The Harry Potter TV show is official, but Hogwarts Legacy fans don't seem all that excited about it.
Announced earlier this week, the show is described as a "faithful adaptation" of the books, planned to run for ten years. One might have assumed that would be music to the ears of Potter fans, but if the Hogwarts Legacy community is anything to go by, the response has been pretty muted.
In response to the news on the game's subreddit, fans have provided many reasons why they might take or leave the show. Sentiments range from an attachment to the original cast of Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson, to a desire for new stories - the Marauders and the Founders of Hogwarts are both held up as examples of excellent but unexplored narratives within the Harry Potter universe. Then there's the discussion about the relative age of the original films - the final movie is only 12 years old.
Much of the Hogwarts Legacy subreddit's ideal show seems to be based around the idea of life at Hogwarts rather than the more high-stakes stories elsewhere in the franchise. Given the domestic side of the game, that's not too much of a surprise - a significant part of the project's selling point was its recreation of Hogwarts and its student body, providing an in-depth restoration beyond anything else in the franchise.
Hogwarts Legacy's impressive sales are likely a helpful contributing factor to the existence of this new show, so it's interesting to see the community's lukewarm response to the new project. I might have assumed that a group of people excited enough about a virtual Wizarding World to join its dedicated subreddit would have been chomping at the bit for more Harry Potter, but perhaps there's a touch of franchise fatigue at play.
The release of Hogwarts Legacy has been the subject of criticism and debate due to J.K. Rowling's public stance on gender identity, which continues to challenge the inclusivity at the heart of the Harry Potter community. Here is our explainer on the Hogwarts Legacy controversy.
