Warner Bros. Discovery may have inadvertantly confirmed that The Wizarding World of new HBO Harry Potter show.

Why The Wizarding World & Fantastic Beasts Films Failed

Eddie Redmayne as Newt in Fantastic Beasts The Secrets of Dumbledore

There are several key reasons why The Wizarding World spin-off movies failed. Firstly, they just didn't get people to come back to continue the series. While Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was a box office hit, it didn't set up enough exciting story threads to keep viewers intrigued. While the world of Harry Potter is intriguing, the reason viewers watched the original series was because of its strong characters. Also, much of the Fantastic Beasts series is original, meaning that the films don't have the strong backbone of J.K. Rowling's books to their stories on the new big screen releases.

Another big reason for the failure of the Fantastic Beasts movies is that they came too late. During the release of the original series, Harry Potter movies came out every one or two years from 2001 to 2011. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them came out five years later, meaning casual Harry Potter fans had already moved on. While the Fantastic Beasts movies mostly made their budget back, the timing and stories caused the series not to resonate with audiences. On top of this, the series has been on the receiving end of a lot of unfortunate luck when it came to actors changing and fans boycotting the franchise.

What's Next For The Harry Potter Franchise?

An aged Ron (Rupert Grint), Hermione (Emma Watson), Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), and Ginny (Bonnie Wright) smiling with their kids at 9 3/4 in Harry Potter: Death Hallows Part 2

While The Wizard World seemed to be going through a rough patch at the time of Zaslav's call, there are now Harry Potter movies and TV shows in development — meaning the franchise is far from over. Fantastic Beasts 4 probably won't happen, but Warner Bros. Discovery. made an internet-breaking reveal alongside the announcement of their name change from HBO Max to simply Max. As confirmed in 2023, the first-ever Harry Potter series would come to the streaming service. Not only that, but Max plans to implement a 10-year plan to bring all of J.K. Rowling's books to life again in a televised remake.

The news has been received mostly positively, despite some critical observations such as the fact the Harry Potter movies just ended only a decade ago (so it's a little early for a reboot by usual measures). However, by adapting this as a TV series, with one season telling each book's story, Max has a chance to tell the story in a way that movies never could. The most ardent novel readers could always point out what the movies left out of the story, and with a season's worth of episodes, the TV show could really bring the Wizarding World to life in all its glory. If anything, this could introduce a new younger generation to the Harry Potter world that enthused their parents when they were younger.