What does “Harry Potter” creator J.K. Rowling have in common with “Game of Thrones” mastermind George R.R. Martin? Aside from being responsible for two of the most widely loved fantasy series of all times, both authors also have homes on HBO.
No, there isn’t a “Harry Potter” TV series headed to HBO. But HBO is getting into business with Rowling regardless. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Rowling is partnering up with the premium cable network, as well as the BBC, to adapt her best-selling novel as a three-hour miniseries.
“The Casual Vacancy,” the first novel Rowling released after the publication of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” tells a very different story and takes place in a very different setting than the wizarding world. It centers on the English village of Pagford, a quiet and peaceful place on the surface. In reality, the town’s inhabitants are warring with each other over petty differences, political posturing and all other kinds of conflicts, from marital strife to class warfare and beyond.
No Voldemort, in other words, but unspeakable evils of a different color.
Production on “The Casual Vacancy” begins this summer in southwest England, with no cast members in place just yet. Could we see some of the “Harry Potter” veterans in the mix — your Jason Isaacs and Timothy Spalls of the world, if not quite the Daniel Radcliffes and Emma Watsons? Keep your fingers crossed.
By the way, if you’re aching for more “Potter” action, you’re in luck: Rowling is writing the screenplay for the first of a planned trilogy of movies set in the wizarding world, taking place many years before the “Harry Potter” series.
Are you excited to see Rowling’s “Casual Vacancy” on HBO?
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