What Wes Anderson's Harry Potter Would Look Like According To AI Art
The Wizarding World of the "Harry Potter" franchise is built on whimsy and impossible zig-zags. JK Rowling's work features buildings and locales that are as illogical as they are beautiful, like a desire path made by someone wearing a blindfold. While that meandering aesthetic is part of the franchise's lasting charm, it's intrinsically opposed to certain artistic sensibilities — Wes Anderson's, for instance. He's a director who works within a defined set of rules, like dry humor, measured symmetry, and unyielding Britpop. They're both fun — they just clash in every possible way. So naturally, the internet combined them.
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In early 2023, TikTok user Would You Watch This posted a video that used AI to reimagine "Harry Potter" characters as if they lived in a world of Anderson's creation. The 14-second video includes designs for Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Draco Malfoy, Dolores Umbridge, Fred and George Weasley, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Albus Dumbledore, and Severus Snape. Each character, aside from the Weasley twins, takes center stage in their own image. The colors are bright, the fashion is dapper and cozy, and the only person who looks like a wholly different person is Dumbledore. But the image with the most artistic implication is the intro card.
Beneath the words "Harry Potter characters in Wes Anderson style" is a picture of Harry Potter standing with his back facing the viewer as he takes in what AI believes Anderson's depiction of the grand staircase would be. It's far more compressed than the actual grand staircase, which takes up multiple floors, but it's the best representation of the two dissonant styles combined. Besides, the downsizing might even make more sense with the upcoming "Harry Potter" Max series.
Is Wes Anderson working on the new Harry Potter Max series?
Fans aren't impressed with the idea of a "Harry Potter" reboot because literally nobody asked for it ... but it's happening, and Warner Bros. is hard at work hiring an artistic team. In early 2024, Deadline reported that the studio was fielding pitches from potential writers for the new series. While Wes Anderson's name didn't crop up, Martha Hillier, Kathleen Jordan, Tom Moran, and Michael Lesslie's names did. Most of these writers are best known for projects associated with television or streaming. Conversely, Lesslie co-wrote Lionsgate Film's "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes," a highly successful adaptation of a young adult story.
JK Rowling is the only confirmed name outside of the writers' room. The author will serve as an executive producer on the series, which Max is already framing as a "faithful adaptation of the iconic books." That alone probably suggests that Anderson will never associate with the project as, again, his style clashes so completely with "Harry Potter." And yet that seems to draw people in because Would You Watch This isn't the only social media account to fantasize about the pairing.
Googling the key terms "Wes Anderson" and "Harry Potter" summons an unending string of digital creators attempting to lay the groundwork for Anderson's future employment. Of course, a slight rephrasing also conjures Anderson-themed "Star Wars" content, so maybe it has less to do with his direct connection to the Wizarding World and more to do with his trademark style.