{"id":546075,"date":"2026-03-26T08:43:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T08:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/546075\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T08:43:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T08:43:19","slug":"first-trailer-for-harry-potter-tv-series-reveals-much-anticipated-new-take-harry-potter-tv-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/546075\/","title":{"rendered":"First trailer for Harry Potter TV series reveals much-anticipated new take | Harry Potter TV series"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a lengthy casting process and tight-lipped production, Harry, Ron and Hermione are finally headed back to Hogwarts. Today, HBO released the first teaser trailer for the new Harry Potter<\/a> TV series, with a previously unannounced premiere date of Christmas 2026.<\/p>\n

The preview for Harry Potter<\/a> and the Philosopher\u2019s Stone \u2013 the first season of the show, based on the first of seven books by JK Rowling \u2013 introduces the three central characters: Harry (Dominic McLaughlin) and his friends Hermione Granger (Arabella Stanton) and Ron Weasley (Alastair Stout), who meet as 11-year-olds on the train to their first year at wizarding school.<\/p>\n

The two-minute spot, first premiered at a press event on Wednesday in London, also hints at several iconic moments from the book and 2001 film by Chris Columbus, including Harry\u2019s first meeting with the half-giant Hagrid (Nick Frost), his trying on the Sorting Hat and his first Quidditch game as Gryffindor seeker.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

McLaughlin, Stanton and Stout were cast, after an extensive search and open casting call<\/a> for British children ages nine to 11, to play the central trio over several seasons, in relatively real time. Adult members of the cast include John Lithgow as Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as Professor Minerva McGonagall and Paapa Essiedu as Professor Severus Snape. Succession writer Francesca Gardiner serves as showrunner of the series, which has been a tightly guarded production at Leavesden Studios in Hertfordshire, England, since last July. Game of Thrones and Succession veteran Mark Mylod directs several episodes.<\/p>\n

The multi-arc series, which will supposedly go into more details from the beloved books than the eight-film franchise, represents \u201cthe biggest streaming event in the history of HBO Max and arguably in streaming, period\u201d, according to JB Perrette, the CEO and president of global streaming and games at Warner Bros Discovery. \u201cIt\u2019s number one, two and three in many ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

The star of the original franchise, Daniel Radcliffe, recently made headlines when he said that McLaughlin would be better suited for the lead role than he was as a 12-year-old in 2001. \u201cI\u2019m sure Dominic is going to be better than me,\u201d Radcliffe said. \u201cI 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\u2019m older. But I was very much learning how to do it for a long time on Potter.\u201d<\/p>\n

The adaptation of the beloved book series has already drawn intense scrutiny from some of the fandom, particularly in its casting of Essiedu, a Black actor, as Snape, played in the franchise by the white actor Alan Rickman. Essiedu recently revealed that he has received death threats over the role, and is using such backlash to \u201cfuel\u201d his performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been told, \u2018Quit or I\u2019ll murder you,\u2019\u201d Essiedu told The Times<\/a>. \u201cIt really matters. The reality is that if I look at Instagram, I will see somebody saying, \u2018I\u2019m going to come to your house and kill you.\u2019 While I hope I\u2019ll be okay, nobody should have to encounter this for doing their job. Many people put their lives on the line in their work. I\u2019m playing a wizard in Harry Potter. And I\u2019d be lying if I said it doesn\u2019t affect me emotionally. The themes that run through Harry Potter are of love triumphing over hate \u2013 of acceptance. And that\u2019s why I\u2019m doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paapa Essiedu in Harry Potter and the Philosopher\u2019s Stone. Photograph: HBO<\/p>\n

There also been steady backlash towards Rowling\u2019s many public anti-transgender comments. Rowling, whose expansive Harry Potter world \u2013 including the books, films, video games and theater \u2013 is worth an estimated \u00a320bn<\/a> ($25bn), advises the series as an executive producer. Lithgow, who plays Harry\u2019s mentor Albus Dumbledore, said he\u2019s been \u201cstung\u201d by criticism of her participation in a series with Rowling, as her books are \u201cclearly on the side of the angels, against intolerance and bigotry\u201d.<\/p>\n

Asked last April by journalist Matthew Belloni if Rowling\u2019s views on transgender people made him concerned for the show, HBO\u2019s chief content officer, Casey Bloys defended the decision. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty clear that those are her personal, political views. She\u2019s entitled to them,\u201d he said. \u201cHarry Potter is not secretly being infused with anything. And if you want to debate her, you can go on Twitter.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the trailer, Harry Potter and the Philosopher\u2019s Stone will premiere on HBO Max this Christmas, several months earlier than its projected air date of 2027, and almost 30 years after the first book (also known as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer\u2019s Stone) was published.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a lengthy casting process and tight-lipped production, Harry, Ron and Hermione are finally headed back to Hogwarts.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":546076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[88],"class_list":{"0":"post-546075","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}