While House of the Dragon season 3 might have been massive, another upcoming HBO series will still undoubtedly mark the single biggest fantasy TV event of 2026. Fantasy TV has come a long way since Game of Thrones, HBO’s expensive and risky adaptation of author George RR. Martin’s A Song of Ice & Fire saga, first premiered in 2011. When that show started its run, the idea of an expensive, R-rated, mature fantasy TV show was almost unheard of.
In the years since, everything from The Witcher to Outlander, to Interview with the Vampire, to Arcane, to Prime Video’s Critical Role shows The Legend of Vox Machina and The Mighty Nein, has proven that fantasy shows don’t need to be remotely family-friendly to amass a huge audience and justify their big budgets and high production values. Meanwhile, this has allowed fantasy shows that do appeal to all ages to get even more ambitious.
While HBO’s His Dark Materials and Netflix’s Wednesday are also pricey, Prime Video’s Lord of the Ringr prequel The Rings of Power had a colossal budget that made not just Game of Thrones, but also its spinoffs House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, look comparatively modest. Although House of the Dragon broke various budget records with its first season, The Rings of Power was quick to equal and then outspend the HBO show. Now, HB’s upcoming Harry Potter reboot looks set to blow both franchises out of the water.
Harry Potter Is HBO’s Most Important Project Of The Decade
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Announced in 2023, HBO’s Harry Potter reboot is the cable network’s biggest project in years. The show’s run will begin with an eight-episode reimagining of the first novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, in late December 2026. The reboot is set to last seven seasons, with each season covering one of the novels in the original series.
Harry Potter creator J. K. Rowling’s history of outspoken transphobic comments has led to calls to boycott the series, but the making of documentary Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic rose to HBOMax’s number one most-watched spot upon its April release. As Wednesday season 3 moves away from its original magic school setting, it seems plausible that HBO’s show could fill its place in the market and prove a major hit.
Despite the controversy surrounding Rowling’s public history of transphobia, the Harry Potter franchise remains one of the biggest brands owned by Warner Brothers. While the Game of Thrones shows are massive, they are also squarely aimed at adult audiences alone, which massively limits their potential audience in comparison to the Harry Potter reboot. Meanwhile, the show’s biggest and most expensive competitors in the YA fantasy genre, like Disney’s Percy Jackson & The Olympians, have far less brand recognition than the Harry Potter books.
What HBO’s Harry Potter Needs To Do To Be Considered A Success
Thus, it seems entirely possible that HBO will get the historic hit that the cable network hopes for with the arrival of Harry Potter‘s reboot. However, it is not necessarily easy to work out what constitutes a success for a series of this scale. Taking a look at HBO’s biggest historic fantasy hits, like Game of Thrones’ final seasons and House of the Dragon, it becomes clear that the series will need to perform historically well to be considered a worthwhile investment.
Where Game of Thrones season 8 had a staggering 44-46 million multi-platform viewers per episode, House of the Dragon season 3 came close to replicating this with 34 million global viewers per outing. This might sound extraordinary, but it is worth noting that Netflix’s comparatively family-friendly fantasy series Wednesday season 2 garnered over 50 million views in only five days.
Thus, for Harry Potter‘s reboot to be considered a success, the show would not only need over 40 million global viewers within its first week, but also a regular audience of 40-45 million per episode. If Harry Potter‘s reboot can maintain over 30 million viewers by its season 1 finale, the show could potentially live up to its hype.
Harry Potter
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Dominic McLaughlin
Harry Potter
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Arabella Stanton
Hermione Granger
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Alastair Stout
Ron Weasley
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Janet McTeer
Minerva McGonagall
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