Comcast and Warner Bros. fighting over who gets to make Harry Potter show no one wants

We ask this question from a place of genuine sincerity: Is there anyone who is not a TV executive deeply anxious to spackle over the ever-growing financial issues with their studio, who genuinely wants Warner Bros.’ Harry Potter TV series? Not unlike the ongoing efforts to expand out the Lord Of The Rings films, Warner Bros.’ efforts to mine cash from its biggest-name franchise reeks mostly of desperation to our noses, to say nothing of an ongoing unwillingness to ever look straight on at how tainted the entire apparatus has become by creator J.K. Rowling’s ever-more-vitriolic anti-trans rhetoric.

Even so, there is money lurking out in them thar’ adaptations—someone, likely a lot of someones, are going to watch this thing when it arrives circa 2026, even if we aren’t—and said cash is at the center of a new lawsuit between Warner Bros. Discovery and fellow entertainment megalith Comcast, who are now arguing about who gets to make this Harry Potter show that no one we know actually wants. Specifically, Comcast-owned British broadcaster Sky has now sued Warner Bros., claiming the studio has failed to keep up its end of the bargain on a deal the two companies struck back in 2019, which gave Sky the right to sign on as co-producer to at least four Warner Bros. shows per year—including, according to the suit, the Harry Potter adaptation.

This is per THR, which reports that Sky is accusing WBD of having “largely disregarded the parties’ agreement and sought to keep the Harry Potter content for itself,” the better to be able to use the new show as part of its efforts to launch its Max streaming service into European markets. (Max is already available in a number of countries on the continent—it launched in France in June of 2024—but has yet to arrive in several countries, including Germany, Italy, or, probably most relevant here, the U.K.) The whole thing is actually weirdly reminiscent of the fight Warner Bros. Discovery is still having with Viacom over South Park, except now WBD is on the other side: Stuck honoring deals penned before it realized how powerful a wedge a particular piece of IP could be in breaking into the ever-more-crowded streaming market.

The lawsuit claims to lay out the contract pretty clearly: In exchange for offering about a quarter of a show’s budget for up to five potential seasons, Sky was allowed to pick new Warner Bros. projects to serve as co-producer on—including getting media rights to those shows for a decent chunk of European markets. The suit asserts that Warner Bros. was already slacking on offering its “partner” new projects for the first few years of the deal—including allegedly withholding information on shows it did offer—but things fell apart completely in 2023 when the Harry Potter show was first announced. Hence: Lawsuit, with Sky/Comcast claiming breach of contract, and asking New York courts to force Warner Bros. Discovery to let them pay to be co-producers (and thus co-profiters) on the show, which will be showrun by Francesca Gardiner, and feature direction from Succession‘s Mark Mylod.

So yeah: Big dogs, juicy scrap of meat, nasty legal battle ahoy.

Update: A Warner Bros. Discovery spokesperson has now issued a statement in response to Comcast/Sky’s lawsuit:

The HBO and Max licensing agreements expire at the end of 2025, and this lawsuit is a baseless attempt by Sky and Comcast to try and gain leverage in its negotiations for our programming beyond that date. We know HBO branded shows are critical to Sky, as evidenced by their desire for over a year to find a way to renew our agreements, and this lawsuit makes it clear that Sky is deeply concerned about the viability of its business were it to lose our award-winning content. WBD will vigorously defend itself from this unfounded lawsuit as we move forward undeterred with plans to launch Max, including the new HBO Harry Potter series, in the UK and other European markets in 2026.