The Succession team is taking charge of the Harry Potter HBO series

If you still had reservations about the quality of HBO’s Harry Potter series, this announcement may well have changed your mind. On 26 June 2024, HBO revealed the creative team that will lead the project, and the names carry serious weight.

Francesca Gardiner will serve as showrunner and executive producer. If the name doesn’t ring a bell immediately, her work speaks for itself: Succession, His Dark Materials, Killing Eve. She’s the person who will shape the scripts, establish the tone, and make sure each season works both as faithful adaptation and as compelling television.

There’s more: Gardiner is a genuine fan. She’s openly said she identifies with Hermione Granger, has “an unappealing desire to be top of the class.” That matters. There’s a real difference between a showrunner who took the job as work and one who grew up with the books.

Mark Mylod will executive produce and direct multiple episodes. His CV is impeccable: Game of Thrones, Succession, The Last of Us. The man knows how to build worlds and extract emotion from a cast, and he knows the pressure here is immense.

How the choice was made

Gardiner’s selection wasn’t arbitrary. According to Deadline, she was chosen after a four-month process that involved J.K. Rowling directly. The author wanted an active role in choosing who would lead the creative direction of her most important work.

The writing team was also announced: Andy Greenwald, Bijan Sheibani, Josephine Gardiner, Laura Neal, Martha Hillier, Ripley Parker, Sam Holcroft and Ted Cohen will work alongside Francesca.

This is a team that came to make proper television, not streaming content churned out to hit a quota. Every piece of this is starting to look like a genuine, decade-long cultural event.

Casey Bloys, HBO’s CEO, put it plainly: “Francesca and Mark are extraordinary and have a proven track record of creating ambitious, exciting series. We are thrilled to have them leading this immensely important project.”

So are we, Casey. So are we.

This post is also available in: