A new Harry Potter era is upon us! As the HBO series currently films in the U.K. with the first season among upcoming book adaptations for release in 2027, we’ve been starting to see the first images of the cast embodying these iconic characters from the fantasy series. Chris Columbus, who helmed the first two Harry Potter movies, has now commented on Nick Frost’s Hagrid, and I think he’s got some valid thoughts about what’s coming.
Chris Columbus Is Being Critical About The New Harry Potter Series
Chris Columbus deserves a lot of credit for bringing Harry Potter to the screen, given he was the first director to make a Harry Potter movie with 2001’s Sorcerer’s Stone before also helming the sequel, Chamber of Secrets. While he wouldn’t ultimately make the whole series, he was a big part of setting the tone of the franchise, casting its leads, coming up with the visual style of the Wizarding World and getting John Williams on board to compose its iconic score.
While talking to The Rest is Entertainment podcast (via THR), Columbus shared his thoughts on what he’s seen so far from the upcoming series. In his words:
I looked online, and there are photographs of Nick Frost as Hagrid with the new Harry Potter. And he’s wearing the exact same costume that we designed for Hagrid. Part of me was like: ‘What’s the point?’
The first look at Nick Frost’s Hagrid hit the internet last month, thanks to HBO sharing a photo of the actor in costume. Columbus shared that he noticed how close to Robbie Coltrane's costuming it looks before saying this as well:
I thought everything [on the HBO show] the costumes and everything was going to be different. It’s more of the same... It’s very flattering for me, because I’m like: That’s exactly the Hagrid costume that we designed. So part of it is really exciting. I’m excited to see what they’re going to do with it. Part of it is sort of déjà vu all over again.
To be fair, in the books, Hagrid is described as having a thick shaggy mane and beard while having a very kind nature, so both versions of Hagrid are true to that. One lingering question about Nick Frost’s version is whether he’ll appear taller since Hagrid is 8 '6" in the book, as the actor stands at 5' 7". (Coltrane was 6 ‘1").
As A Harry Potter Fan, He's Bringing Up A Growing Concern I Have For The Series
Anyways, Columbus’s comments bring up a solid point about how the series will choose to stand apart from the beloved movies, or copy the magic of the films because people already love them as they are. Obviously, fans like myself are already looking forward to seeing additional scenes from the book that couldn’t fit in the movies, but I also want the series to have its own identity as well.
I get frustrated with live-action versions of movies or remakes spending too much of its energy to deliver the same thing we’ve already seen, when there are a lot of creative paths one could go with the same material.
I hadn’t necessarily thought about this for Harry Potter, but now that Columbus has brought it up, my worry has grown about whether the TV show will feel more like a re-run than a new rendition of the series for a new generation.
