A statue of Harry Potter, based on the JK Rowling novels, is seen after it was unveiled at Leicester Square in London, Britain, September 30, 2020. Photo: IC

The news that the phenomenal Harry Potter book franchise will be adapted to a new TV series excited Chinese fans even though the project is still in the early stages of development, reported by several sources including The Hollywood Reporter on Monday.

The project is likely to be produced as a live-action series for HBO Max. No writers or actors have been decided yet and so far only broad ideas for the show have been discussed.

The uncertainty of the show's situation did not reduce Chinese fans' appetites for all things about Harry Potter as the news of the adaptation become a hot topic with more than 100 million views on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo on Thursday. 

"I knew it would arrive on the small screen. I so look forward to it," said one netizen on Sina Weibo. 

"This will be time-saving. I like the Harry Potter story, but the novels are too chunky," said another. 

Some more "professional" Harry Potter fans expressed concern that the new adaptation may not be able to depart too far from the original and may not be as good as the books or the film. 

"I feel like it is just adding water to a bowl that is almost full. They have far less room to design new plots based on the original book, it already has enough imaginative content," wrote a fan on Sina Weibo. 

Another book fan wrote, "I doubt it can be better than the book. The film version has already swallowed many great details of the book. Film some school life at Hogwarts please," said another. 

Some others expressed their nostalgia for the series, one of the world's most popular fantasy franchises, calling for the show to include members of the original film cast such as Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson as well as reminiscing about lost stars such as Alan Rickman, who played the moody and cruel but essentially good-hearted Professor Snape, and John Hurt, who played Professor Ollivander, the wand maker who was one of the figures introducing Harry Potter to the magical Wizarding World.