There are popular franchises, but the Wizarding World is on another level entirely. The Harry Potter movies made J.K. Rowling's novels even more popular, and its expanded to spinoffs, theme parks, stage plays, video games, and more. A new book to screen adaptation is coming with the forthcoming Harry Potter TV show, which is filming now. It looks like my one of my favorite villains is being introduced early this time around: Lucius Malfoy.
What we know about the Harry Potter TV show changes day to day, thanks to news trickling out as Season 1 films. Actor Johnny Flynn has been cast as Lucius, taking on the role from Jason Isaacs. But in both the novels and movies he doesn't usually show up until the first sequel, The Chamber of Secrets. The actor spoke to The Standard about his experience so far, gushing:
It’s good, I’ve only done a little bit and I’m just giddy as a fan of the stories, of the books really. I still remember reading the books as a teenager and they meant so much to me and so much to my kids so it’s really cool to be apart of this.
While the elder Malfoy might be one of the biggest villains in Harry Potter, it sounds like Flynn is feeling more like a kid in a candy store. I've always been fascinated by Draco's family, so I'm hyped about Lucius seemingly getting introduced earlier in the forthcoming TV version. Bring on the twisted Death Eater family dynamic!
Flynn has some big shoes to fill, as Jason Isaacs famously played Lucius Malfoy to perfection throughout the movies, appearing in a total of five of the Warner Bros. blockbusters. But we should presumably have way more time with the character in the TV version, thanks to each book being told across a full season of episodes. He's always been a favorite of mine, so this is a very exciting concept.
News about the Harry Potter show has been slowly trickling out, leading to a ton of discourse from the generations of fans out there. Franchise director Chris Columbus criticized the show for having identical costumes to the movies, and each new casting announcement goes viral. There's also plenty of positive buzz involved, including Jon Lithgow playing Albus Dumbledore.
Hardcore fans of the Potter books out there are intrigued by the TV version, as it should presumably be a more faithful adaptation. Trying to fit each of the long books into a movie length of time meant that plenty of content needed to be left on the cutting room floor, including entire characters and plot lines.
The Harry Potter franchise is streaming in its entirety on HBO Max, which will also be the home of the TV show. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait a while for the latter as it's not expected to be released until 2027.
