How much do you think book accuracy and reader approval matters for the success of the show?
(Sorry for the long post, TL;DR at end)
Harry Potter is the bestselling book series of all time. These books are good enough to have sold 600 million copies, so changing too much is a big risk in my opinion. I think the show can only succeed is if it does what the movies didn’t; make it book accurate, which is what HBO have said they want to do. Do that, and they can appeal to die hard fans, casual fans, movie lovers and people who’ve never read them but would enjoy the books. It’s not just about pleasing book readers; changing what made the books successful affects how much everyone else can enjoy the show.
Even movie watchers will notice changes because while the films had many issues, they were still fairly true to the books. Some non-readers even know about the film changes — e.g. “Dumbledore asked calmly”, characters aged up (esp. Marauders generation), etc.
Many less popular series have been unsuccessfully adapted or are losing popularity, due to book inaccuracy, poor writing, or both: Eragon, The Golden Compass, Vampire Academy (movie and show), Ender’s Game, The Dark Tower, The Mortal Instruments (movie and show), now House of the Dragon is losing some popularity even among non-book readers.
The Vampire Diaries books were quite successful, but the show is far more so. I read and enjoyed the books, but the show is better in many ways. But for a book series like HP, what more could anyone do to make the story better? Adding more on top of what’s written might work, but changing what’s already there? Surely being the bestselling book series of all time means this is about as good as it can get?
For me, I would love a book accurate show but I won’t waste time watching if there are too many changes and I’m not enjoying it. I’m not really missing out because to me the books are perfect, and the Stephen Fry audiobooks are enough to curb my desire for a live action adaptation.
Will it even matter if fans dislike/hate it? I personally think so, because this is one of the biggest fandoms out there, but maybe I’m wrong. If adaptations of books with much smaller fandoms can fail, the impact of this failing could be huge. Also the show isn’t all we have - we still have the books and movies. The show will have to give people something they can get from neither.
What does everyone think?
TL;DR: many adaptations of books with smaller fandoms failed because of book inaccuracy, poor writing, or both. HP is the bestselling book series of all time, with huge reader and movie fanbases. Even some movie watchers will notice drastic changes as the movies were still quite accurate, and many also know about changes in the films from the books. HBO said they’re making it faithful to the books, but who knows if that’ll turn out to be true. Do you think reader approval and book accuracy will affect the show’s success? Or am I just screaming into a void here about wanting a book accurate show and the importance of respecting source material?