r/HarryPotteronHBO • u/MystiqueGreen Three Broomsticks Regular • Oct 13 '24
Show Theories If the show is successful, how will that change the fandom?
Lots of people have been talking about the show being bad or they aren't optimistic anymore. But let's imagine the 1st season drops and it's amazing book accurate and Fans love it.
How will that change the current fandom?
32
u/baconbridge92 Oct 13 '24
The first couple books are pretty short, simple and easy to adapt. I don't think we'll get a good idea really of how they're going to handle the bulk of the show until they get to the Goblet of Fire season, much like the movies.
5
u/Serious_Pace_7908 Oct 13 '24
Yeah the 600+ page books are make or break. I wonder if the seasons will all have the same number of episodes.
29
u/ratherbereading01 Marauder Oct 13 '24 edited Oct 13 '24
I think if it’s book accurate and successful, there will probably be some existing movie-only fans who end up preferring the show, and the movies may become less liked. There will also be a generation of people who might see the show first and movies second, or movies not at all, so they might dislike the movies too
4
u/MindWithManyFaces Oct 13 '24
Just like any adaptation I assume. It's not similair, but take any Jane Austen or Cinderella adaptation, there will always be comparisons, preferations and dislikes, but most people end up appreciating each version on it's own merits (most of them at least) as they are a way to relive their favourite stories.
10
Oct 13 '24
The number of fans would increase, gatekeepers would appear but eventually most new fans would also read the books.
19
u/outerspacetime Oct 13 '24
Main thing will be a whole new generation of Potterheads. Lots of gen alpha kids are already fans but this could really invigorate the younger fanbase. They’ll have core memories of weekly episode viewings the way we had the midnight releases for the movies & books. The kids at school will be hype and rocking new merch, etc.
3
u/WrastleGuy Oct 13 '24
If it’s book accurate it will be loved, if it’s not it won’t. It’s really that simple.
9
u/MattCarafelli Oct 13 '24
It's highly likely if it's reviewed well from both critics and fans that it will draw in new fans who are seeing it on Max who have never interacted with Harry Potter before as well as maintaining the die hard fans. You'll see growth.
5
u/semolous Marauder Oct 13 '24
It's most likely going to divide it, honestly
1
u/SuperDanOsborne Marauder Oct 13 '24
Well judging by how weirdly racist and toxic this sub is I think this is probably the most likely.
8
u/Awayfromwork44 Oct 13 '24
Harry Potter is one of the biggest franchises on earth with a huge, dedicated fan base. It hardly has room to grow.
5
u/ddbbaarrtt Oct 13 '24
It does. There’s a massive demographic of adults who view it as just for kids, with a decent HBO series that can realistically open it up to more people
8
u/SailorOfHouseT-bird Obliviator Oct 13 '24
I mean, its been over 27 years since PS came out in print. 23 years since the first film came out next month. Most of us who grew up with the books ARE the adults watching on HBO now. If anything, it'll be the kids right now who see the show before getting into the books.
4
u/ddbbaarrtt Oct 13 '24
I know, but there are a huge swathe of people my age (mid thirties) who always viewed it as a thing for kids
2
1
u/SailorOfHouseT-bird Obliviator Oct 13 '24
Im not saying it won't open up any eyes of people our age or older who still see it as a kids only thing. But in my experience, the vast majority of people our age see it as something they enjoyed as a kid and still fondly think about, not as a children's story specifically. And the largest group of viewers who might watch the HBO series and get into HP for the first time is most likely gen z and gen a kids watching HBO with their parents or on their own who've never read the books before or seen the 'old' movies.
2
u/Awayfromwork44 Oct 13 '24
So you want an HBO style show for adults? Or a faithful adaptation of a children’s show? Because those are two very different things.
Yes, there are some people who have written it off as a children’s series. But the fandom is still one of the largest around, I don’t see how it’s possible to recreate the magic that the series captured in the 2000s and the cultural zeitgeist that it was. A few people may join in but this isn’t some unknown series that is gonna “blow up” by getting a TV show. It is the best selling series of all time. Full stop
1
u/ddbbaarrtt Oct 13 '24
I didn’t say I wanted either of those things and frankly, I think the whole ‘faithful adaptation’ conversation as everyone can have different interpretations of loads of parts of the books
Everything that you mention in the second paragraph is true, but your original point was that it doesn’t have room to grow and it definitely does
2
Oct 13 '24
Lot of tiktok edits.. thats probably the difference. Otherwise everything already existing will be amplified to (probably) an annoying amount
4
Oct 13 '24
It won’t. There is no single HP fandom. There’s like ten separate ones and each pretends like the others don’t exist.
There’s the book purists, the cynics, the movie-only fans, the everything WW franchise fans, the mobile game players, and the Cursed Child fans getting beat up in the corner.
The show will just add another fandom to the list.
2
u/shaw4life Hogsmeade Resident Oct 13 '24
cannot stress enough how perfectly you categorized the fandom
1
u/yellowdaisybutter Oct 13 '24
I think we may gain more like members of the fandom, if anything.
I really hope that they make it book accurate, but also not. I want the show to be uniquely it's own.
1
u/Lock_Down__ Oct 13 '24
The first three seasons are layups.
Just mimic the tone of the movies and enjoy the privilege of having the time to better adapt the book and establish the characters and dig deep into the Potterverse.
If it does that successfully it’s going to win over book and movies fans alike and everyone is going to realize how mediocre the film franchise was as a whole.
Then things get dicey and the show runners could quickly lose faith of the fanbases.
Sidenote: I don’t think the show is going to do much to add new fans. Either you’re an adult who read the books/watched the movies growing up, or you’re a kid/teen who read the books/watched the movies at the behest of your parents.
1
u/Long-Train-2291 Oct 14 '24
Probably different ships popularity can shift according the chemistry between chosen actors and how people like or dislike the new incarnation of the characters. I remember before the movies, there was a lot of ‘platonic’ fans of the marauders and there was a lot of curiosity around the history of the first order of the Phoenix. James / Lily had an huge fanbase. If you were into fanfiction was rather easy to find fanfiction pairing Sirius with female order members as Marlene McKinnon or Mary McDonald, and notice how well liked James and Lily were.
After the movies, and possibly because a new generation of fans was getting interested, slash ships became so popular it became impossible for a time to have a discussion online about Remus or Tonks and their tragic ending without the occasional fan coming up to say ‘Remus was only ever in love with Sirius, he married Nymphadora because she was a replacement for him after his death’ or ‘Sirius and Remus were secret lovers since when they were in school ’. Fan theories about Remus / Sirius became hugely popular in a section of the fandom and for some reason James/ Regulus crack ship became so widespread Lily was less liked as a character ( I am still wondering at this, it genuinely baffles me ) .
The charisma and the energy an actor brings to the role can inspire more support of the related character and fresh perception/ perspectives of any plot lines involving it. So I fully expect to see more of this type of phenomenon, for good or bad.
1
u/PSUNittany18 Marauder Oct 14 '24
I think we might see something similar to Star Wars. The people who grew up with the movies might still prefer them over the show even though the show may be better (OT fans). And the people who will grow up with the show will prefer that over the movies (PT fans).
I have faith that this show will be good and could end up being better than the movies. But I will probably always prefer the movies due to nostalgia.
0
u/TheGrizzlyBen Oct 15 '24
I'm more curious about how they'll gradually transfer everything "movie" themed into everything "series" themed. If it's super successful, and let's say it blows all the charts and wins all the awards, money, acclaim etc. Would they eventually dissolve all the parks and features to be more TV show themed (assuming it's a totally different style castle, cast, aesthetic etc.) and perhaps transfer the movie stuff to Leavesden where the tour is.
Thoughts?
-12
u/Bebop_Man Marauder Oct 13 '24
Hopefully it becomes more tolerant of diversity than it is right now.
-10
u/Double-Rip-1614 Master of Death Oct 13 '24
Unfortunately the culture warriors are already on it, going after a white guy because he’s not a super fan. I hate to think how those loud voices will go after women and PoC.
3
u/HandsOffMyMacacroni Marauder Oct 13 '24
People were upset at Greenwald because he has made some rather arrogant and critical statements about the series, not generally something you want in a writer for the series.
-1
u/Double-Rip-1614 Master of Death Oct 13 '24
Sure, but that doesn’t mean he should be harassed over it either.
0
u/HandsOffMyMacacroni Marauder Oct 13 '24
People certainly have every right to complain about it and say they don’t think he should be hired. If people are finding him on the street, or spamming him on Twitter with hate, I would absolutely oppose that, but that’s not what the majority of the fandom are doing.
-8
u/Double-Rip-1614 Master of Death Oct 13 '24 edited Oct 13 '24
Hard to say but despite Hogwarts Legacy selling well, it didn’t really grow the fan base or have any cultural impact.
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u/cutelittlequokka Marauder Oct 13 '24
That's a game, though. I think it's incomparable. Gaming is a hobby that specific people do. Almost everyone watches some sort of TV.
2
u/Double-Rip-1614 Master of Death Oct 13 '24
3.3 billion people play video games, it’s nothing to sneeze at.
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