Do We Really Need a ‘Harry Potter’ Baking Show?

Despite J.K. Rowling’s descent into transphobic bullying and denial of Nazi crimes, Warner Bros. just isn’t releasing its grip on the Harry Potter franchise.

Yes, there are still Potter fans out there, but do they really still need to be pandered to? (Sorry, just borrowing one of Rowling’s favorite phrases to describe trans women.)

Well, Warner Bros. thinks they do, because the studio just greenlit a Harry Potter-themed cooking show. Yes, really. Now, cooking shows on their own are great, there’s no denying that, but the Potter veneer on it just makes me wince. The franchise has become so deeply tied to Rowling’s bigotry that it’s impossible to view it as something cute and fun anymore. I remember when people would proudly stick “Hufflepuff” or “Ravenclaw” on their LiveJournal profile pages, but those days are long gone now.

What do we know about the Harry Potter baking show?

According to Deadline, the working title for the show is Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking. It will be filmed at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, where the Potter movies were filmed and which currently hosts studio tours of the sets.

Contestants on the show will get to explore familiar backdrops from the movies, including the famous Great Hall at Hogwarts, Platform 9 3/4, and Gringott’s Bank. (No word on whether that institution’s goblins, widely criticized for being antisemitic caricatures, will be included.)

The show will air on Food Network over the holiday season. Will Rowling take a break from endlessly tweeting about trans people in order to advertise it on social media? Will she even watch it, or is she too busy suing journalists and picking on small pro-LGBTQ+ accounts? We’ll just have to wait and see.