Featured Image Credit: Warner Bros
Topics: Netflix, Warner Bros, Harry Potter, Hogwarts Legacy, TV And Film, News
Topics: Netflix, Warner Bros, Harry Potter, Hogwarts Legacy, TV And Film, News
The ongoing merger battle between Warner Bros, Netflix and Paramount just got even nastier, as Paramount has decided to take matters to Capitol Hill.
You are likely going to need a lot of context for any of this to make sense, so let me briefly get you up to speed before jumping into the latest update.
In October last year, Warner Bros, the rights holders for properties such as The Lord of the Rings, Looney Tunes, DC, Game of Thrones, and Harry Potter, announced they were up for sale.
After a relatively short bidding war, Warner Bros accepted Netflix’s $82 billion offer. In between all of this, Paramount’s bid was rejected by Warner Bros.
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That didn’t stop Paramount from bidding again, even though Warner Bros had already accepted Netflix’s offer. Now that Paramount’s latest offer has once again been rejected, they’ve decided to file an antitrust lawsuit against Netflix.
As detailed in an article by Deadline, Makan Delrahim, Paramount’s chief legal officer, stated in a letter to the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee that Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros is “presumptively unlawful,” and would “further cement its dominance in streaming video on demand.”
It’s worth noting that Delrahim previously led the Justice Department’s antitrust division during Donald Trump’s first term, and that Jared Kushner, who is Trump’s son-in-law, initially bid for Warner Bros alongside Paramount through his private equity firm Affinity Partners.
So, what does this all have to do with Hogwarts Legacy 2?
According to comments made by David Haddad (who was president of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment at the time) in a 2024 interview with Variety, the events of the HBO Harry Potter series are going to tie in to the plot of the Hogwarts Legacy sequel.
For the time being, both Hogwarts Legacy 2 and the first season of HBO’s Harry Potter are likely too far into development to be cancelled by either Paramount or Netflix, regardless of who ultimately ends up successfully purchasing Warner Bros.
However, Paramount’s interjection here has, at the very least, pushed the timeline of Warner Bros’ purchase back. I wouldn’t be surprised if the first season of HBO’s Harry Potter TV show has already come out by the time this has all been put to bed.
This means that if the writers of both the series and Hogwarts Legacy 2 had any further tie-in plans for Harry Potter’s second season, said plans may be altered once a successful merger goes through.
We’ll have to wait and see how the antitrust suit pans out before we can say which way the wind is blowing, but, at the very least, this all seems like an unnecessary headache for the folks in charge of writing Hogwarts Legacy 2’s script.