8 'Harry Potter' Mistakes HBO Series Will (Hopefully) Fix in Season 1

Not all Harry Potter book fans might be happy about HBO’s own take on JK Rowling’s hit series of novels, but there’s still hope it will become a better version rather than the movie franchise.

Even though the films found lots of success among critics and viewers, also turning into major box office hits back in the day, they still received backlash for overlooking the books’ significant details or, what’s even worse, completely mishandling them.

HBO’s show, however, has already promised to be a more faithful adaptation and, on top of that, conveniently boasts of a longer series format which will help cover everything necessary in Rowling’s novel.

Here are some of Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone's failures that the future show should fix in the first place.

Harry and Draco Malfoy’s First Meeting Wasn’t in Hogwarts — and It Was Far More Meaningful

In Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone's movie version, Harry and Draco’s first encounter doesn’t happen until they’re both in Hogwarts. However, in the book they pass by each other while doing shopping in Diagon Alley, with Draco allowing himself some nasty comments about Hagrid and students of “the wrong sort”.

The film’s major change belittles the significance of Draco’s first impression on Harry as the latter makes notes about Draco’s true personality without even knowing him yet.

Hearing the Sorting Hat’s Songs Would Be Nice

To the shock of some of those who haven’t read the books, Hogwarts’ Sorting Hat isn’t only capable of, well, sorting students out, but also boasts of a singing talent.

In the book, the Sorting Hat sings a song each year at the selection ceremony that happens on September 1. Themes can vary, with the Hat mostly choosing lyrics that highlight each faculty’s traditions and Hogwarts’ history.

This detail is omitted in the movie, though it does serve as a plot-moving tool that helps readers learn more about the school and the way it functions.

The Dursleys Have to Be More Nuanced

It’s fair to say the Harry Potter movie franchise treated the Dursleys pretty badly and turned them into utter villains, while the book described them as more nuanced and morally complex characters.

Additionally, JK Rowling’s first novel even features an opening chapter written from Vernon Dursley’s perspective and makes things clear about his understanding of the wizard world.

The movie’s characters, however, are ignorant about everything else except for their own concerns, which set up the viewer’s perception of the Dursleys in a wrong way.

Hermione’s Biggest Moment Wasn’t Included in the Movie

Unlike in the film adaptation, in the book Harry and his friends’ quest for the Philosopher’s Stone includes one more challenging task, which is Snape’s protective barrier of potions that keeps the curious ones from the Stone.

While Harry appears to be helpless against a mission that might have deadly consequences, Hermione quickly figures out how to solve the puzzle.

In the movie, however, Harry, Ron and Hermione have nothing like this to deal with, getting directly to Professor Quirrell and his confrontation with Harry.

Ron and Hermione’s Roles Got Swapped in the Movie

Those who have only watched Harry Potter movies might have no doubts that Hermione is traditionally the smartest one who also saves her friends every time they get into trouble. Meanwhile, Ron is a pretty useless addition and a third wheel to Harry and Hermione’s sharp-witted team.

Things are different in the book where Hermione can occasionally be seen panicking or crying or just not being the most pleasant companion.

Ron, in his turn, is the one to give both of his friends the most knowledge about the wizarding culture and, what’s even more surprising, to boast of common sense.

Peeves Shouldn’t Be Ignored This Time

Peeves the Poltergeist was probably one of the best side characters in JK Rowling’s book, providing some of the funniest pranks and most hilarious songs that would take Hogwarts students off guard.

Somehow Peeves never even made it to the movie, though some scenes with British actor Rick Mayall as Peeves were in fact filmed and then just cut.

Harry’s Nightmare Would Be a Perfect Hint at Professor Quirrell’s Plot Twist

Harry’s first day in Hogwarts ends with that big feast in the movie, but the book goes further, describing the character’s nightmare where Harry was wearing Professor Quirrell’s turban.

Apart from that, the turban even starts whispering things to Harry, saying that he could have been a brilliant Slytherin student.

It is later revealed that the turban was in fact hiding Lord Voldemort’s soul, with the nightmare itself giving some sort of spoiler for the villain’s background story.

The Number of Protecting Obstacles Foreshadows Harry Potter’s Finale

In the movie, the trio’s attempt to get to the Philosopher’s Stone managing a giant chess game is what becomes the highlight of the film’s second part, but for that it had to sacrifice another major detail.

The book specifically says that there are seven protecting obstacles that Harry and his friends need to overcome.

This is a clear reference to the trio’s search for the Horcruxes years later, so omitting a subtle detail like this eventually caused the movie a loss of one of the entire franchise’s best Easter eggs.