HARRY POTTER director Chris Columbus talks about the biggest challenge in remaking the story in the new series

THE Harry Potter the book series will be adapted once again, but this time instead of eight films, each of the seven novels will be a separate television season.

The long-form television style is perfect for these books, as the main complaint from fans was that from book 3 onwards, too much was left out of the films.

The books were so rich in lore that the movies couldn’t capture them, and hopefully the show will be able to include a lot more.

But there’s one issue that the TV adaptation addresses that the films didn’t, and that is fan expectations. Director Chris Colombowho directed the first two films in the series, recently weighed in on the monumental task that awaits the new creators.

Columbus shared his thoughts with Empire magazine (via Nerd Informants) about the challenges the series faces, explaining how its relationship with the films could make or break its success. He first focused on the positive aspects of the television format, saying:

“Look, I wish them good luck. With the TV series you have the opportunity to film practically the entire book. So it’s exciting. They can get into things that we could never get into… [like] the character of Peeves, who we tried to include in the first film.”

He went on to talk about what he believes to be their biggest obstacle:

“They have a little bit of a challenge, I think. There’s a certain stylistic quality to those films that you have to let go of [from] or you have to hug.

“Do they completely rethink what Hogwarts looks like? Do they use the John Williams theme? I don’t know how you do it. But I can’t wait to see it.”

There are many decisions to make. The films are what people imagine when they think of Harry Potter. It will be complicated to choose new characters and even decide how the sets will look.

I hope they manage to pull this off and tell a story as memorable and iconic as the films managed to do.