A new Harry. A new Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore and Snape. And a whole new Hogwarts are revealed in the first teaser trailer for HBO‘s Harry Potter TV series.
Below is the first footage from the highly anticipated series, which re-imagines J.K. Rowling’s seven-novel saga into a multi-season dramatic series. The first season will tackle Rowling’s first novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, which was previously adapted by Warner Bros. and director Chris Columbus in 2001. The trailer introduces all the season’s main characters and shows several iconic moments, such as the 11-year-old wizard meeting Ron, Hermione, Draco and Hagrid, getting his wand and trying on the Sorting Hat.
One big surprise: The trailer revealed a premiere date of Christmas, 2026 — which is earlier than the 2027 date that’s been previously announced.
The show introduces a young Harry (Dominic McLaughlin) and his friends Hermione Granger (Arabella Stanton) and Ron Weasley (Alastair Stout) as they attend their first year at Hogwarts. Among the adult cast, there’s John Lithgow as Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as Professor Minerva McGonagall, Nick Frost as the half-giant Hagrid and Paapa Essiedu as the Potions Professor Severus Snape.
Succession writer Francesca Gardiner serves as showrunner and Game of Thrones veteran Mark Mylod directs several episodes of the series.
JB Perrette, CEO and president of global streaming & games at Warner Bros. Discovery, has hyped HBO’s Harry Potter as “the biggest streaming event in the history of HBO Max and arguably in streaming, period. It’s number one, two and three in many ways.” A group of reporters given a first look at the trailer on Wednesday at an HBO press event in London.
Recently, original Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe made headlines for saying he suspected McLaughlin would be far better in the iconic lead role than he was. “I’m sure Dominic is going to be better than me,” Radcliffe said. “I learned as I went. I look back on what I did now with a lot more kindness, and I find it less embarrassing now that I’m older. But I was very much learning how to do it for a long time on Potter.”
One element that’s recently sparked headlines is Essiedu’s casting as Snape. Having a Black actor in the role described in the books as a pale white man (and previously played by the Alan Rickman) has caused an uproar in some segments of the fandom. The actor has recently revealed he’s received death threats over the role and that he’s used such backlash to “fuel” his performance.
“I’ve been told, ‘Quit or I’ll murder you,’” Essiedu told The Times. “It really matters. The reality is that if I look at Instagram, I will see somebody saying, ‘I’m going to come to your house and kill you.’ While I hope I’ll be okay, nobody should have to encounter this for doing their job. Many people put their lives on the line in their work. I’m playing a wizard in Harry Potter. And I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t affect me emotionally. The themes that run through Harry Potter are of love triumphing over hate — of acceptance. And that’s why I’m doing it.”
Lithgow has likewise described getting pressure to drop from the cast, for an entirely different reason — Rowling’s political views. Rowling — whose Potter novels have sold more than 600 million copies worldwide — has been a controversial figure for the studio due to her views on trans rights issues. She is involved with the series as executive producer. Lithgow said he’s been “stung” by the criticism he’s received, and — similar to Essiedu — noted, her books are “clearly on the side of the angels, against intolerance and bigotry.”
HBO boss Casey Bloys has previously told reporters, “It’s pretty clear that those are her personal, political views. She’s entitled to them. Harry Potter is not secretly being infused with anything. And if you want to debate her, you can go on Twitter.”
Here’s a full list of the Harry Potter cast vs. who played each character in the Warner Bros. films.
