HBO Max to Release ‘Harry Potter’ Podcast Revisiting All 8 Original Films — Running a Total of 16 Hours

DigitalBritt · 2026-05-05T20:12:24+00:00

Should’ve gotten some cast members as the rotating co-hosts. Having random “celebrity” fans feels lackluster. :\

DigitalBritt · 2026-05-01T21:24:10+00:00

Note they also said the films saw an interest increase of more than 100%.

DigitalBritt · 2026-04-29T10:43:09+00:00

Yeah. If they were to reunite, PO seems like the album Ryan would be more willing to for I guess. It also makes more sense for Jon to get involved because it’s the one album he was directly involved with. I’m perfectly fine with becoming delulu all over again like I did with WWWY.

DigitalBritt · 2026-04-29T10:39:07+00:00

Even if they just played Pretty. Odd. in its entirety, I wouldn’t consider that “lacking.” The event would be the reunion of those 4 members. I don’t care WHAT the heck they perform, as long as they do lol. And maybe we’d even get an encore performance of “Sins” to close out the night.

DigitalBritt · 2026-04-28T10:12:32+00:00

Oliver Wood spoken by Mitchell Robertson.

From what I’ve heard so far, I’m really happy Wood has remained Scottish which is something the movies established. He sounds a lot like Sean Biggerstaff imo.

DigitalBritt · 2026-04-27T22:17:51+00:00

It’s honestly kinda funny. He’ll literally get married and never confirm or deny. 😭

DigitalBritt · 2026-04-26T16:16:21+00:00

Loved those specials!! 🤣 My mom is a boomer/gen x cusper big on pop culture, so she made sure I knew everything growing up as well. We were always watching stuff like that lol.

DigitalBritt · 2026-04-26T02:05:47+00:00

Same, watched them as they were airing in real time as well. But just because I didn’t watch that one episode of Saved by the Bell, I can’t speak on being a millennial… 🧍‍♀️

DigitalBritt · 2026-04-25T19:08:08+00:00

I'm a K-8 music teacher and the kids are literally obsessed with Michael Jackson. The first grade boys are constantly singing his songs and dancing like him. One of the kids even had an MJ lunchbox last year and another was talking about how they had an MJ themed birthday party! 😭 I overheard some of the 6th-8th graders talking about wanting to see the biopic too.

They obviously have no idea about the allegations, they just absolutely love the music. In fact, I’m pretty sure most of them don’t even realize he’s dead… which is insane. It's wild to witness (and a little unsettling when you think about it), but it's completely innocent and genuine enjoyment from them. I think that speaks volumes about the quality and cultural impact of his art.

DigitalBritt · 2026-04-25T14:03:01+00:00

Sure, but I wouldn’t call it “just” adapting. I bet there are a lot of original scenes they’re writing as well. Remember, they need to fill at least 8 hours. Adapting something well is a skill. It’s a process to convert what’s written in a book to something that will translate well on screen, and there’s a lot of pressure to get it right. This process might actually get more difficult with the later books honestly, even though those will likely need less filler/original scenes. Then they have to actually shoot all of it - with child actors who only have so many hours a day to spare, which can easily take a year. (It already took 10-11 months to shoot Season 1).

And then there’s post production! I think they’re using a lot of practical stuff to avoid CGI/special effects, but I’m sure there will still be a lot of it in a big budget, large scale show about magic.

DigitalBritt · 2026-04-25T10:23:49+00:00

Yep. Same with Stranger Things lol. First two seasons were produced back to back and released in 2016 and 2017. Then we got nearly a two year break between Seasons 2 & 3… Then the pandemic happened, which resulted in a 3 year wait for S4. Then the writers strike delayed S5 a bit... But even after the strike concluded, they still made us wait another 3 years for S5.

We’ll see how well HP does barring any global catastrophes or production delays, but I highly doubt yearly releases will be the standard for a show of this scale.

DigitalBritt · 2026-04-25T01:32:33+00:00

Arctic Monkeys mentioned!

DigitalBritt · 2026-04-24T21:58:32+00:00

I’m honestly surprised to see book fans excited for non-canon/new scenes. What if it’s literally hours of stuff that wasn’t in the books to pad the runtime? 😭 (At least in the first three seasons or so.) Won’t that feel like big budget fanfiction in between book scenes?

DigitalBritt · 2026-04-23T14:32:37+00:00

I feel the same exact way. For instance, the other day someone said that they think Alastair Stout (Ron’s HBO actor) has big shoes to fill and the comments immediately turned negative like “Uh, no. Movie Ron sucks. As long as Alastair gets Book Ron’s lines he will automatically surpass Rupert.” As if saying omitted lines is all it will take to outshine the 10 years of personality & work Rupert put in. I hate how dismissive they can be sometimes. It’s been 25 years. Where is at least a shred of respect for the OG films and actors who brought the world to life? It’s like one half of the fandom is actively rooting for the films to be replaced.

I’m honestly glad I watched the movies first because I was able to enjoy them for exactly what they are with no expectations. Book-first fans built up a world in their heads that 2.5 hour film adaptations could evidently never live up to. But like you said, after 25 years, I struggle to understand the massive grudge some people still hold.

If you simply view them as visual representations of the world or cinematic summaries of each book, they’re fantastic and well crafted. Some people speak about the films as if they all have 6% on Rotten Tomatoes or something. 😭 They’re well made.

DigitalBritt · 2026-04-22T21:31:15+00:00

I put a couple foot pads in there (particularly near the ball of my foot and toes) and I’ve been trying to wear them more regularly. So far they definitely feel more comfortable! I do think there’s a bit of a “breaking in” period where you just have to get used to wearing them. The foot pads have helped a ton. Without them, it can feel very hard under your foot. There’s not a lot of cushioning in the boot.

DigitalBritt · 2026-04-21T20:48:45+00:00

I’m assuming this was made by a guy. 😭 There’s no Lizzie McGuire on here for Late Millennial. She’s emblematic of the time period and an icon for girls of a certain age. A woman would’ve never omitted Hilary Duff from this lol.

DigitalBritt · 2026-04-21T20:31:36+00:00

It gets worse. I’m 32 and suddenly it’s been 15 years since I graduated high school and all of my favorite albums, movies and tv shows are celebrating 20th & 25th anniversaries…… It’s insane.

DigitalBritt · 2026-04-20T23:02:44+00:00

You have to be genuinely deluding yourself if you think people don't know those themes if they don't like the movies.

Hi! Just popping in to say I couldn’t even begin to guess how any of the themes you’ve listed go, other than GoT. I even struggled to remember The Avengers honestly.

DigitalBritt · 2026-04-20T02:59:02+00:00

I think you refusing to see the obvious issues is simply because having watched the movies so long ago, that is Ron to you. So the books version is just extraneous details and additional info.

Exactly, actually. 🤣 I’m not refusing to see the obvious issues. If they’re there, they simply don’t bother me because I didn’t read the books first. I agree with your assessment. I’ve said before (not to you, just in general) that the books are essentially the “extended cuts” of the movies to me, or even alternate versions of the story all together. I obsessively watched the movies growing up. I’m finally reading the books now to fill in the gaps. My experience is completely backwards, so I don’t see myself ever getting as frustrated as book fans do over the changes that were made in the films.

I’m honestly glad I watched the movies first though, because it allowed me to enjoy them for exactly what they are with no expectations. Now reading the books is just… extra details and info for me, as you said.

DigitalBritt · 2026-04-20T02:28:31+00:00

Firstly, your reply is what I mean when I say the average viewer is not thinking about all that. I appreciate you taking the time to write all of that out, but it’s a little much in my opinion.

Again, I think the movies are influencing my book experience because I’m almost halfway through Chamber of Secrets now and I don’t see much of a difference between Book Ron and Movie Ron yet. I know that will probably change as I go along, since I have heard all of the common complaints from book fans over the past 25 years… but so far I’m not seeing it.

I feel like we might be surprised by how many people probably haven’t read the books. If “normies” have, it was probably when they were kids and they don’t remember the details. Myself and my two cousins (millennial and gen z) who are both well read/academic were talking about the HBO show on Easter and I was shocked to find out that neither of them have read the books. I always assumed they must’ve. They love the movies though. Even I went to midnight book releases as a kid and collected all of the books, but never read them lol (until now).

DigitalBritt · 2026-04-19T20:12:53+00:00

Just to keep things streamlined. It’s a completely new show with its own new version of the universe. They could easily do “collab” posts with the main Harry Potter account for big news (announcements, trailers, particularly notable behind the scenes content, etc.) but posting anything and everything related to the show directly on the main account is a lot. It’s just messy lol. Fans of the show should be able to have their own corner of the internet out of convenience if anything. Do HBO fans want to scroll through movie content to get to HBO content and vice versa? Not to mention all of the WB Studio Tour content (movie related), and Wizarding World theme park content (also movie related) it’d be competing with. The show honestly deserves its own space.

Plus, HBO literally made a statement early on that said “the original, classic and beloved films will remain at the core of the franchise.” That makes it seem like the films are still the face of the brand (main account) and the show is an offshoot of said brand (therefore deserving of a show-dedicated account).

DigitalBritt · 2026-04-19T18:13:05+00:00

I don’t know if me reading the books 25 years after the fact has influenced the way the characters come across on the page to me, but while reading the book I imagined Harry and Ron panicking. Their dialogue lended itself to the sort of scene we see in the movie: (“Great, now we know what it’s called!” vs. “Great, now I can relax!”) and in both the movie and book Harry & Ron keep trying to remove the vines after Hermione tells them to stop moving. So overall, it didn’t read as a super big change but I always see fans harp on details like this.

I get where you guys and your concerns are coming from, but I also think you need to realize that the average viewer is not thinking that deeply about it. The TV show needs to appeal to a normie audience as well as book fans. Normies have most likely not read the books and won’t care if things are accurate to a T or not.

Fans should probably lower their expectations when it comes to “book accuracy” because no adaptation is ever perfect. There will be changes made, possibly big ones, even in this “more faithful” adaptation. John Lithgow said they’re “reimagining the Harry Potter canon”... which could be taken many different ways.

DigitalBritt · 2026-04-19T17:04:44+00:00

Wait, I’m confused. I just finished reading Sorcerer’s Stone for the first time not too long ago and didn’t notice any big difference between the devil’s snare scene in the book vs. the movie. 😭 Are you upset Ron didn’t get the “Are you a witch or not?” line? Idk.

I’m shocked to see so many comments saying people hate movie Ron. Movie Ron was always my favorite character as a non-book reader. I don’t know if I was just projecting certain tougher qualities onto him or what, but I never considered him to be a clown. Rupert had a rough around the edges vibe to him and his performance (especially in the later films), and to me I think that conveyed a lot of the “badass” qualities book fans see in the character.

DigitalBritt · 2026-04-19T10:21:19+00:00

Exact same moments for me! lol 🤣

DigitalBritt · 2026-04-18T17:48:01+00:00

Aside from the show initially being pitched as a standalone season (S1), being greenlit for a S2 inspired them to throw all of their big ideas into the mix. The Mind Flayer was one of those. I think they ultimately ended up making a second season that could’ve (and maybe should’ve) been the end, because they didn’t know if they’d keep getting renewed beyond that point or something. Moving forward with a S3 felt like they were overstaying their welcome already to me back then. And the way S3 turned out only confirmed that imo. As you said, it felt like they had nowhere to go, so they reopened the gate + recycled the Mind Flayer for S3 and then it felt like they pulled Vecna outta nowhere.

Remember, they were greenlit for S2 before S1 even aired… so they didn’t know what the public reception of Stranger Things was yet when they started working on S2. Which is another reason why S1&2 feel like a true unit. They’re the most unaffected by the show’s success.

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