‘Harry Potter’ Director Chris Columbus Praises HBO’s Upcoming TV Reboot: “A Spectacular Idea”

Original Harry Potter helmer Chris Columbus is praising HBO’s forthcoming television reboot, calling it a “spectacular idea” that will allow for the exploration of previously uncharted Hogwarts hallways.

“There’s a certain restriction when you’re making a film,” the Nosferatu producer told People. The Oscar-nominated multi-hyphenate — who oversaw 2001’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and 2002’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets — noted that there isn’t a spell that can magically cram novel-length material into a tight feature.

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“Our film was 2 hours and 40 minutes, and the second one was almost as long,” he said, adding that his productions attempted to “get as much of the book in as possible.”

Much ado has been made about the ambitious revival, which HBO & Max Content chairman and CEO Casey Bloys vowed would be a “faithful adaptation” based on author J.K. Rowling’s beloved children’s book series and span “10 consecutive years,” defying previous early reports that the serialized adaptation would follow a book-a-season format. As a result, there is a lot more breathing room for discarded plotlines.

“The fact that they have the leisure of [multiple] episodes for each book, I think that’s fantastic,” the Home Alone filmmaker said. “You can get all the stuff in the series that we didn’t have an opportunity to do … all these great scenes that we just couldn’t put in the films.”

He concluded, “I look forward to seeing what they’re trying to do with it. I think it’s great.”

Per previous reporting, principal photography will commence this summer, spearheaded by showrunner Francesca Gardiner. A jaw-dropping 32,000 children have since auditioned for the coveted trio of Harry, Hermione and Ron, originated by Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint.

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