Neil Blair: Last News

Matthew Macfadyen and Keeley Hawes are to play the leads in an ITV/BritBox International drama about a disgraced British politician who faked his own death.

The BBC has removed from iPlayer a documentary about the Gaza crisis that was narrated by the child of a Hamas minister.

Alex Ritman The Blair Partnership, the literary agency that has repped J.K. Rowling since it was first set up in 2011 by Neil Blair, has expanded with two key hires in two newly-created roles. Simon Johnson will join as chief commercial officer from Universal Music UK, where he has spent nearly four years as managing director of strategy, growth and ecommerce.

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros. Discovery and the BBC have been accused of double standards on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) after both organizations have stood by J.K. Rowling amid a hardening in her transgender rights rhetoric.

EXCLUSIVE: J.K. Rowling’s longtime agent Neil Blair has backed his client amid renewed focus on the author’s transgender views as buzz builds for the HBO Harry Potter series.

Sky has greenlit a new five-part series titled Inheritance from writer-actor Karla Crome and BAFTA-nominee Gugu Mbatha-Raw has been cast as one of the leads. 

Naman Ramachandran After Jonathan Glazer’s Cannes, Oscar and BAFTA-winning “The Zone of Interest,” Daniela Volker’s “The Commandant’s Shadow” tackles the same subject – what it was like to live next door to a WWII concentration camp. While Glazer’s film was a work of fiction, based on Martin Amis’ novel, Volker’s film is a documentary. Exploring the legacy of Auschwitz, it follows Hans-Joergen Höss, son of commandant Rudolf Höss, and grandson Kai, on an emotional journey.

New, full-cast audio productions of all seven original Harry Potter books will be released on Audible beginning late next year, offering for the first time the full range of character voices, real-world sounds and musical scoring for the recorded stories.

EXCLUSIVE: JK Rowling has pocketed an £8.25M ($10.5M) paycheck after stage show Harry Potter And The Cursed Child proved to be a post-pandemic crowd pleaser.

When it comes to Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts franchise filmmaker David Yates returning to the Max TV series, he tells Deadline, “Never say never.”

Daniel Radcliffe is fine with sitting on the sidelines for Max’s upcoming Harry Potter TV series.

J. Kim Murphy Daniel Radcliffe is alright sitting out the next round of “Harry Potter” projects. Warner Bros. Discovery recently ordered a new adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s best-selling series of novels, conceived this time as a television series for its streaming service Max. The project will feature an entirely new cast — a decision that Radcliffe is at peace with. In a new interview with ComicBook to promote his TBS comedy series “Miracle Workers: End Times,” Radcliffe expressed his support for whatever comes for “Harry Potter,” but that he doesn’t feel he needs to be there. “My understanding is that they’re trying to very much start fresh and I’m sure whoever is making them will want to make their own mark on it and probably not want to have to figure out how to get old Harry to cameo in this somewhere,” Radcliffe stated. “I’m definitely not seeking it out in any way. But I do wish them, obviously, all the luck in the world and I’m very excited to have that torch passed. But I don’t think it needs me to physically pass it.”

The CW announced two new scripted series that are in the works for 2024: Joan, a six-part co-production starring Game of Thrones‘ Sophie Turner, and The Librarians: The Next Chapter, a spinoff of fantasy adventure series from writer and executive producer Dean Devlin.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director J.K. Rowling is well aware many “Harry Potter” fans intend to boycott Max’s upcoming television series adaptation due to her involvement as an executive producer on the show. The Warner Bros. Discovery streamer officially announced the series on April 12, confirming each book in Rowling’s series will be adapted into a full season of television. A new cast of actors will be assembled to take on the roles of Harry, Ron, Hermione and more. Rowling has been embroiled in controversy for several years now due to her controversial statements on gender, many of which have been slammed for being anti-trans. “Dreadful news, which I feel duty bound to share,” Rowling wrote on Twitter in reaction to backlash against the new “Harry Potter” television series. “Activists in my mentions are trying to organize yet another boycott of my work, this time of the ‘Harry Potter’ TV show. As forewarned is forearmed, I’ve taken the precaution of laying in a large stock of champagne.”

JK Rowling may be exec producing the new Harry Potter series for Max but Warner Bros. Discovery is now starting the search for a writer/showrunner.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter A “Harry Potter” TV series is officially moving forward at HBO Max. The announcement was made during Warner Bros. Discovery’s presentation to press and investors on April 12, during which it was announced that HBO Max and Discovery+ are officially being combined into a new service dubbed simply Max. News of a show based on the megahit J.K. Rowling book series first leaked on April 3, but details have now been confirmed. Each season of the show will be based on one of the books in the franchise, with Warner Bros. Discovery describing the show as a “decade-long series.” It will feature an entirely new cast from the films.

EXCLUSIVE: Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner will star in a six-part drama inspired by notorious British jewel thief Joan Hannington for ITV.