How much money will JK Rowling make from HBO’s new Harry Potter TV show? It’s pretty jarring

The teaser trailer for HBO’s new Harry Potter TV show left us with many questions. Why does it look so gloomy? Why does this even exist? And, above all, doesn’t JK Rowling have enough mansions already? If you’re wondering how much money JK Rowling will make from that HBO Harry Potter show, then here are answers.

Right, so what money does JK Rowling make off the Harry Potter reboot?

JK Rowling is definitely involved with HBO MAX’s Harry Potter show. Warner Bros. already had the rights to adapting the OG seven Potter books. However, JK Rowling is listed as an executive producer, and she claimed on X in June 2025 that she “worked closely with the extremely talented writers” on the scripts.

It seems as if the new Harry Potter show is one part of JK Rowling’s extensive deal with Warner Bros – she wouldn’t simply be paid a fixed fee for each season in the same way a cast member would be. Forbes estimated JK Rowling could earn about $20 million per year for being involved with the new show.

The Harry Potter reboot is likely to make JK Rowling richer in other ways, though. She already makes a whopping amount of money each year from Harry Potter books, royalties from the films, and tickets to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child shows. Four different Universal theme parks have some Harry Potter component. Because Universal licences Harry Potter stuff from Warner Bros., JK Rowling makes money from those too.

I read my most recent royalty cheques and find the pain goes away pretty quickly. pic.twitter.com/s4gl9rlqxl

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) October 13, 2022

Forbes reckoned JK Rowling made more than $80 million per year from 2020 to 2024. If the new Harry Potter show inspires more people to buy books and Cursed Child tickets and Hedwig plush toys and whatnot over the next decade, then JK Rowling could make even more money.

How rich is JK Rowling already?

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She reportedly lost her billionaire status in 2012 as she’d given so much money to charity. However, Forbes estimated that in 2025 her wealth had gone back up to $1.2 billion. The Sunday Times Tax List from January 2026 estimated she paid £47.5 million in tax over the last year – that works out as more than £130,000 per day.

We know that over the years, she’s purchased the cottage in Gloucestershire where she grew up, and a Georgian townhouse in Kensington. In 2023 she bought an 88.5-metre-long yacht, which has been valued at $150 million.

I love it when a plan comes together.#SupremeCourt #WomensRights pic.twitter.com/agOkWmhPgb

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 16, 2025

Each summer, Edinburgh City Council partially closes a road and installs traffic lights so the 30-foot hedges of her mansion can be trimmed.

Remember, JK Rowling donated £70,000 to For Women Scotland’s campaign for the Supreme Court to rule the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex. In May 2025, she announced she would be using her money for The J.K. Rowling Women’s Fund. The website says the organisation “offers legal funding support to individuals and organisations fighting to retain women’s and girls’ sex-based rights in all aspects of life including the workplace, sports and clubs, and protected single-sex spaces”.

So, if you buy an officially licensed butterbeer, then your money may be used to support people who have “been discriminated against because of their expressed beliefs on biological sex being unchangeable”.

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Featured images via YouTube / HBO Max.