Harry Potter Television Series by HBO Might Finally Do Voldemort Justice
With HBO gearing up to announce a new streaming strategy, rumours are circulating that it might include a Harry Potter TV series that will see a deeper dive into the background of the films.
It’s well known that the film series wasn’t able to explore the wizarding world and its inhabitants in as much detail as the book series did – and a TV series provides a fantastic opportunity to expand on the content of the books.
One story that fans are craving – should the rumours prove to be true – is the history of Tom Riddle and Lord Voldemort.
Despite his backstory being fundamental to the film series, it always felt as though the story of how Voldemort came to be as he was, was lacking any real detail.
Now, it stands to reason that, with the films focusing primarily on the story from Harry’s point of view, it was difficult to include too much about Voldemort unless it directly impacted the story being told in any particular movie.
And let’s not forget the movies were approved by JK Rowling and, certainly in the early days, targeted at a mass audience so needed to stick to the film plot rather than going off on tangents (no matter how interesting they might be). But as we’ve seen with other franchises, spin-off shows permit a far more nuanced look into elements of the worlds dreamed up by writers.
Had Star Wars, for example, attempted to just throw a few references into its films about the goings on in the series Andor, they would have had little impact. As a standalone series, though, it’s just brilliant and exactly what fans wanted (even those who didn’t know they did).
So, with the potential for seven seasons of the new Harry Potter TV series, each linked to an episode of the movies series, there is a genuine hope that HBO will finally do Voldemort justice and delve fully into his backstory.
Because, while the story of Tom Riddle’s transition into Lord Voldemort is out there, we’re yet to fully see it played out dramatically. And there is so much to be unpacked about how one of the greatest wizards to ever have lived emerged from a boy who grew up in an orphanage, what drove him towards what was essentially madness, how he truly felt about his parents and heritage, and his relationship with Dumbledore.
These are all elements that could not be fully explored in films that were really all about Harry Potter. Now, it seems, we might be on the verge of really getting stuck into the story of a boy called Tom Riddle and a wizard known as The Dark Lord.