This Is Why I'm Watching HBO's New 'Harry Potter' Series

I have been an enormous "Harry Potter" fan for most of my life. I read the first book in my teens, to children I was babysitting for, and fell in love with the story, the world, and the greater expanded universe. That love remains in adulthood, where I've come to appreciate the stories from the perspective of the parents rather than the titular character and his three friends.

As someone who prefers the books to the movies, in almost all scenarios, the film adaptations starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint were solid offerings that still left a lot on the table. I understand why: it's hard to condense hundreds of pages into two or two-and-a-half-hour films, and there are hundreds of pages. "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" has 636 pages, "Half-Blood Prince" has 652, and "Deathly Hallows" has 759. The longest book in the series, "Order of the Phoneix" has 870.

So cuts have to be made. Character arcs get shortened or altered. Some characters get removed altogether, and scenes that may be interesting are left on the cutting-room floor for the sake of run-time.

That's why I was thrilled to hear HBO was taking on a television adaptation of the series. That would allow the time and ability to put back into the world some of the things that were missing, like Peeves the Poltergeist, Winky the House-Elf, and the extended scene at St. Mungo's Hospital in "Order of the Phoenix" that gives us deeper insight into Harry's fellow Gryffindor and Neville Longbottom.

No, I am not happy at all about Paapa Essiedu being cast as Severus Snape. It goes beyond the fact that Snape is repeatedly described as pale, sallow, and white in the books, too. From the moment I read the first one, I pictured Alan Rickman as Snape and his casting was perfect. No one will ever come close to that, but there were alternatives out there, including Adam Driver. Casting a black man as Severus Snape — who is downright vile and abusive to Harry and friends throughout the books — adds in a layer of racial politics the series does not need, and one that could harm it. On top of that, we learn that Harry's father, James, was a bully towards Severus while they were in school together. Casting Snape as a black man who is picked on by a group of white boys makes that racial politics dynamic even worse. That being said, out of my love for the series, I'm trying to keep an open mind. Perhaps the producers won't interject race into it and Essiedu will play Snape straight. I could live with that, even if Leftists apply a racial lens to the series.

By "transphobic causes," what they mean is Rowling will help protect women and girls by providing them single-sex spaces, such as women's shelters, and providing legal support to women who face termination from their jobs and other penalties for standing up for their rights to single-sex spaces and women's rights.

The Left hates women, of course, and they especially hate women who don't bend the knee to their ideology. Which is ironic, considering Rowling is as reliably Leftist as one can be in every other aspect of her politics. But it proves my point that only total submission is good enough for the Left, and they'll abuse all the women they have to to get it.

Let me be clear: "transphobia" doesn't exist. No one has an irrational fear of trans people. Women, however, do have a completely rational and justifiable fear of having men in their locker rooms, maternity wards, bathrooms, and rape-crisis shelters.

And I want you to think about the insanity of the Left's claim here for a minute. They are saying that, by protecting women from the men who are often their abusers, Rowling is committing this unforgivable crime of being "transphobic." They are demanding women make themselves uncomfortable, vulnerable to sexual abuse and assault, and even at risk of rape and murder so that delusional men can feel good about themselves.

I'm not really worried, of course. The Left tried something similar in 2023 when it called for a boycott of the "Hogwarts: Legacy" video game, going so far as to get streamers who played the game demonitized or banned from platforms. The game did more than $1 billion in sales, and Rowling herself likely made a pretty penny from that. In fact, she brings in $50-$100 million per year from Harry Potter-related royalties.

That will help a lot of women, and there isn't a thing the Left can do about it. It reminds me of a quote from Bobby Axlerod, on the show "Billions": "What's the point of having 'f*** you' money if you never say 'f*** you'?" That's Rowling right now.

So, despite my misgivings about the casting, you better believe I will tune in to every single episode of this series. Rowling does not need my money, but I will stand in solidarity with her and the women she protects against the hateful attacks of the Left.