This December, audiences will be transported back to the Wizarding world of Harry Potter. Of course, those born in the mid-to-late ’90s will have fond memories of the movie franchise. Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint as Harry, Hermione, and Ron, the original Harry Potter movies spanned a decade of people’s childhoods, culminating in the release of The Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Part 2 in 2010 and 2011. As with many media franchises, HBO’s Harry Potter adaptation has a lot to prove, and nostalgia is a hell of a drug. Some have already expressed weird feelings about seeing the all-new cast instead of seeing the familiar faces they know and love. But if they’re struggling with new faces, then they’ll be even more devastated to learn that the reboot’s music will be nothing like the movies either.

Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone really hit the ball out of the park when hiring John Williams for the movie’s score, as iconic themes are his bread and butter. Jaws, Jurassic Park, Star Wars and Indiana Jones are iconic classics — and that’s to name a few. Like those franchises, Williams’s ‘Hedwig’s Theme’ is hard to separate from Harry Potter, and he composed themusic for the first three movies. The HBO show has brought in an equally talented musician, Hans Zimmer, best known for his work on The Dark Knight (2008), Dune (2021) and The Lion King (1994), and it isn’t the first time he has written for an IP previously helmed by Williams. Zimmer composed the score for Man of Steel (2013), while Williams had originally written music for Superman (1978) and its sequel two years later. Referencing this experience, the composer said he could not write like Williams, even if he wanted to, and that he “would try to stay away as far as possible and try to be original” with his Harry Potter score.

Warner Bros. Pictures

Zimmer also revealed that Williams’s magnitude had him doubting he could do a good job on Man of Steel, leading producer Christopher Nolan to urge Snyder to check on him (via Collider):
“When I was doing ‘Man of Steel,’ which, of course, is Superman, for three months I was running around going, ‘I don’t know. I can’t do this. I can’t do this because it’s John Williams. John Williams is — it’s brilliant! It’s brilliant! […] Zack phoned me and said, ‘Can I come down?’ I go, ‘I don’t really have anything,’ and he goes, ‘Well, I’ll be there on Tuesday.’ So I came up with a tune, but I still was incredibly worried about it.”
There’s no denying the franchise’s influence, especially on the reboot’s aesthetics, which led some to question why it was happening in the first place. But one aspect that HBO has been adamant about is following the book’s plot as closely as possible; while The Sorcerer’s Stone and The Chamber of Secrets were more book-accurate, the later movies left a lot on the cutting room floor. Instead, the TV series will adapt one book per season, distinguishing itself over time with differing portrayals and deeper world-building. Guess we’ll have to wait and see if HBO can recapture the magic for Christmas Day.

Harry Potter

Release Date

2026 – 2026

Showrunner

Francisca Gardiner

Directors

Mark Mylod

Writers

Francesca Gardiner

Dominic McLaughlin

Harry Potter

Arabella Stanton

Hermione Granger

Alastair Stout

Ron Weasley