The Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first entry in a series of seven novels telling the story of “the boy who lived” and his battle against the darkest wizard of all: Lord Voldemort.
The Harry Potter novels made the jump to the big screen between 2001 and 2011, with the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, divided into two movies. The HBO Max is said to be developing a TV series from the Harry Potter universe, it’s a new opportunity to focus on some of those stories the movies couldn’t tell, and there’s one that deserves to be explored: the history of the Gaunt family.
The Gaunt family, or House of Gaunt, was a family of pure-blood wizards who would marry their cousins so they could keep their blood pure and the traits of their ancestor (Salazar Slytherin), most notably the ability to speak Parseltongue. They were once a wealthy and prominent family in the wizarding world, but by the early 20th century they had been reduced to poverty, and years of inbreeding turned them violent and volatile. The Gaunts are descended from powerful witches and wizards like Slytherin and Cus Peverell, one of the masters of the Deathly Hallows who possessed the Resurrection Stone, and one of their ancestors, Isolt Sayre, founded the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Perhaps the best-known part of the history of the House of Gaunt is that about Merope Gaunt who went against her family’s beliefs and married a muggle, though it’s believed she used either the Lord Voldemort. Sure, the history of the House of Gaunt wouldn’t be complete without Voldemort, but he doesn’t have to be the main focus, with the series being part of his story rather than focused solely on it.
Covering the backstory of the Gaunts would also expand the Harry Potter saga and fill in some blanks left by the movies, thus elevating the overall experience of the Wizarding World and avoiding the Harry Potter TV series has a lot of potential as there are many different stories it can cover, and that of the House of Gaunt is one of the most interesting ones in the Wizarding World.