Harry Potter continues to inspire magic and awe in millions around the world, across generations, and any sighting of a new Wizarding World project brings smiles to faces, but HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter television series is preparing to bring J.K. Rowling’s beloved novels back to screens in a very different form. The series is aiming to adapt all seven books for the screen within ten years, and with an entirely new cast, which makes it one of the most closely watched TV projects in development. While excitement is undoubtedly high, not everyone is convinced the timing is quite right.
That includes Alan Ritchson, who revealed during an interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub at San Diego Comic-Con that, despite being a huge fan of the original films, he believes the reboot may be arriving a little too soon. When asked what film or television series he returns to for inspiration, Ritchson gave one of the most surprising answers you’d expect:
“For me, it’s Harry Potter. I’m a huge Harry Potter fan. Just the dun, du-dun, dun… Just the sound of that movie inspires this feeling of magic. I believe that we live in a world of magic, and a lot of us have forgotten that or don’t believe it anymore. I think our job and my mission in film and TV is to continue to bring that kind of thing to life on screen so that we remember that’s a part of us.”
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Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like? Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky
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Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🏜️Paul Atreides
🖖Capt. Kirk
✊Princess Leia
🔦Ellen Ripley
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🔥Max Rockatansky
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01
How do you lead when the stakes couldn’t be higher? The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.
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02
What is your greatest strength in a crisis? The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.
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03
What is the thing you’d sacrifice everything else for? Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.
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04
How do you relate to the people around you? Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.
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05
You’re facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do? How you respond when you’re the only one who sees it defines everything.
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06
What has your heroism cost you personally? Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they’d pay it again.
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07
How do you feel about the rules of the world you’re in? Every hero has a relationship with the system. What’s yours?
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08
When everything is on the line, what keeps you going? The answer is the most honest thing about you.
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Your Hero Has Been Identified Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…
Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.
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Arrakis · Dune
Paul Atreides
You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.
You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn’t ask for but can’t escape.
Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won’t, is exactly you.
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USS Enterprise · Star Trek
Captain Kirk
You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.
You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you’ve earned it.
Kirk’s genius isn’t tactical — it’s human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.
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The Rebellion · Star Wars
Princess Leia
You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.
You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you’ve never looked back.
Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.
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The Nostromo · Alien
Ellen Ripley
You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.
You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
Ripley’s heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn’t have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn’t there.
When it counts, you don’t flinch. That’s everything.
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The Wasteland · Mad Max
Max Rockatansky
You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.
You don’t ask for help, don’t need validation, and don’t wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it’s earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.
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Alan Ritchson Believes It’s Too Soon for More Harry Potter
Asked whether he was counting down the days until HBO’s television adaptation arrives, the Reacher star admitted he’ll be watching, but suggested audiences haven’t had enough time away from the original films. “Yeah. I’m a big fan of the films, but yeah, I will watch,” said Ritchson. “But I don’t know. I also think it’s hard for me… It’s too soon. For some things, it’s too soon. Maybe Goonies. Maybe it’s time for another stab at Goonies… But I don’t know. What’s the time limit?”
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When the point was made that it had been 25 years since the first film came out, Ritchson showed his chops by pointing out that it was a lot less time since the final installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2. In the meantime, we’ll begin the fancasting for Ritchson to play Hagrid’s giant brother, Grawp.
Reacher Season 4 premieres on Prime Video on August 27.
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