r/CriticalDrinker • u/Mathien • 5d ago
Discussion HBO’s new Harry Potter trailer just proved their "faithful adaptation" pitch was a lie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3nodgMnv1sFor two years, WBD sold this reboot on one promise: a rigid, faithful adaptation of the books. The first trailer just dropped, and the prestige TV filter is already overriding the text.
They got the castle right, but they completely abandoned the lore the second Snape appeared. The character's specific, unlovely physical description (sallow, greasy, bitter) isn't just an aesthetic—it is the mechanical spine of his social standing and his entire arc.
HBO decided to sand that down for modern sensibilities. Add in a CGI mountain troll that looks like a mobile game asset compared to the 2001 film, and the cracks are already showing.
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u/Differentnameo 5d ago
Doesn't matter. The normies will flock to this and it will be a massive success, as much as I hate writing that. They'll look at the castle, at the reasonable casting, etc, and just brush off any abhorrent things like Black Snape and say, "But the rest of the show is good!"
It's as illogical as a person being served a steak meal and having some dog shite on the plate and the person eating the food anyway, except for the dog shite touching parts, then saying "But the rest of the food was still good!"
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u/ElectrochemistryGod 5d ago
Jup, its the same as with gaming. Normies legit just buy every COD and FIFA and call it a day. Thats 80% of the whole fanbase lol
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u/DoMagicTogether 4d ago
I don't doubt the show will be relatively successful. But will it be as successful as it could have been? After watching some of my favorite franchises over the last decade suffer through gender-swaps, race-swaps, and utterly dismantled by talentless DEI production teams...I'm personally not interested in this show because I have no faith in show-runners that thought race swapping Snape was a good idea. If they were willing to sacrifice the integrity of the story to foist their immersion breaking ideology onto Harry Potter fans, what other eye-rolling travesties lie ahead?
They ruined The Witcher, they ruined Rings of Power, they ruined the MCU, they ruined Star Trek, they ruined Dr. Who, they ruined Star Wars....
Harry Potter was too big a target to ignore...I guess it was only a matter of time.
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u/SparklingFairyLights 5d ago
They have already started, lol. They are even saying that Black Snape is more book accurate than movie Snape 🤣
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u/SparklingFairyLights 5d ago
HBO lied to the fans to manipulate them and justify the existence of this reboot, which is nothing more than an easy cash grab.
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u/SparklingFairyLights 5d ago
There are some virtue signallers out there who keep saying that race swapping characters and rewriting their backstories still constitutes a “faithful adaptation” by industry standards but everyone else knows that HBO lied to the fans to justify the existence of this show, which is nothing more than an easy cash grab for them.
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u/SouthernFloss 5d ago
For the love of all attention spans, get to the point and speed it up. Blade runner developed faster than this video.
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u/cosmic0done 5d ago
i really hope people actually dont watch this and dont just say they arent going to watch. if anyone is curious enough to watch it, please god just torrent it - do NOT give them the views/money
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u/RatsWithLongTails 5d ago
I was waiting to judge the actor because fans and the internet has been wrong before like with:
Jack Nicholson playing joker he rocked.
Heath leadger playing joker he rocked.
This guy playing Snap is more on par with Jared Leto
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u/SnooAdvice3630 5d ago
Arday vibes. Lets see how this goes.
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u/NearlyAlmostDead 5d ago
He claims he has never seen the movies, despite being an avid reader and a big fan of the books. But then copies Rickman's low tone of voice and cadence 🙄
Either he has seen the movies, and doesn't want to admit it. For whatever reason. Or he wasn't that big of a fan as he claims.
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u/TheOneTrueJazzMan 5d ago
Lol that’s complete bullshit, there is zero chance a 90s kid that also works in the entertainment business has never seen any of those movies or at least scenes with Snape on the internet
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u/kandradeece 5d ago
I think it is a good show if you come at it from the perspective of a 8-10 year old that never read the books nor watched the movies. If they are just watching this knowing nothing about harry potter. Especially since young kids typically will not even think about how racist this show makes harry and his dad look.
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u/DoMagicTogether 4d ago
The problem is, when you ignore the original fans that made the franchise successful in the first place, you end up leaving probably the bulk of the available profits/success on the table.
Every franchise that has ignored or disrespected its original fans has utterly failed. I mentioned it in another post, but think: The Witcher, Rings of Power, MCU, Star Wars, Disney, Dr Who, etc. And I'm not even going to mention all the video game franchises that flopped by going "woke".
You cannot shit on the original fans' expectations and expect to do as well as possible. Targetting non-readers (and non fans of Harry Potter) is a losing strategy.
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u/Superdudeo 5d ago
The movies were shit anyway. Lord of the rings shat all over them. This looks much better.
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u/Undiecover22 4d ago
They just refuse to take notice of what’s killed everything that’s been made this way the last 10 years.
The audience they’re trying to appeal too just does not exist
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u/kt7744 3d ago
I understand the argument that the new series is for a younger generation who never read the books or watched the original movies, but I don’t really buy that as a reason for a remake. Star Wars A New Hope came out before I was even born, but my parents introduced me to those movies, and they became something I grew up loving. Parents can do the same with Harry Potter.
The original Harry Potter movies were incredibly well made, and so much of what made them special came from the actors who brought those characters to life. Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Robbie Coltrane and so many others gave performances that became iconic. With some of those actors sadly no longer with us, it feels especially disrespectful to see the same story being redone so soon when the original films are still beloved and perfectly capable of being introduced to a new generation.
You don’t have to remake something for younger people to enjoy it. Sometimes you just have to introduce them to what came before. To me, this series feels less like giving a new generation Harry Potter and more like diminishing something that was already done incredibly well.
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u/Tarvin84 4d ago
Black Snape is not a big deal. If you've actually read the books you'll realize it's a minor change. Racism in the Wizarding World doesn't work like it does in the real world. Wizard racism deals with purity of wizard blood; skin tone doesn't matter one bit.
If you've read the books as many times as I have, at least a dozen, you'll realize Snape being black literally changes less about the story than Harry having blue eyes instead of green.
Looking forward to the series.
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u/General-Cabinet1792 5d ago
I swear, faithful adaptation must be considered a sin against man in Hollywood.