For those who haven’t seen “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” since its 2001 release, the new trailer for HBO’s “Harry Potter” series could stir up moments of déjà vu.
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Passionate fans of the original film adaptation might be able to pick up on slight alterations and expansion, but blink and you could miss them.
Much of what is shown in the trailer released on Wednesday is recognizable. Hogwarts looks familiar. So does Harry Potter’s bedroom in the broom closet. Most of the scenes shown — the ride on the Hogwarts Express, the Sorting Hat — look like a shot-for-shot recreation of the film series.
Of course, the trailer is only a two-minute preview of what will ultimately be an eight-episode season with plenty of room to go deeper and add fresh details, as its creators promise. But the newest trailer leaves a lot to be desired.
“This feels like one of those parallel universes where everything is the same, but slightly off,” one viewer commented on the YouTube clip for the series’ first trailer.
Another wrote, “It feels like seeing new people living in your old home.”
And another: “It’s like having a weird dream where your family members have different faces.”
The timing of the HBO series’ arrival is somewhat ironic. It debuts this December, just months after the massively successful original film series celebrates its 25-year anniversary.
But 25 years on, those films have hardly collected any dust. They are returning to theaters because audiences still want to see them. The new series won’t replace an obsolete and unloved version of “Harry Potter.” Instead, it is competing with one that never really went away.
That leaves the new “Harry Potter” series in a tricky position for a remake — it has to be different enough to justify its existence, but familiar enough to satisfy a fan base still in love with the original.
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Still, “Harry Potter” is far from the first series to get a premature remake. In an increasingly oversaturated and unpredictable media landscape, Hollywood has proven timid about originality and comfortable with familiarity — and recycling franchises has become a reliable strategy for attracting an audience.
That does not mean remakes are inherently bad. Some work, and they can be particularly worthwhile when previous adaptations have failed.
The 1984 film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s “Dune” was overstuffed, confusing and commercially unsuccessful. Decades later, Denis Villeneuve returned to the notoriously dense and complex novels with a sweeping, modern interpretation.
With “Dune,” the failure of the first adaptation left room for another attempt, especially because Villeneuve didn’t simply produce a redo with a new cast and updated visual effects. With “Harry Potter,” the success of the original films leaves less reason for another adaptation to exist.
The original “Harry Potter” films are not obscure, inaccessible or widely regarded as failed adaptations. They remain culturally enormous, and 25 years later, audiences are still showing up to see them.
After more than two decades, there is no question that we still want “Harry Potter.” The new TV series may make more room for the content of the books than the films could. But more of the same “Harry Potter” is not necessarily what audiences are looking for.
There is room for beloved stories to be told again. But the new “Harry Potter” has yet to prove it has anything new to contribute.
When does the ‘Harry Potter’ TV series come out?
The first season of “Harry Potter” will debut on Christmas Day, with new seasons expected to be released until 2036.
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