Making Chamber of Secrets into a GOOD TV Show

With the Harry Potter TV show on HBO Max picking up speed, I recently talked about how the producers could make sure that the first season was good based on the Philosopher's Stone book.

In this video I follow it up with exactly how I'd turn the Chamber of Secrets book into a good second season of TV.

I release new videos every week:

Don't forget to Like and Subscribe to the channel!

Follow Me:

[thor]

I think a great cliffhanger for this seasons’ finale would be a jump forward in time. You see Fudge walking through the cells of Azkaban, where we see a bunch of deranged looking wizards, including one with long hair and a scraggly beard. As Fudge walks past his cell Black calls out ‘Cornelius!’ Fudge turns around in horror. ‘Can I borrow the paper?’ Fudge looks almost relieved but still a little frightened of Black, he hands Black the paper through the bars and then walks of. We see Black open the paper where there is the image of the Weasley’s in Egypt. We see Black’s look of boredom turn to one of fury and revenge. He scrunches up the paper looks at the camera and says ‘he’s now at Hogwarts’. And boom. Credits roll. This gives nothing away and next season when Black breaks out, the audience is already somewhat familiar with him.

[linntro]

At the end of the season, maybe when Tom Riddle is monologing to Harry, you can show flashbacks from Ginny's perspective.
Show us how Tom Riddle manipulated her, how she realised the diary was evil. Here you chould foreshadow how horcroxes effect people.

[jessicastrike]

I really hope each season has a post credit scene like the MCU to set up the next season. It would be so much fun to see what they tease especially as most people already know the story so they could do scenes we didn’t see previously but heard about or read in the books
1. We hear Lucius Malloy (but don’t see him so doesn’t spoil the mystery/reveal) being told about raids being conducted by Arthur Weasley and we see the diary in the basement
2. A reveal of Sirius Black in his cell in Azkaban muttering continuously “he’s at Hogwarts” or Fudge doing his inspection and Sirius asks him for his newspaper
3. Pettigrew in Albania, maybe in the woods looking for Voldemort hearing whispers or at a bar when he overhears Bertha Jorkins talking about the Quidditch World Cup
4. A reveal of Umbridge at the Ministry with others talking about how something needs to be done about Harry and Dumbledore spreading lies about Voldemort
5. Harry arrives back in Privet Drive and finds a letter from Dumbledore saying he will collect him in a couple of weeks and that he has something he wants his help with or Harry looking at newspapers seeing Fudge has resigned and other news like the Amelia Bones murder
6. There’s loads of things you could do here but I would have Scrimgeour at his desk with Dumbledore’s will as he looks at the items he leaves to Harry Ron and Hermionie, he could flick through the book and we see a glimpse of the Deathly Hallows symbol, holds the snitch then drops it, he clicks the deluminator and the lights go out ending the scene
If they split Deathly Hallows up again (pointless for a series but they could) then I would have the tease be the Dumbledore’s Army coins being activated with the message to return to Hogwarts

[stevenalvarez]

13:25 A good way to make suspense in the show is to add a cut scene after the first few Hogwarts episodes showing a robed person killing the roosters or sneaking towards the roost and have a something showing like hair or shoes to get new fans to get engaged into a new mystery adding a good subplot for the new viewers to try to guess on who it could be. They can add stuff to point towards Hermione or other people and then in the Riddle monologue episode they can show flash backs to Ginny doing the things in those end cut scenes

[TheBedrockBoy]

What i think they can do is making each episode of the first 3 seasons like 30-35 minutes long, which can solve the pacing issues and give us the gripping story we want, it will be good to know what you think of this idea, thanks!

[doobvids]

I'd like to see more of the Weasley family's summer holiday in Egypt- It could introduce Bill and Charlie, hinting at Pettigrew, expanding the magical world with a glimpse of the Egyptian version of Diagon Alley.

[anonymousperson]

Something they also need to do to differentiate the show from the movies is make the magic more magical and whimsy like it is in the books. In the films it kinda just devolves into laser beams flying this way and that. In the films there’s barely any talking or belching furniture, there are never sparks emitting from the wands, nothing pops, bangs or cracks, and the duels are mostly just two guys shooting a connected beam of light at each other. They also rarely say the spells aloud and they use Avada Kedavra way too much. They’ve got to get this right.

[tylertyler]

The founders backstory episode can also show the diadem of ravenclaw, hufflepuffs cup and gryffindors sword to set up those important items

[morningview]

I know you have your doubts about this as a series, but they way you laid out the episodes sounds pretty good. HBO should give you a call!

I actually think Chamber is the spookiest of the books, disembodied voices, giant spiders, child 'killing' monsters, lots of sneaking around a real mystery that ramps up the stakes. I hope the tv series really amps up the spooky mystery factor here.

[sol_]

As long as it’s mentioned that hagrids chickens were killed so the trio don’t look stupid by not bringing one to kill the basilisk

[aidanmilb]

Love this video. Hoping you do this type of breakdown for each book

[msclrhd]

Here's my breakdown:
- Ep 1 (Introduction + Inciting Incident) -- The Worst Birthday; Dobby's Warning -- End with Dobby warning Harry not to go back to Hogwarts
- Ep 2 (End of Act 1) -- The Burrow; At Floursh and Blotts; The Whomping Willow -- End with Ron and Harry crashing into the Whomping Willow
- Ep 3 (Raising Action) -- Gilderoy Lockhart; Mudbloods and Murmurs
- Ep 4 (Raising Action + Complication) -- The Deathday Party; The Writing on the Wall -- The midpoint at Hallowe'en.
- Ep 5 (Raising Action) -- The Rogue Bludger; The Dueling Club
- Ep 6 (Raising Action) -- The Polyjuice Potion; The Very Secret Diary -- End at the revelation that Hagrid opened the chamber of secrets before
- Ep 7 (Raising Action + Climax) -- Cornelius Fudge; Aragog; The Chamber of Secrets -- End with Ginny being taken into the chamber
- Ep 8 (Denoumont) -- The Heir of Slytherin; Dobby' Reward

Note: This is a rough breakdown. Like with my breakdown of Book 1, the idea is to keep the main story beats (3/5 act story structure) aligned with the episodes, while giving the key episodes a cliffhanger/hook for the next episode. This is also the same sort of structure I would keep throughout the series.

In terms of adapting the text, there's plenty there to pick up on. You don't just have to turn a paragraph of text into a single look or establishing shot. You can take what the paragraph is telling the reader and showing that.

Show how Ginny interacts with Harry at the Burrow, maybe throw in a few additional scenes of awkward interactions. Have Harry, Ron, and Hermione have additional conversations about Harry being accused of being the heir of Slytherin; show how he reacts inthe various classes, etc.

Show Harry overhearing conversations at Burgin and Burkes while trying to stay hidden/escape, possibly with death eaters or other characters. Show Ginny and Harry talking to the diary -- you could use that to provide insight into their thoughts while making diary Tom Riddle both sympathetic and manipulative; done right that can hint at what Tom is actually like (for the reveal for people who don't know the story) without making it obvious.

There's plenty you can do to bring the text to life and to show what is narrated in the story. That does mean writing additional scenes and not just lifting the text one-to-one, but this is a different story-telling medium.

[calebbowman]

The more I think about the Harry Potter TV the more I'm excited a d I'm looking forward to the 4 th and 6th season

[KimRahn]

But But dropping/breaking the cabinet wasn't mentioned for "episode 3"! SUCH a huge moment and can potentially tie in the showing of the cabinet from "episode 2" how they are a twin pair!!

[TheRayvolution]

The Handmaids Tale was one book that generated 5 (6 in 2025) seasons that averaged 12 hour long episodes per season. You lot are thinking to linear storytelling. This will NOT be another retread. They will explore the entire of the world and characters, that didn’t get much attention in the films or books for that matter. This series will be a true ensemble. We will care more about the entire cast than before.

[ItsJardo]

They could do something unique with book 3 by having a few episodes dedicated to the marauders backstory

[TheDrexLord]

Heres how I would pace the show. It's been a while scince I have read the book or seen the movie so some things i may have forgotten or mixed up the order.


201. Meetings Dobby- Escaping
40 min
202. The Burrow-Arriving at Hogwarts
55 min
203. First Week- Deathday Party
50 min
204. dueling club-Quitich Match
50 min
205. PolyJuice - Harry getting the Diary
50 min
206. Diary Flashback-Hermione being Petrofiried
55 min
207. Airagog- going to the chamber
45 min
208. The Chamber of Secrets-End
1 hr

[helioalmeida]

Loved this season idea. Would be nice to have Harry asking Dumbledore what the diary is exactly and Dumbledore answering like he does in the book but adding that he’ll have a closer look at it.

[liamness]

looking forward to you doing this for the rest of the books in the series

[jkent]

I still think they not only can but will have to just stack up backstory in the first two books.

They won’t really have time in later seasons to focus on the eccentricities of things like the Burrow and Diagon Alley. In DH they will have to just do stuff Bill and Fleur’s wedding and Gringotts without wasting time on character and scene building.

This season would also be a good opportunity to go ahead and dig into stuff like Hagrid’s backstory, and maybe even introducing some Voldy backstory.