Rumors of Harry Potter series potentially coming to HBO Max could heat up already red-hot Potter gaming & trading cards

Some Hollywood chatter could mean big things for fans of Harry Potter -- and those who might be sitting on some cardboard from the past.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a new Potter series could be coming to HBO Max at some point, giving fans a new way to explore the universe and merchandising machine fueled by past films that was created by the books by J.K. Rowling. Part of that merch in the past included a bunch of trading card releases with both gaming and non-sports elements (autos, memorabilia, you name it) in play and it's clear that one version remains a scorcher in box form.

The Wizards of The Coast box you see above is for the trading card game that was the first to arrive coinciding in advance of the arrival of the first film, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, back in August 2001. It's a box that has sold for as much as $950 in recent months on eBay but with good sales volume -- and asking prices for boxes and cases (the few that still might exist) are commanding even higher marks. There are other WOTC expansions for the game that also sell relatively well but not quite as strong -- those include Quidditch Cup (November 2001), Diagon Alley (March 2002) and Adventures at Hogwarts (June 2002).

These gaming sets all arrived around the time of Pokémon -- and we all know how that story has gone.

Artbox releases of traditional non-sports sets for Potter can command serious cash for autographs of top stars -- it released several sets from 2004 to 2011 -- with ink from Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Gary Oldman, Rupert Grint, Warwick Davis, Robert Pattinson, John Cleese, John Hurt, Kenneth Branagh, David Tennant, Helena Bonham Carter and even Verne Troyer among the many to be found. The big names? They can mean big dollars -- and that has obviously helped boxes disappear regularly (likely faster than for gaming) through the years. See even more of those meaty asking prices here.

Costume pieces from top names and prop cards with pieces of various oddities used throughout the franchise are also found throughout those releases in memorabilia cards. Everything from Quidditch Robes to Buckbeak Feathers, Daily Prophet newspapers and pieces of the Death Eater Wand made their way into cards. Boxes of these are naturally a little more limited (i.e. unavailable now without paying up) due to the overall volume limits on them due to the volume of hits made, but they, too, can command good cash.

Now, imagine what might be possible for both types of already-popular cards if a new TV series -- especially given what we've seen in the sports card world -- were to happen with rebooted attention for the franchise on the small screen. What might happen if there's a new generation of fans or a bunch of past fans who want to both explore the movies and/or games for the series from the past ... for releases that don't have the massive print runs that definitely existed for past sports releases?

It might end up being magical ... no wand needed.

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