Following October Excitement, “Harry Potter” Films Leave Peacock

A few short months ago, Harry Potter fans in the United States were delighted to discover that the film series would finally reach a streaming platform: NBCUniversal’s Peacock. Unfortunately, as of the start of November, the films are no longer on Peacock, and ComicBook.com reported the news with a clarification as to why.

For starters, as it turns out, the eight films were only ever intended to stay on Peacock through the month of October before returning to cable.

The franchise’s recent platform-hopping is the result of contracts that existed before HBO Max or Peacock existed. NBCUniversal has the rights to the Harry Potter series through 2021. That’s [why] the company launch [sic] Peacock with the full eight-film saga as part of its library. However, the details of the contract now require that the films exit the streaming service and join the prequel Fantastic Beasts movies on NBCUniversal’s cable networks like Syfy and USA.

This is bound to be disappointing news for fans who would prefer to stream the Harry Potter films from wherever they happen to be. ComicBook.com speculates that the films could make a return to Peacock before NBCUniversal loses the rights to them at the end of 2021, at which point Warner Bros. might put them back on HBO Max. Until we hear more streaming news, however, it looks as though fans in the US who don’t own their own copies of the films will have to check their local listings.

Are you disappointed that the Harry Potter films are no longer available to stream on Peacock? Do you hope that the films will return to streaming soon?