JK Rowling has reportedly spent time on the set of the new HBO adaptation of her Harry Potter book series, with those present joking the experience was akin to a “royal visit.”
The best-selling author, 60, is an executive producer on the upcoming series, announced by HBO Max in 2023. The streamer is adapting the famous franchise into a “decades-long” TV series, with each season based on one of the seven books in Rowling’s best-selling series.
According to Deadline, Rowling was at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden on November 19 to check progress on the new television version of her beloved fantasy series.
Back in June, Rowling wrote on X: “I read the first two episodes of the forthcoming HBO Harry Potter series and they are SO, SO, SO GOOD!”
In response, one person asked the writer: “So you are not doing the writing for this show?”
J.K. Rowling at the London premiere of ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secret of Dumbledore’ in March 2022 (Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images)“No, but I’ve worked closely with the extremely talented writers,” clarified Rowling.
Rowling has become a contentious figure after making a series of controversial comments about the transgender community that date back to December 2019.
On April 21, the author issued a sarcastic response to calls for a planned boycott of the new TV reboot, after her role as an executive producer on the show was announced.
“Dreadful news, which I feel duty bound to share,” she wrote on X. “Activists in my mentions are trying to organise yet another boycott of my work, this time of the Harry Potter TV show. As forewarned is forearmed, I’ve taken the precaution of laying in a large stock of champagne.”
Dominic McLaughlin (right) takes over as Harry Potter in HBO’s upcoming series (Getty/HBO)Meanwhile, earlier this week, former Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe revealed he wrote to his successor in the role, 11-year-old Dominic McLaughlin.
“I know a few people who are working on the production, so I wrote to Dominic and I sent him a letter and he sent me a very sweet note back,” Radcliffe, who played Harry in the popular film series, recalled during an appearance on Good Morning America.
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“I just wanted to write to him to say, ‘I hope you have the best time, and an even better time than I did — I had a great time, but I hope you have an even better time,’” he remembered of his message.
“And I do, I just see these pictures of him and the other kids and I just want to hug them,” Radcliffe added, noting how young the three new leads seem.
“I just look at them and say, ‘Oh it’s crazy I was doing that.’ But it’s also incredibly sweet and I hope they’re having a great time,” he said.
Radcliffe was also 11 when he was first cast, while his co-stars Emma Watson and Rupert Grint were just 10 and 12 at the time. The trio led the eight-film series as Harry, Hermione and Ron, three budding wizards who are faced with a new dark force each year while studying at Hogwarts. By the time of the final film’s 2011 release, Radcliffe and Watson were both 21, while Grint was 22.
