Like many other millennials in their mid-thirties, I spent a good portion of my teenage years with my nose in a Harry Potter book.
I believe I was about 15 when I first discovered the magic of the wizarding world; a relative latecomer, considering Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (or sorcerer's, for author JK Rowling's transatlantic friends) had been released four years prior.
But from the moment I read the first chapter, I was hooked. I devoured each instalment as eagerly as the last. I even queued up at 2am at our local supermarket in Bahrain (where I lived at the time), to pick up one of the first-released copies of the final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
My love for the franchise has never waned over the years, despite it moving into dubious milking-it-for-all-it's-worth territory.
While the acting got off to a slow start, the films to this day have the ability to boost my mood, no matter what's going on around me.
For my 30th birthday, my husband took me to Universal Studios Florida, where we traversed The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and it was nothing short of magical.
As I write this, I'm even wearing a necklace sporting a pendant in the shape of the deathly hallows. (I realise this admission may lose me respect among some. I'm willing to take that risk.)
So when I heard that HBO Max is in the very early stages of discussions to explore a live-action Harry Potter TV series, my immediate reaction was joy.
But then I thought twice: What if they ruin it?
It's certainly not beyond the realm of possibility. Just look at Sabrina the Teenage Witch, another of my childhood loves. While some may argue its reboot, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, is great (it does have decent ratings, after all), I disagree. In a bid to appeal to a much younger audience than the one that grew up with the 1996 original, the creators have transformed it into something unrecognisable. Why not just make a new show?
Then there was the final series of Game of Thrones and the new show Bridgerton, which both, amid the bid to rush them to screens, blundered through editing and ended up releasing scenes containing some very out-of-place objects. Why not take a little more time?
So what would I, a self-professed Potterhead, want from a TV series starring Harry, Hermione, Ron and co? Other than a lack of continuity errors, of course.
I want something that conjures up that same feeling I had when reading those first few pages in my childhood. I want something that transports me from the muggle world altogether, to somewhere nostalgic and heartfelt, where all the bewitching witchcraft and wizardry is brought to life, and where some of our favourite characters from the books (think Dobby, Hagrid and Luna Lovegood) are reimagined for the small screen.
Ultimately, I want a show that continues to spread Rowling's original message of inclusion and compassion, set in an imaginary, magical world, where the pure-bloods simply can't win against the mixed-blood heroes.
Because, if indeed it goes ahead, then the producers at HBO Max have a great opportunity to create a show that incorporates some of today's most relevant themes; to make a series that celebrates those who choose to be – or simply are – different from the norm.
They could be canny in their casting, highlighting pertinent issues of "otherness", and still make something timeless that future generations would want to tune in to.
Now that's a show I'd want to watch.
