HBO's Harry Potter series Accio's some Succession talent

Sorry Succession heads—Mark Mylod’s next gig is about as far away from the world of Waystar Royco as possible. The Emmy-winning director has signed on to helm multiple episodes of HBO’s long-gestating Harry Potter series, with his fellow Succession producer, Francesca Gardiner, signing on as writer and showrunner.

Mylod isn’t just responsible for some of the Roy family’s greatest hits—including Succession’s excellent series finale, “With Open Eyes.” He also has credits on Game Of Thrones, Shameless, The Affair, The Last Of Us’ upcoming second season, and his own feature film, The Menu. Gardiner has also been around the prestige TV block before; in addition to her credits on Succession, she has also written and produced episodes of HBO’s His Dark Materials, BBC America’s Killing Eve, and Starz’s The Rook.

On one hand, the addition of these veterans shows that HBO really is taking this show seriously. First announced way back in 2021, the series has bopped around from HBO Max, to just Max when that was all announced last year, and is now back to being an HBO original, meaning it will air on the cable channel as well as its streaming platform. Billed as a “faithful adaptation” of the original books (via The Hollywood Reporter), “the series will feature a new cast to lead a new generation of fandom, full of the fantastic detail and much-loved characters Harry Potter fans have loved for over twenty-five years.” But while many have already written the show off as yet another one of CEO David Zaslav’s nasty little cash grabs, the fact that they have real writers working on it is a good sign that it might actually deliver on some of the logline’s lofty promises.

On the other hand, there’s obviously the J.K. Rowling of it all. Rowling will serve as an executive producer for the series and maintain some level of creative input, but reportedly “isn’t expected to have day-to-day involvement” (per THR). Still, it’s certainly a little disappointing to see a director that’s thus far made his name through incisive critiques of billionaires and the elite share the call sheet with one of the richest women in the world, especially someone as contentious as Rowling.

HBO and Max content chief Casey Bloys really doesn’t want fans to think of this as a Rowling show, however (even though Zaslav spent “some real time with J.K. and her team” discussing it earlier this year). “The TV show is new and exciting, but we’ve been in the Harry Potter business for 20 years; this isn’t a new decision,” he said shortly after the show was greenlit. “We’re comfortable being in the Potter business. J.K. is a very online conversation… It’s very nuanced and complicated and not something we’re going to get into. Our priority is what’s onscreen.” Hopefully with Mylod and Gardiner behind the camera, this portion at least will be worth the galleons and knuts HBO is pouring into it.