A Forgotten Ghost Will Haunt HBO’s Harry Potter — With Help From A Legendary Star Wars Voice
The magical (if misguided) remake has a bigger canvas to tell its story with.
Warner Bros.’ Harry Potter films were cinematic juggernauts, each a hefty adaptation of the source material — but even with some clocking in well over two hours, they were never copy-paste adaptations. There’s always something that will be left out in the process of bringing a story from page to screen. Sometimes it’s the intimate details of a character’s motivation; sometimes it’s the character itself. That’s just the way it goes for movie adaptations sometimes, but HBO’s Harry Potter remake, by virtue of being a series, won’t have a similar struggle.
“When you think of the love of that franchise and what you can do in a series, [we] can go deeper,” said JB Perrette, head of streaming for WB Discovery, in a recent interview with Variety. “[We] can tell more of the story, can tell more of the pieces that you didn’t get to capture in a two-hour movie.”
One of those pieces is a ghostly character that was excised completely from all eight original films: Peeves the Poltergeist. The specter, who haunts the Hogwarts halls with a mischievous bent, was originally slated to appear in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, with British comedian Rik Mayall slated to bring him to life. Mayall’s scenes were shot but were eventually cut for time, and no Harry Potter film thereafter tried to reverse that choice. Many a Harry Potter fan regards that as a missed opportunity — and with interest in the franchise long waning, most feel that it’s too late to make good on it. Of course, that won’t stop the new Harry Potter from trying.
Peter Serafinowicz will play Peeves the Poltergeist in future seasons of Harry Potter.
Peter Serafinowicz has been tapped to portray Peeves in HBO’s Harry Potter. The British actor has popped up in tons of genre projects over the years — he’s the one who mutters “What a bunch of a-holes” in Guardians of the Galaxy, and he also provided the voice of Darth Maul in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. He’s also a gifted comedian — see Spaced, and Shaun of the Dead for proof — both of which also featured new Potter co-star, Nick Frost. So, in terms of humor, Peeves is inarguably in good hands. With filming of Season 1 reportedly wrapped, we may not see the poltergeist in Harry Potter until Season 2. Still, the fact that he’ll appear at all speaks to the production’s attention to detail.
The addition of Peeves won’t be the only means of beefing up the story. Harry Potter will also pay more heed to antagonists like Draco Malfoy — and with eight-ish hours to tell its story instead of two, the same can probably be said for other supporting characters. The series will likely end up being the most indulgent adaptation of the Wizarding World. It’s just a shame it’s coming at such an inopportune moment. Many have turned against the franchise on the whole due to the transphobic views of its creator, who’s still heavily involved at every level. Rowling remains an executive producer on Harry Potter, which sours any otherwise-smart choices the series makes. It’s nice to see the passion on display from the stewards of the new show, but the circumstances surrounding Harry Potter couldn’t be more haunting.
