Comment on ‘Harry Potter’ TV Series Aiming for 2026 Debut as David Zaslav Touts J.K. Rowling’s Involvement
Vanth@reddthat.com 8 months ago
And of course there’s Rowling, who has routinely courted controversy due to her inflammatory comments about the trans community. The fact that Zaslav would double-down on her involvement is an interesting development.
I’ll say. What’s the benefit? Quietly don’t include her, no public statements about her TERF positions to court controversy, minimal impact. Do include her and automatically lose a subset of fans.
realcaseyrollins@narwhal.city 8 months ago
I'm not sure. He might be learning the wrong lessons from the Hogwarts Legacy situation, and assuming that there are more Harry Potter fans who like Rowling than who hate her. He might be right, but it takes considerably less commitment to buy a game than to watch a season of streaming television. How many antiwoke fans are really going to watch a whole season of a Harry Potter show just to spite some terminally online Twitter users?
Keeping her involved somewhat isn't a terrible choice if you want to stay true to the source material, but it doesn't make much sense to speak so publicly about the partnership if your end-goal is to have as many viewers as possible.
That said, WBD is now profitable (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/warner-bros-discovery-streaming-profit-2023-q4-earnings-report-1235832538/) so maybe they have some breathing room to eat a loss on this project.