‘Harry Potter’, ‘Game of Thrones’ and More Updates

The new service, known as Max, will combine HBO Max with Discovery’s shows and also has new True Detective and a ‘Conjuring’ TV series among its offerings.

President & CEO of Discovery Streaming & International JB Perrette. Photograph by Jeff Kravitz/Warner Bros. Discovery.

HBO Max is (nearly) dead! Long live… Max? Yes, the Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service will be evolving into a shared app known simply as Max in May, and as part of today’s big announcement, the company has released a raft of news about shows that heretofore had existed more as rumor and speculation.

Here, then, is your handy breakdown of the most exciting titles heading our way…

Harry Potter: The Series

Long rumored, but the subject of busy negotiations between HBO and controversial Potter creator J.K. Rowling, we now know that the ‘Harry Potter’ series is officially a go.

According to the official announcement, the Potter books will become a decade-long series featuring a new cast. Each season will be authentic to the original books

“We are delighted to give audiences the opportunity to discover Hogwarts in a whole new way,” says Casey Bloys, Chairman of Max content. “‘Harry Potter’ is a cultural phenomenon and it is clear there is such an enduring love and thirst for the Wizarding World. In partnership with Warner Bros. Television and J.K. Rowling, this new Max Original series will dive deep into each of the iconic books that fans have continued to enjoy for all of these years.”

“Max’s commitment to preserving the integrity of my books is important to me, and I'm looking forward to being part of this new adaptation which will allow for a degree of depth and detail only afforded by a long form television series,” adds J.K. Rowling, who will be an executive producer but not directly involved in running it.

While the prospect of adaptations able to include all the details the movies couldn’t is certainly one to anticipate, HBO is at lengths to point out that the movies will still be available to stream and a key focal point for fandom.

Emma Watson as Hermione Granger, Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley and Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter in Warner Bros. Pictures’ fantasy adventure 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone,' a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

(L to R) Emma Watson as Hermione Granger, Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley and Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter in Warner Bros. Pictures’ fantasy adventure 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone,' a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

‘Game of Thrones’ Prequel ordered

With ‘House of the Dragon’ already a big success for HBO, the company has naturally been busy looking to expand the chronicles of Westeros yet further. In the years since ‘Game of Thrones’ finished, there has been talk of spin-offs that flamed out (before ‘Dragon’, one concept made it to pilot but no further’) and chatter about various other options, including one put forward by Kit “Jon Snow” Harington.

As it turns out, the next show given the official nod is another prequel, ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight’, which will see novelist George R.R. Martin adapting his “Dunc and Egg” novellas alongside fellow executive producer Ira Parker.

Set a century before the events of ‘Thrones,’, the show will follow two unlikely heroes who wandered Westeros… A young, naïve but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his diminutive squire, Egg. Set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory, great destinies, powerful foes, and dangerous exploits all await these improbable and incomparable friends.

Given that the series is still at an early stage, there’s no word on casting or when we might see it hit screens –– and fans are already facing a wait for Season 2 of ‘House of the Dragon’, which is back shooting, but won’t be airing until 2024.

Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen in HBO Max's 'House of the Dragon.'

‘The Penguin’

Also shooting right now is the first commissioned spin-off from Matt Reeves’ ‘The Batman’ featuring Colin Farrell as scheming, ambitious criminal Oz Cobblepot, better known as The Penguin.

Though he had relatively brief screen time in the movie, the new show, run by writer Lauren LeFranc (with Reeves among the executive producers) will span eight episodes and chart the rise of Farrell’s character as he looks to become the new crime kingpin of Gotham City.

The cast for this one also includes Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz, Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Deirdre O’Connell and Clancy Brown, and the show should arrive on Max next year.

Colin Farrell as Oswald "Oz" Cobblepot in Max's 'The Penguin.'

‘True Detective: Night Country’

‘True Detective’ will also return for Max, with the fourth season –– subtitled ‘Night Country’ –– starring Jodie Foster and Kali Reis.

The show is set in Ennis, Alaska, where the eight men who operate the Tsalal Arctic Research Station have vanished without a trace just as the long winter looms. To solve the case, Detectives Liz Danvers (Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Reis) will have to confront the darkness they carry in themselves and dig into the haunted truths that lie buried under the eternal ice…

The show, run this time by Issa López as opposed to creator Nic Pizzolatto, will hit Max this year.

(L to R) Vera Farmiga as Lorraine Warren and Patrick Wilson as Ed Warren in 'The Conjuring.'

‘The Conjuring’ TV spin-off

We know very little about the company’s plans for a ‘Conjuring’ TV spin-off but given that James Wan’s original has so far spawned two main sequels, three movies about supernatural doll Annabelle and two (the second is due in September) featuring the demonic nun from ‘The Conjuring 2’, this was, we suppose a safe bet as the next step.

Producer Peter Safran will be involved (when he’s not busy running DC Studios with James Gunn) and Wan is in talks to join him. What can say for sure? It promises to be spooky.

‘The Regime’

Originally titled ‘The Palace’, this new series stars Kate Winslet and, according to the limited synopsis, chronicles one year within the walls of the palace of a modern European regime as it begins to unravel.

It hails from ‘Succession’ writing veteran Will Tracy, and certainly looks to share some sweary, satirical DNA with that show, even if it’s more about politics than business. Stephen Frears directs, and it’ll be on Max next year.

‘The Sympathizer’

Of interest to Park Chan Wook fans is ‘The Sympathizer’, a show he created with Canadian filmmaker Don McKellar.

Based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, the show is an espionage thriller and cross-culture satire about the struggles of a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy during the final days of the Vietnam War and his resulting exile in the United States.

It features the likes of Hoa Xuande, Fred Nguyen Khan, Toan Le, Vy Le, Alan Trong, Ky Duyen and Sandra Oh in its cast and –– both producing and playing several roles –– Robert Downey Jr.

The series, like many of the titles announced today, will be on Max next year.

Robert Downey Jr. in Max's 'The Sympathizer.' Photograph by Courtesy of HBO.

Among other offerings announced or hinted at today? A ‘Rick and Morty’ anime series, a ‘Peter and the Wolf’ short film overseen by U2’s Bono, another spin-off from ‘The Big Bang’ theory and the official launch of prequel series ‘Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai’.

Max will go live on May 23rd with three pricing plans: $9.99 a month/$99 a year for ad-supported tier Max Ad Light; $15.99/$149.99 for Max Ad Free, which offers two concurrent streams; and $19.99/$199.99 for Max Ultimate Ad Free, up to four concurrent streams.