Europe 1 with AFP 11:26 am, April 13, 2023

On Wednesday, the Warner Bros. Discovery group announced the launch of its new platform. Entitled Max, it will merge HBO Max and Discovery+, and also promises the release of the first series adapted from the "Harry Potter" saga, with its author J.K. Rowling as executive producer.

Warner Bros. Discovery announced Wednesday the launch of its new Max platform, merging HBO Max and Discovery+, on May 23 in the United States, promising the first-ever series adapted from Harry Potter with author J.K. Rowling as executive producer.

"The stories of each of the Harry Potter books (seven volumes, editor's note) by (J.K.) Rowling will become a series for a decade," Max said in a statement, also promising a new cast. "Our priority is what will be on screen," warned HBO CEO Casey Bloys, on the sidelines of the presentation in Los Angeles, while he was questioned by journalists about the accusations of transphobia against the writer, who vigorously rejects them.

Max also promises a new "Game of Thrones" prequel

"Max's commitment to preserving the integrity of my books is important to me, and I look forward to participating in this new adaptation that will achieve a level of depth and detail that only a long-form television series can offer," she said in the statement.

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To make future subscribers salivate, Max also promises a new prequel to "Game of Thrones", entitled "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight", taking place a hundred years before the events of the original series, and which will still feed the saga, after a first prequel, "House of the Dragon", in the summer of 2022.

The new platform, which features HBO classics like "The Sopranos" and most recently "Succession," will be available at three rates, from $9.99 to $19.99 per month. The service, which will also have access to content from HGTV, Food Network, or Discovey Channel, wants to compete with the giants Netflix and Disney+, two years after the announced merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery to form a new media giant.

Many series in preparation

Other projects are in the works, including a series, "The Sympathizer", based on the novel "The Sympathizer" by Vietnamese-American writer Viet Thanh Nguyen, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2016, another entitled "The Regime", with Kate Winslet, or a new opus of "True Detective" with Jodie Foster.

For now, in France, HBO and Warner Bros. Discovery channels are available via a "Warner Pass" marketed for 9.99 euros per month on Amazon's Prime Video platform.