JK Rowling has gone viral after referring to her popular Harry Potter books in a post online—and it has fans sharing their love for the series in the comments.
The author shared a video on X (formerly Twitter) of an all-white deer on the side of the road from user @AMAZlNGNATURE. “I actually thought someone had left an ice sculpture by the side of the road then an ear moved! So rare & beautiful!” the original caption reads.
Rowling added: “Someone’s lost a Patronus.” At the time of writing, the post had been viewed 3.5 million times.
Newsweek emailed a spokesperson for Rowling for comment on Friday.
A patronus is something that the author came up with for the Harry Potter series and features heavily throughout the books. It is a powerful defensive spell that a wizard or witch can summon to protect themselves from dementors—the fiendish guardians of the wizard prison Azkaban. It presents itself as a silvery-white anthropomorphic animal that is a projection of the person’s happiest memories. Potter’s patronus was a stag and Ginny Weasley’s was a horse.
Fans took to the comment section to express how much the Harry Potter books and films mean to them as well as admire the deer.
“Online Harry Potter encyclopedias rushing to update themselves: ‘According to JK Rowling, a wizard or witch can lose a patronus, which will wander along the roadside, lost, in plain sight of muggles [non-magical people]…'” one person joked.
“Wow, she’s so beautiful. And now I’m thinking of Snape & Lilly and gonna go have a little cry,” someone else wrote, referencing two characters from the books.
“Thank you for indulging my four daughters’ youth. Your books filled them with imagination, wonder, and joy. The youngest was the one to win the entire book collection, although, they all wanted them, because she was last to read them,” a third person commented.
A fourth added: “I would love to know what JK Rowling’s patronus is. I feel like it would make me smile.”
The Harry Potter universe is gearing up for a return in the form of episodic television—and people have been eagerly awaiting any updates.
It has been nearly 15 years since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, the last installment in the film series, was released. Fans of the franchise have been buzzing ever since they found out that Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the rest of the characters would be returning to their screens, just in a different format.
According to director Mark Mylod and Harry Potter showrunner Francesca Gardiner, the first season encompasses the first book. With eight episodes in the run, they have more time to weave a story, as opposed to being limited to two-and-a-half hours, which was the running time of the 2001 movie Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
“We’re both massively fond of the movies, they’re amazing, what an amazing feat of creative pursuits,” Gardiner told HarryPotter.com. “We get a bigger sandpit to play in.”
Some have theorized that each season will focus on one book of the series, meaning the show would consist of seven series, though Casey Bloys, chairman and CEO of HBO & Max Content said the project would run for “10 consecutive years.”
“This new Max Original series will dive deep into each of the iconic books that fans have continued to enjoy for all of these years,” Bloys said, explaining that it would be “a faithful adaptation.”
The cast is yet to be confirmed. Showrunners were set the difficult task of working their way through an estimated 32,000 auditions in a bid to find the next generation of pupils at Hogwarts. According to an article from Deadline published in December 2024, “a decision is expected relatively soon.”
Children aged between 9 and 11 were encouraged to audition, “without regard to ethnicity, sex, disability, race, sexual orientation and gender identity” at an open casting call in April 2024.
Rowling has become a divisive figure in recent years due to her comments made about transgender people. Despite this, Max confirmed that the author will be an executive producer on the series.
“Max’s commitment to preserving the integrity of my books is important to me, and I’m looking forward to being part of this new adaptation which will allow for a degree of depth and detail only afforded by a long-form television series,” Rowling said in a statement.
