News of a potential Harry Potter TV series has been spreading across the internet like fiendfyre in recent weeks and we have to say we're a little bit excited about heading back to Hogwarts!
What's more, with HBO rumored to be dedicating an entire season to each of J.K. Rowling's seven books — we'll see more of her world on screen than ever before!
The Harry Potter film franchise that ran between 2001 and 2011 dedicated one movie to each book in the series, apart from the final novel, which was split into two films.
The first few books in the series were quite small and the films did a decent job of squeezing all the material in, yet as J.K. Rowling's books grew, the screenwriters had a more difficult job of including everything.
Indeed anyone who read the last few novels knows that vast swathes of great material from the wizarding world didn't make the cut, so there are lots of subplots and storylines we're hoping the new series will explore...
1. Lord Voldemort's backstory
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was the book where we finally discovered the true origins of He Who Shall Not Be Named, yet the 2009 film skipped quite a lot of that in favour of teen romance.
We did get a couple of glimpses of a young Tom Riddle at the orphanage and asking Professor Slughorn about Horcruxes, but there was so much more we could have explored.
One of the fascinating tales that never made the movie was Harry's trip through the pensieve to meet Voldemort's grandfather, Marvolo Gaunt, who was one of the last descendants of dark wizard Salazar Slytherin.
He lived in a dilapidated shack near the country estate of Tom Riddle senior, with his loutish son Morfin and downtrodden daughter Merope Gaunt. After becoming infatuated with Riddle, Merope slipped him a love potion and became pregnant with Tom Riddle Jr — aka He Who Must Not Be Named.
In the book we see a ministry official visiting to reprimand Morfin for cursing Riddle Snr and we also got a glimpse of Marvolo's last remaining treasure, Slytherin’s Locket — which contained The Resurrection Stone btw — and would go on to become a Horcrux for his evil grandson.
The movie also left out crucial information about the adult Voldemort, including tense scenes where he visited an elderly witch, Hepzibah Smith, while working for Borgin & Burke. It's there that he first caught sight of Helga Hufflepuff's cup, which would also go on to become a Horcrux.
But even more crucial to the series was the moment when Riddle returned to Hogwarts to ask Dumbledore for a teaching position, using his visit to hide one of his many Horcruxes in the Room of Requirement.
He mistakenly believed he was the only student to have discovered the "Come and go Room", yet his tense meeting with Dumbledore gave us a unique insight into the grown-up Voldemort's villainous psyche. Let's hope we get to see it!
2. Peeves!
A character who appeared in every novel of J.K Rowling's series, Peeves the Poltergeist was never included in the film series! We sincerely hope HBO will be setting the record straight on that in the TV reboot, as he plays a key role in many scenes where Harry is creeping around the castle late at night.
Moreover, with the broadcaster rumoured to be dedicating a series to each novel, there might be time to delve into Peeves' backstory during one of the earlier series, which will be based upon considerably smaller tomes than the later ones.
And what a story it is, as The Harry Potter Wiki explains...
"Peeves has lived at Hogwarts Castle since its founding in c. 993. He "came with the building", and came into existence with the founding of an institution containing a large number of children. Whilst unconfirmed, it was guessed that Peeves is a tangible manifestation of the students' mischief. Peeves has wrought havoc upon Hogwarts for centuries, and was often the cause of ire for various teachers and staff. Starting with Hankerton Humble, who was appointed by the Founders themselves, Peeves has traditionally been a pet peeve of every caretaker the school has seen."
3. Neville Longbottom's backstory
In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix we learn of a prophecy Professor Trelawney made to Dumbledore about the individual who could defeat Voldemort...
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...."
Snape told Voldemort parts of the prophecy and the Dark Lord assumed it referred to Harry Potter, but it could just as easily have been made about Neville Longbottom.
However when Voldemort attacked Harry he fulfilled one part of the prophecy and that changed.. (if Voldemort hadn't attacked Potter in the first place, would Harry have been so powerful? But we digress) ...anyway we'd love to know more about the possibility of Neville being The Chosen One.
It's barely mentioned in the films, but comes up many times in the books, where despite starting life as an unconfident wizard, he quickly becomes a bit of a hero. Not only does he become the leader of Dumbledore's Army after Harry's departure, but he kills Voldemort's snake and final Horcrux, Nagini, and even goes on to become Hogwarts Headmaster! It's time to put some respect on the Longbottom name!
4. The Other Minister
Every book in J.K. Rowling's series begins with Harry wiling away the summer months at the Dursley's — until the author decides to mix it up in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
In a hilarious scene, we see The Minister For Magic, Cornelius Fudge, dropping in on his muggle counterpart to outline the dire straits the wizarding world is in thanks to the return of Lord Voldemort.
In terms of plot, this isn't a tremendously important scene, but we are absolutely desperate to see it rendered on screen and expect that J.K. Rowling is too, given that it's rumored to be one of her favorite scenes in the whole series.
Director of the film adaptation, David Yates, decided to replace the exchange with scenes depicting the fallen bridge Fudge describes and one in which Harry tries to chat up a cafe worker, with the PM briefly referenced in a copy of The Daily Prophet.
Incidentally, according to the Harry Potter timeline the scene took place at some point in the summer of 1996, meaning John Major was Britain's head of government at the time. Maybe Jonny Lee Miller, who played Major in The Crown could step in?
5. The giants!
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was the longest book in J.K. Rowling's series and the screenwriter responsible for editing it down to a two and a half hour film truly had their work cut out.
One meandering plot line that didn't really go anywhere was Hagrid and Madame Maxime's trip to the Russian wilderness to speak to the last remaining giants in the hope of securing their allegiance against Voldemort — but we think it would look great on screen!
6. Ariana Dumbledore's backstory
Ariana's backstory also forms a very significant part of her elder brother, Albus Dumbledore's backstory, as we discovered in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. J.K. Rowling's final book may well have been split into two films in a bid to squeeze more content in, yet Ariana's past was still largely untold — something we presume HBO's TV reboot will rectify.
Through Rita Skeeter's meeting with Bathilda Bagshot, we discover that when Ariana was a young girl a group of Muggle boys attacked her, leaving her scarred and unable to control her magic.
The incident was kept quiet by the Dumbledore family, yet after he finished at Hogwarts, Albus returned home to help care for his sister in a move that surprised the wizarding community.
It was during this time that he struck up a friendship — or was it more? — with Gellert Grindelwald, who would later go on to become one of the world's most dangerous dark wizards, and one day the pair got into a three-way magical duel with his brother Aberforth.
Ariana was caught in the crossfire and killed by a stray spell, a tragedy that a devastated Dumbledore blamed himself for. He subsequently ended his friendship with Grindelwald and decided he could no longer be trusted in a position of power, a feeling that led him to turn down the Minister of Magic job on three occasions.
7. The visit to St Mungo's
If there's one character who's origins are criminally underserved in the film franchise, it's definitely everyday hero Neville Longbottom. Yes, he gets his big moment when he kills Nagini, yet his backstory is fascinating (as discussed above).
Yet by far the most poignant moment for Neville in J.K. Rowling's novels is the section of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that takes us to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
In that book Harry, Ron, and Hermione visit the wizarding world's leading medical facility to see Arthur Weasley after Voldemort's snake Nagini attacks him, yet when they accidentally arrive on the wrong floor they come across Neville's parents, Frank and Alice
The former Aurors were tortured until they were husks of themselves by Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange. It's a key piece of info the film's leave out and one that helps explain Neville — and his determination to defeat Voldemort — more than any other.
