The flawless finale to a legendary franchise that was never intended to end ties up loose ends on streaming

As much as we allowed ourselves to be suckered in by the hype, never mind the fact it was touted – rightly so, we should add – as a cultural event a decade in the making, it was foolish to believe that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 would really mark the end of the line for the iconic franchise.

Since that fateful day in July of 2011 when Daniel Radcliffe’s title hero finally overcame the nefarious threat of Lord Voldemort in the Battle of Hogwarts, we’ve been gifted with three Fantastic Beasts prequels – although a fourth seems highly unlikely after The Secrets of Dumbledore bombed – and the inevitable episodic reboot was recently confirmed to be in the works for Max.

As the best-reviewed and highest-grossing of the eight Harry Potter movies, Deathly Hallows – Part 2 did everything that it set out to do and then some, laughing in the face of unimaginable pressure to deliver one of the most epic conclusions any blockbuster saga could possibly hope to conjure. In an age of reboots and legacy sequels, it was refreshing to know that there was no more to come from The Boy Who Lived… except for the fact we all knew that it was never truly going to be long-lasting goodbye.

Warner Bros. has a hell of a job on its hands to not just win over the doubters and skeptics, but deliver a reboot that even has a chance of either matching or succeeding its illustrious predecessor. It’s too early to tell, but based on the consensus, nobody is going to be shocked if it proves to be nothing more than an inferior retread.

Harry Potter is obviously still big business, though, as proven by FlixPatrol naming the grandstanding final chapter as one of the most-watched films on its home platform this weekend, but we’re just going to have to grit our teeth and make do with the fact we’ll be reliving these adventures soon enough under a different guise.