HBO’s upcomingHarry PotterTV series adaptation has the opportunity to fix a major narrative found in the stage production,Harry Potter and The Cursed Child. While this add-on to Rowling’sHarry Potterseries picks up 19 years afterthe ending ofDeathly Hallows, its attempts to undo the “all Slytherins are bad” rhetoric ultimately fell flat. The original series also struggled to remedy this stereotype, but HBO’sHarry PotterTV reboothas the chance to do a better job.
TheHarry Potterremake will be more book-accuratethan the original films,but it would do well to deviate from the original source material, if only to show that not all Slytherins are evil from the very beginning. This will especially come into play through Snape’s character later in the series. And while his plot twist comes as a surprise, it would be more believable if Slytherins had a few redeeming qualities early on in HBO’s adaptation.
Harry Potter & The Cursed Child Tried To Fix The Original Series' Slytherin Problems
Cursed Child Places Harry Potter’s Son Albus In Slytherin
Harry Potter and The Cursed Childkicks off 19 years after the events ofHarry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, andfrom the very start, it attempts to fix Slytherins' many stereotypes. Playing off the concept ofThe Deathly Hallows' epiloguesequence,Cursed Childsees Albus Severus Potter, Harry’s second son, sorted into Slytherin house over Gryffindor. This quickly kicks off the stage production’s main narrative, as Albus doesn’t fit into Hogwarts the way everyone expected him to.
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Albus' placement in Slytherin is a nod to Harry’s own sorting ceremony, as he would have been placed there himself had he not adamantly refused. Harry’s initial rejection began the series' ongoing prejudice against Slytherins. And unfortunately, the characters predominantly featured from the house throughout theHarry Potterseries don’t help to prove this wrong. While many Slytherins do match its ruthless and cunning values,Cursed Childattempts to argue against this through Albus' character and his friendship with Scorpius.
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Albus And Scorpius' Friendship Feels Too Little, Too Late
While Albus and Scorpius' friendship is endearing throughoutThe Cursed Child, the late addition of their relationship dynamic to the series serves very little purpose to the early books. Clearly, their characters' personalities and unlikely friendship do help to prove that not all Slytherins are evil—but Harry’s reactions throughoutThe Cursed Childto their relationship is also a cause for concern. GivenThe Cursed Childis fighting against nearly 20 years of Slytherin prejudice, Harry’s reluctance to accept his son as a Slytherin only proves the series' Slytherin problems needed to be addressed earlier.
The narrative found throughout the stage production would have had a larger impact had the original series tried to redeem more characters from Slytherin house earlier on…
The Cursed Childwas right to address this, butthe storyline picks up too late after the original series to change the perceptions of most Slytherins. The narrative found throughout the stage production would have had a larger impact had the original series tried to redeem more characters from Slytherin house earlier on—as Rowling did with Snape inDeathly Hallows. While it’s fair to assume not all Slytherins are evil, the books needed to address the Slytherin stereotypes sooner forThe Cursed Child’s story to truly reconstruct readers' perceptions.
HBO’s Harry Potter Remake Can Finally Fix The Series' Slytherin Problem For Good
Slytherin Has More To Offer Than The Books Or Movies Depict
Thankfully, HBO’sHarry PotterTV adaptation can fix the series' Slytherin problem early on. Slytherin house is often associated with its values, depicting members to be cunning, resourceful, and ambitious.But the Slytherins' ambition and desire to achieve goals doesn’t need to be a negative. Wanting to do well in school is a well-admired trait among students—and this is something HBO should highlight in its series adaptation. However, whenever a Slytherin is mentioned in theHarry Potterbooks, it’s typically to point out their flaws and their worst members.
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To counteract this, theHarry Potterremakeshould instead depict Draco and his friends as a small example of Slytherin students who come from corrupt wizarding families—and Slytherins as a whole should not be stereotyped as evil for their family’s deeds. It’s also extremely unlikely that 25 percent of the Hogwarts student population is destined to become an evil dark wizard. It would be refreshing to see theHarry Pottershow address this stereotype head-on and point out that while a small percentage of Slytherin may fall into this category, it doesn’t speak for the whole.
