Remember when Harry Potter was a wide-eyed 11-year-old instead of an angsty teenager or a full-grown adult whose youngest son was old enough for his own adventures? Remember when just mentioning J.K. Rowling wasn’t polarizing and dangerous? HBO and Warner Bros. take us back to that era in the first trailer for HBO’s Harry Potter series, the HBO TV reboot of the Potterverse.
The show, first announced in 2021, started production in 2025, and it’s intended to run on HBO over the next decade, re-adapting the seven J.K. Rowling books previously adapted as movies starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint as school friends Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley. The first season, titled Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, will run eight episodes and launch on Dec. 25, 2026.
The first teaser gives us glimpses of the new cast in action, with Dominic McLaughlin, Arabella Stanton, and Alastair Stout as Harry, Hermione, and Ron, three new friends beginning their first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The focus on Harry’s terrible home life and the bullies that surround him seem more pronounced here than in the movie version — a TV series obviously has more time to spend on establishing the character’s background.
But the trailer eventually goes into “Hey, look at all these things you’ll immediately recognize!” mode, with glimpses of Albus Dumbledore (John Lithgow), Minerva McGonagall (Janet McTeer), and Severus Snape (Paapa Essiedu), among other characters. Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid gets a little more screen time, as he escorts Harry off to Hogwarts. HBO has been doling out casting information for months, but HBO’s announcement came with a lot of new names. Here’s the full cast list the streamer released with this trailer:
Rory Wilmot as Neville Longbottom, Lox Pratt as Draco Malfoy, Leo Earley as Seamus Finnigan, Elijah Oshin as Dean Thomas, Tristan Harland as Fred Weasley, Gabriel Harland as George Weasley, Ruari Spooner as Percy Weasley, Alessia Leoni as Parvati Patil, Sienna Moosah as Lavender Brown, Finn Stephens as Vincent Crabbe, William Nash as Gregory Goyle, Warwick Davis as Filius Flitwick, and Sirine Saba as Pomona Sprout.
Additional cast: Daniel Rigby as Vernon Dursley, Bel Powley as Petunia Dursley, Paul Whitehouse as Argus Filch, Johnny Flynn as Lucius Malfoy, Bertie Carvel as Cornelius Fudge, Luke Thallon as Quirinus Quirrell, Katherine Parkinson as Molly Weasley, Amos Kitson as Dudley Dursley, Gracie Cochrane as Ginny Weasley, Richard Durden as Cuthbert Binns, Louise Brealey as Rolanda Hooch, Bríd Brennan as Poppy Pomfrey, Leigh Gill as Griphook, and Anton Lesser as Garrick Ollivander.
