13 ways the Harry Potter TV series could be salvaged – from Peeves to Voldemort's death

Rowling has faced backlash in some quarters due to her views on transgender rights. In 2020, she published a lengthy statement detailing her stance on sex and gender debates – the essay was criticised and disputed by LGBTQ+ charities including Stonewall.

Rowling has also shared her views on social media, including in a 2024 post on X (formerly Twitter), in which she insisted that “there are no trans kids” and opposed the idea that a child can be “born in the wrong body”.

In May 2025, Rowling set up the JK Rowling Women’s Fund, which describes itself as offering legal funding support to “individuals and organisations fighting to retain women’s sex-based rights”.

The Harry Potter books have also already been adapted into a massively successful film franchise – and not even that long ago.

But, for all our cynicism, the recent announcement that Professor Binns will appear in the series has proven it can at least offer something the films never did – enough time for an in-depth adaptation of the books.

After all, the plan is to dedicate a full season of the TV show to each book, allowing around an extra eight hours per book to add back in back stories, scrapped characters, and moments that the films just did not do justice.

So, while not everyone is happy about the TV series at all, if it does have to happen, there may be a few ways it can be salvaged for those who make the decision to watch it. Here's how.

1. Add Peeves back in

It's the obvious answer for a reason. Peeves was a hugely important character in the Harry Potter books who was unceremoniously cut from the films due to a lack of technology at the time.

Comedian and actor Rik Mayall was lined up to play the mischievous poltergeist who's at the heart of every bit of chaos at Hogwarts, but the original film's director Chris Columbus has revealed that his scenes had to be scrapped as no one was happy with how Peeves looked.

Peeves was behind some of the funniest moments in the Potter books, and some of the most memorable – including helping Fred and George Weasley's exit from Hogwarts in the Order of the Phoenix.

Of course, Mayall sadly died in 2014, meaning another actor would have to step in as Peeves. But now, with time to spare and all the technology available to studios, there's no excuse for not bringing him back.

2. Give Ginny a personality

Ginny Weasley was one of the films' biggest failures. Book Ginny was funny, clever, feisty, and an absolute quidditch pro.

Film Ginny (played by Bonnie Wright, who should bear none of the blame since she was working with the material she was given) encapsulated very little of this – and it had a huge impact on the films as a whole.

Her entire relationship with Harry made little to no sense, with a complete lack of chemistry in the films, whereas the books show a gradual and very organic relationship growing between the pair as they grow up.

Plus, her dynamic with the rest of her family suffered. As the only Weasley daughter, Book Ginny completely held her own with her brothers, inheriting Fred and George's mischievous spark. If it has any chance of succeeding, the series needs to get this right.

3. Spend some time with SPEW

Justice for the House Elves! One of the most memorable and important storylines for Hermione throughout the books was her concern for House Elf rights, which led to the founding of the one-woman Society for the Prevention of Elfish Welfare (SPEW).

Despite the limited success of SPEW, its omission from the films also meant we spent limited time with House Elves that weren't Dobby.

The Black family's House Elf Kreacher, for instance, only appeared in a few scenes, and Barty Crouch's House Elf, Winky, who provided a completely different perspective to Dobby, was cut out of the films entirely.

Reinstating SPEW into the series would go some way to remedy this, and to expand on a huge part of Hermione's character – her sense of morality and justice, and staying true to what she believes in, even in the face of ridicule.

4. Give us more of Neville's backstory

Neville was another character a little hard done by in the films. Despite being played brilliantly by Matthew Lewis, a few key parts of his story were either left out completely, or not explored in as much depth as they should have been.

The most prominent one was his parents, Frank and Alice, who were tortured into insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange.

A heartbreaking moment from the books sees Harry and his friends visiting St Mungo's Hospital, where they encounter Neville visiting his parents and realise a little of what he's been going through. It's a huge part of what builds Neville into the character he becomes in Deathly Hallows.

Another plot line that was dropped in the movies was the possibility of Neville being the Chosen One, fitting the prophecy of the child being born in July to parents that had defeated Voldemort three times.

5. Actually cast Charlie Weasley

Despite having a pretty big role in the books, Charlie Weasley never actually appeared in the film series – apart from in a brief shot of a Weasley family photo.

The second-oldest Weasley brother is known for his love of dragons, as well as his quidditch prowess. While he's located in Romania for much of the story, whenever there's a dragon about, Charlie's the one to call.

He could feature from the first season onwards, due to the arrival of Norbert, the young Norwegian Ridgeback that Hagrid hatches in his hut in Harry's first year at Hogwarts.

6. No cringey cameos

With the confirmation that Warwick Davis will reprise his role as Professor Filius Flitwick, it feels a little like the floodgates are about to open for cameos from the original cast – but this would be a huge mistake.

If it has any chance of succeeding, the series has to feel original, and seeing Tom Felton play Lucius Malfoy, for instance, would feel incredibly jarring.

The option was there to make a sequel, prequel or spin-off – but if this is a remake, then let's stick to that.

7. Some original visuals

Speaking of originality...

As original director Columbus pointed out, it was incredibly disheartening to see portraits of Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid in a costume that looks almost identical to the one designed for Robbie Coltrane in the original films.

The TV series is a chance to reimagine the books and if they end up being a shot-for-shot remake of the films, there's simply no point.

Of course, some elements of the series may be a little hard to change – Harry's appearance, for example. But there's also a huge opportunity to reimagine plenty of the visuals, giving it a different tone and a feel to the films, which would work to justify the choice to remake them in the first place.

8. Character building – and comedy

More generally, the films don't have the luxury of building out the characters as much as the books do – or including much of the comedy that's included in them, from Fred and George's constant antics to Mr Weasley's obsession with muggles, from Lee Jordan's quidditch commentary, to McGonagall's sass.

With any luck, there'll be plenty of different perspectives in the series, helping us to gain more of an insight into the characters that were a little abandoned in the films, including other students attending Hogwarts alongside Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

9. Don't miss out The Marauders

On the topic of important book characters that didn't quite make the cut in the films, surely a large amount of time will have to be dedicated to the Marauders.

In fact, it could be argued that a Marauders prequel series could have actually made more sense than a straight Harry Potter remake – at least it would have given us something new.

However, fans of the big four, James Potter, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew, may have to settle for seeing some flashbacks as part of the main series.

The Marauders were a huge part of the Potter books and inextricably linked to so many events in the main series that the TV version surely will have to do them justice.

10. Let us see more lessons

It's not always essential for us to see the ins and outs of a potions lesson or a charms class, but part of the magic of Hogwarts was in fact the stuff that the students would have found pretty boring.

The films do strike a balance of showing us the events of lessons that are important to the plot (who could forget Lupin's "Riddikulus" Boggart lesson?) but the series will presumably have the luxury of doing this more often. Plus, as the students grow older, their exams provide a crucial backdrop to life at Hogwarts.

11. Do right by Dumbledore's funeral

Dumbledore's death in The Half-Blood Prince was a devastating event that rocked the entire Wizarding World. Of course, in the films, it's given its moment – but Dumbledore's funeral was never seen on screen (although concept art of it was released).

The emotional event features wizards from across the country paying their respects in a scene that has the potential to be incredibly cinematic if it is featured on screen in the series.

12. Include Voldemort's backstory

We saw plenty of Voldemort/Tom Riddle in the Potter films, but there was still a big element of his character that was cut out completely – his ancestry.

We discover that Voldemort is a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin, but was left unaware of the Wizarding World or his heritage after being born in an orphanage.

Throughout his teenage years, he learns more about his family – and becomes obsessed with the idea of "pure-blood supremacy", laying the foundation for the monster he would become.

13. Make sense of Voldemort's death

One of the biggest failures of the entire Potter film series came at the very end – when we finally witness Voldemort's death. In fact, it sort of misses the point completely.

After the destruction of the horcruxes, it becomes possible to kill the wizard that has haunted nightmares for decades.

Finally, Harry defeats him and, as he dies, Voldemort simply falls to the ground as any other mortal human would – proving that he's not going to slip away into the night, or be resurrected somehow as he has been time and time again. It finally provides some closure.

In the final film, that detail is lost as we see Voldemort's body shredded into pieces after Harry defeats him. It suggests that Voldemort had lost every part of his humanity and overlooks the book's point that, in the end, he too was just a man.

The Harry Potter series will stream on HBO Max in 2027.

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