Harry Potter's Villain Change Is HBO's First Strike

The Harry Potter TV show is intended to be a faithful adaptation of the novels, but some changes are inevitable. While some of these are exciting, the Harry Potter TV show is changing one key villain, in what’s the project’s first strike for now. The trend of reboots, revivals, and remakes isn’t stopping anytime soon, and it has been mostly popular in the fantasy genre on TV. Some popular fantasy franchises have been brought back through these, and the world of Harry Potter is now joining them.

While some will argue that it’s too soon to remake the Harry Potter movies, HBO is bringing the story of The Boy Who Lived back to life through a TV show. The plan is for production of the Harry Potter TV show to span a decade so every season can be a faithful adaptation of the books, with season 1 appropriately titled Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. The first trailer for the Harry Potter TV remake has already shown some changes and additions, while others have been teased by the cast.

Some characters that don’t appear in the first Harry Potter book will be included in the first season of the TV show, as is the case for Lucius Malfoy (Johnny Flynn). The head of the Malfoy family and father of Draco (Lox Pratt) doesn’t make his first official appearance until Chamber of Secrets, but he will show up in Harry Potter season 1 – however, Flynn has now revealed some changes to Lucius Malfoy that might not benefit the show.

Harry Potter TV Show's Lucius Malfoy Changes Hurt The Character

The first season of the Harry Potter TV show will cover the events of the first book, meaning that viewers will get to relive (or experience for the first time) Harry’s (Dominic McLaughlin) life before learning he’s a wizard, how he learned the truth, and his first year at Hogwarts. The first trailer for the Harry Potter TV show teased some scenes exploring the family dynamics and backstories of Hermione (Arabella Stanton) and Ron (Alastair Stout), but it has also been teased that the show will go deeper into the Malfoys’ family dynamic.

That explains the appearance of Lucius Malfoy even though he’s not included in the first book (he’s only casually mentioned by Draco), but the show is making unnecessary and harmful changes to his past. Speaking to Radio Times, Flynn shared that the show will explore why Lucius is the way he is, explaining that he was bullied at school, which led him to become the bully, adding that “nobody’s outright good or bad in the world.”

While the effort to further develop the character is appreciated, turning Lucius Malfoy into a bullied kid and using that to justify his bullying later on ultimately hurts the character. Canonically, Lucius was never bullied, and his coldness and cruelty came from his family and upbringing, not how he was treated at school. Lucius came from a respectable family of wizards who believed in pure-blood values and wizards’ superiority, thus looking down on Muggle-born witches and wizards and Muggles in general.

During his years at Hogwarts, Lucius was a model student and a voice of authority among his classmates, becoming Prefect in his fifth year and being invited to join Slughorn’s social club. Lucius was never bullied at school, and was, in fact, very well positioned in the social pyramid, and due to his upbringing and his family’s beliefs, it was easy for him to agree with Voldemort’s ideas and become a Death Eater.

Lucius Malfoy doesn’t need a sad backstory or for viewers to feel bad for him because he was bullied – instead, they should know the truth about the Malfoy family, their beliefs, and their privilege.

Harry Potter TV Show's Biggest Strength Risks Becoming Its Weakness

As mentioned above, as faithful as the Harry Potter TV show aims to be, changes and additions to the characters and stories were going to be inevitable. Some, like exploring the family dynamics of the Weasleys and Malfoys, as well as more of Harry’s time with the Dursleys, will add depth and help the audience better understand these characters, but the show needs to know when and where to stop with the backstories made up for the show.

The Harry Potter TV show risks hurting characters (villains, heroes, or allies), changing canon, or prompting harmful misinterpretations that end up backfiring. Not every character needs a backstory expansion, and not every villain needs to be humanized or force the audience to feel empathy for them, so these changes to Lucius Malfoy can be the first strike of the Harry Potter TV show, unless the show has other surprises up its sleeve.