Lily and James' Death Will Be Much More Tragic: The 'Harry Potter' Series Has Already Corrected One Serious Mistake of the Films

The first batch of casting news for the upcoming Harry Potter series from HBO Max was as loud as ever: Dumbledore, Snape, the "golden trio"... But the franchise got a real course correction with the announcement of "secondary" characters.

The role of Aunt Petunia went to 33-year-old Bel Powley, and Uncle Vernon will be played by 42-year-old Daniel Rigby. It would seem like a small thing, but it is precisely this decision that the series emphasizes what the cinematic universe of twenty years ago missed.

In J.K. Rowling's books, Petunia is only a couple of years older than her sister Lily: by the time she receives her letter from Hogwarts, she is about 34–35 years old, Vernon is in his early thirties. The movie gave us 42-year-old Fiona Shaw and 54-year-old Richard Griffiths.

The ten-year age difference erased an important emotional layer: the tragedy of young people who had time to quarrel... and then lost each other forever. Lily died at 21, Petunia was forever left with the guilt of a girl, not a mature woman. This was almost not read on the screen.

And now even the death of Lily and James will look like a much more tragic moment, because their child will go to fairly young people who themselves do not yet know how to "live this life."

HBO doesn't need to lure the audience with the "heavy artillery" of the masters, as Warner Bros. did back then. The fandom is already known to everyone, so the authors can afford literal accuracy and build the drama on nuances. The young Dursleys return the book to its original balance: their everyday cruelty now looks not like the grumbling of aging guardians, but like a desperate attempt by a young family to maintain normality after the monstrous night of 1981.

So, long before the premiere, the series shows that this time it is ready to play by the rules of the canon - and this is the best argument for giving the project a chance.