#chamomiledaze

[joannerowling]

do you think they'll ever go for another HP spinoff? Both Cursed Child and Fantastic Beasts received poor or mixed reviews at best and were not that popular (I don't think anyone has ever referenced them IRL in my experience) so I doubt they'll be trying another spinoff anytime soon. Perhaps after the HP show is over in a decade? I really hope not lol, I found both CC and FB incredibly uninteresting and basic (Ezra Miller and Johnny Depp really turned me off too lol) and I figure any other spin off would be just as disappointing.

I also think the terminally online fans going "No one wants this! we want a spinoff about the founders or marauders!" are so incredibly out of touch. the HP show everyone will watch, however no one would care about either of those except super duper HP fans. If I said "marauders" IRL I highly doubt anyone would even know what I'm referencing. Also why on earth would they take a gamble on a new show after CC and FB flopped? and these terminally online JKR haters complaining about the show and screaming for a Jegulus spinoff instead also hated and complained about CC and FB for the most part? it's such a bizarre reaction that is based exclusively in 'I hate jkr and want to complain' instead of any actual desires on their part IMO

Will there ever be another HP spinoff?

Short answer: probably not.

Long answer: they can only greenlight a project with JKR's approval, so it really all depends on her. She's clearly not interested in writing more original Potter books right now, but she's ok letting others play with the IP in various media and/or commercial forms (except novels; duh, she's not stupid), so long as her specific wishes on some topics are met. So far, pretty successfully:

Theatre : Cursed Child, while hated by a vocal minority of (essentially book) fans, is a commercial and critical hit, winning several awards and touring in multiple countries while playing non-stop on the West End.

Video Games : Obviously a quite successful format, from the popular smartphone mini-games to Hogwarts Legacy. Nobody cared that much about HL's story, its success came down to the fun of actually getting to explore Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, etc.

Park theme(s) : Very successful and not to be underestimated creativity-wise, between decors, costumes, ancilliary products, etc. Again, the appeal is immersion and exploration rather than rides.

Supplementary non-fiction material : The "Hogwarts Library" supplementary books deepening the universe's lore have always been hits, hence WB using them as a base to develop FB.

Fantastic Beasts movie series (and the whole "wizarding world" brand) : The big disappointment. It didn't start so bad, the first was a success and well received. The second was too complicated and lost the GP, but still made money; and the third was better received but not well enough to save it. Still, even Secrets was more of a flop than a bomb (it made back its Covid-inflated budget twice after all, not enough to make a profit but better than nothing).

At some point, if i'm a WB exec and i'm a little smart, i start to notice patterns:

Normie fans and GA don't want new "wizarding world" stories: they want an immersive experience. Movies are a bad format for that. You just can't cram too much stuff in a movie without shit becoming real expensive real fast.

Book fans hate everything new in general, even with Jo's involvement it's getting touchy after FB and CC. (I'm sure an original novel would work but even that's risky and she's not interested anyways.)

On the other hand, book fans also famously disliked the movies, so a new, more faithful adaptation might interest them. Normie fans and GA too: they already know the story, so it's accessible, and parents would love sharing it with their kids.

Sales show that people in general are definitely still massively attached to Harry Potter, so it's worth investing.

TV adaptations of books following disappointing movies have been pretty successful recently: BBC/HBO's HDM, Netflix's Series of Unfortunate Events, etc.

TV's not a bad format for immersive story-telling. Not the best, but you have more screen time and it's usually cheaper to produce than films and more character driven, meaning more opportunities to add details and play with them. Enough "new" elements to stand apart from the movies and excite fans, but no risk of messing with canon.

For WB, a remake is a great middle ground to work with JKR in spite of her controversies: she's involved, but not too involved, because the story isn't a new one. It's not like she's writing an original script for them, she's just consulting to make sure they're not messing up. And for Jo? Also greatly convenient! She gets to make money with minimal work. She's a very busy woman you see, and she's got expenses (those rape crisis centers aren't paying for themselves).

Conclusion : Spin-offs = bad, expensive ideas almost bound to fail, unless they were adaptations of a new, critically acclaimed original novel by JKR, which will not happen any time soon. Remake = safer, actually something people want to see (or could be persuaded to watch if initially unconvinced, for the hardcore movie fans). Movies are (kinda) out, shows are (still) in. Carpe Diem, etc.

Will there specifically ever be a Marauders spinoff?

With the disclaimer that i'm not JKR so i can't actually know that but: no. Never. Not even a remote possibility, won't ever happen in a thousand years.

[cemeterygrace]

hey theres a terf in your reblogs on that post abt what to do for the next four years

the user is chamomiledaze and i think they may have not read any of the post at all actually

thanks for letting me know!

if y'all weren't aware, there's absolutely no space for terf bullshit on my blog please and thank you ☺️

[joannerowling]

did you hear that the costume designer for poor things is apparently the head costume designer for HP? I never saw poor things but the outfits I thought were super interesting and whimsical so I think she's a great choice from what I can tell

Yes, it's good news! Poor Things was disappointed, i quite liked The Favourite so i was anticipating it, and the costumes and set are indeed fantastic, but the actual movie was off-putting (and frankly so is Emma Stone at this point, i'm tired of her girl-woman act). Anyways, we don't need to care about any of that! Good snatch for the HP show, and reciprocally, she'll be having a lot of fun for years to come.

[joannerowling]

oh also, everyone keeps going "who asked for this??" as if all of the HP fandom hasn't been whinging about the films and asking for a show instead for like, a decade or more at this point. Plus it will have been about fifteen years since the last film came out by the time and 25 years since the first film by they release the first season so complaints of "it's too soon!" are bizarre.

Could not agree more. If Disney could successfully convince a billion people to watch a shot-for-shot remake of The Lion King with worst versions of the songs and uncanny valley CGI, you cannot convince me they won't watch a new version of Harry Potter in live-action especially if it's in the comfort of their home during the Christmas month lol. There was 16 years between Star Wars ep 6 and ep 1, and 10 years between ep 3 and ep 7. This is completely average.

[joannerowling]

"@joannerowling lol I’m misogynistic for having an opinion? Just because she’s won awards doesn’t always mean the work is amazing. She has racist stereotypes in her books and in general is pretty racist. Also what’s with the slave race in Harry Potter? It’s mediocre."

the replies are turned off now lol but this is hysterical. I love the idea that something being problematic means it's bad. maybe Shakespeare has offensive portrayals of women or Joan of Arc but I'm not gonna sit here and go "ugh Shakespeare is mediocre. Why? Well because he portrayed Joan of Arc in a misogynistic way." Like okay you still didn't answer the question because that's a criticism of a political or moral opinion you disagree with, not of the quality of the work. also with the house-elves the replier clearly does not understand Stockholm Syndrome, is unaware of the og S.P.E.W, thinks that jkr for some reason should not adapt folklore for her own series but follow it to a T exactly (if she did they'd accuse her of being a plagiarist and unoriginal lol) ... anyways pity I can't reply so I'm sending you an ask instead

I'd say that's because they don't teach kids literary criticism anymore, but considering the extreme (and i do not exaggerate) levels of stupidity i've seen coming from people who were supposedly studying literature in big, famous American or British universities, i don't think that's enough to explain it lol.

[joannerowling]

have you seen Adolescence on Netflix? It was interesting.. some great acting from the main kid and culturally relevant so I think it's worth watching. I'm waiting for a response before I send any spoilers asking for your opinion lol

No but i have heard of it! Now that you've recommended it i'm curious. I'll look it up during the week (not tonight cause tuesdays are always very busy but probably tomorrow).