yes, even though the world is bigger now, there is still lots to explore at the historical school of witchcraft and wizardry. A lot of the questions created by the original books, the Fantastic Beasts series hopes to answer with prequels, which isn’t a bad idea. An exploration of James Potter’s time in school, or his life in general, would be ripe with stories. The elder Potter’s life was filled with drama and excitement, as we found out in the novels. It would be quite the treat to follow James as he grew up and experienced different challenges than his son in his first years of school.
His whole life is filled with interesting goings-on, and as he gets older, the drama only increases. Though we all know how his and Lily’s lives ended, their journey is fraught with peril. Audiences would get to see familiar characters like Severus Snape and Minerva McGonagall. We could get a look at a slowly darkening world of Magic as Voldemort begins his initial rise to power. Moments in school could hint at Tom Riddle being tragically shunned and left behind to create the villain we know. These events would culminate in an electrifying first look at the creation of the Order of the Phoenix, as Dumbledore gathers powerful Witches and Wizards to him in order to stem this tide of evil. We might even get to see a normal-eyed Moody.
In this particular time and place in the Harry Potter world, there are so many characters to explore. If studios think that too many of the big beats of their lives have been written already, then it’s more than possible that one could write an anthology of wizards. Small tales giving audiences a closer look at defining moments in the lives of witches or wizards that maybe we haven’t seen much of. A look at Malfoy’s home life during his childhood or an extended history of who has been strong enough to wield the elder wand. The world is filled with tiny tales you could use for one-off stories that have the potential to move and excite audiences.
The Magic of Quidditch
Of course, there are a lot of locations outside Hogwarts to explore as well. The Wizarding World does mean the whole world, after all. While we had a peek at other Wizarding cultures in The Secrets of Dumbledore, the movie’s clumsy metaphor of a WWII Germany’s rise of fascism kind of confused the viewer as to which was more important: the fact that we were in another country or the politics of wizards.
But exploring other magical cultures has long been an exciting aspect of the Wizarding World. Since we saw students from different wizarding schools arrive at Hogwarts in The Goblet of Fire. Or even earlier in that same book, a bunch of witches and wizards gathered to watch the Quidditch World Cup.
This brings us to our next prime opportunity: Quidditch! There could be a whole world of stories inside the thrilling sport of Quidditch. In the same way that Friday Night Lights pulls drama out of the ups and downs of following a high school football team, we could also be drawn into the fervent, fast-paced world of wizardry’s most famous sport. What’s even better is that you could pull a team from anywhere.
Sure, it could be a Hogwarts house team, but it could just as easily be the tale of a talented young graduate trying out for a league team in Scotland. He could struggle against heavy odds as he fights to support his family on his passion for Quidditch alone. And as he makes it on the team, he could begin to lead a rag-tag group of underdog flyers to the big leagues. His squad could steadily rise through the ranks as they resolved all the physical and emotional problems holding them back. Our hero’s passion and strength of will could show the world that Quidditch is more than just flying a broomstick: it’s magic.