I Was A Hardcore Harry Potter Fan. One Bad Choice Tanked The Franchise Forever

The first "Harry Potter" movie — "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," or "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" if you're outside of the United States — released on my birthday, which felt like fate considering that I was already deeply obsessed with the first three novels. I grew up with Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, the franchise's central characters informally known as the "golden trio" (and who are played by Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson in the films), and I bought the books at midnight and went to opening screenings of the movies. 

Even as I got older, I still loved and cherished the "Harry Potter" books and movies — to the point where my original hardcovers are all falling apart. This is all to say that I was a diehard fan of "Harry Potter" for the majority of my conscious life, and when the "Fantastic Beasts" spin-off series came out in 2016, I was at least intrigued.

Then I saw the movie.

I'd be remiss if I didn't say that, since 2020, Joanne "J.K." Rowling (who has me blocked on X, actually!) has also driven me away from the wizarding world she created with her increasingly bigoted fervor over the transgender community. As Rowling continues to couch a "concern" for women's safety in vile, transphobic rhetoric, it's definitely affected whatever affection I still have left for "Harry Potter," but even before that, the "Fantastic Beasts" movies kicked off this entire franchise's descent into Hell. Part of the reason for this is because, well, the "Fantastic Beasts" movies are largely bad and only get worse as they go on ... but it's also because there are a litany of great spin-off possibilities in the world of "Harry Potter," and those movies are the worst possible option.

The "Fantastic Beasts" movies — or at least, the inaugural one released in 2016, "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" — are based on a tiny little book that could be more accurately described as a pamphlet of sorts. In the original "Harry Potter" books, "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" is a standard textbook for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and is, in fact, one that Harry, Ron, and Hermione all need to purchase. Joanne "J.K." Rowling released a standalone copy of this slim book for real-life "Harry Potter" fans with the fictional wizard Newt Scamander's name listed as the author; in the movie adaptation of this fake textbook, Newt Scamander is played by Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne, who portrays the magical zoologist as he tracks animals in and around London.

The first "Fantastic Beasts" movie is, to be fair, fine — it's not particularly good or bad, but just sort of ... there. The same can't be said for the sequels, which produced such diminishing returns that the series just sort of stalled, and as of this writing, there's no word on whether or not more "Fantastic Beasts" movies will ever come to pass. Throw in the controversial choice to cast and defend Johnny Depp as the franchise's "big bad" Gellert Grindelwald — even though the character is played by Colin Farrell in the inaugural movie, meaning he can apparently change his appearance whenever he wants — and you've got a flat-out cruddy franchise on your hands. The second sequel, "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald," came out in 2018, and the third, "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore," in 2022, twisting the franchise's canon into knots. So what would have been better?

I'll admit this is anecdotal, but as someone who spent years in the trenches of the "Harry Potter" fandom, I know what fans wanted, and it was a spin-off (and prequel) about the Marauders. A gang of four best friends — one of whom is Harry's late dad, James Potter, flanked by Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin — who attend Hogwarts alongside future professors like Severus Snape (played by Alan Rickman in the movies). While they're at Hogwarts, Sirius, Peter, and James learn that Remus is hiding a secret — he's a werewolf who uses a shack in the neighboring town of Hogsmeade to stay safe during his monthly transformations — they decide to become Animagi, meaning they can transform into animals at will. Every full moon, when Remus becomes a wolf, James, Sirius, and Peter become a stag, a large black dog, and a rat, respectively. 

Doesn't that sound extremely fun?! I know it does! I'd watch the crap out of this! Unfortunately, as more time goes by, it seems clearer and clearer that we won't ever get any sort of Marauders property. What we're getting instead is a televised do-over of the original "Harry Potter" films, which is sort of weird considering that the film franchise ended in 2011. There's a whole new cast taking over the beloved roles — including John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore — and a whole new wizarding world coming our way, except it's not "new." It's the same thing they already did. Add in all of the controversy surrounding Joanne "J.K." Rowling herself, and this whole thing seems poised to crash and burn. 

In any case, we're getting a "Harry Potter" TV series in 2026 ... but the damage to the franchise is done.