What To Know
- The primary teaser for HBO’s Harry Potter and the Thinker’s Stone TV collection broke data, making it the most-watched trailer in HBO and HBO Max historical past.
- The teaser showcases key characters and scenes from the beloved story, introducing the brand new solid and providing glimpses of Hogwarts and its school forward of the present’s December 2026 premiere.
- The collection has sparked controversy because of J.Okay. Rowling’s anti-transgender statements and backlash over various casting, with some actors receiving threats and criticism from segments of the fanbase.
Regardless of or maybe due to the controversies surrounding the undertaking, the tv collection Harry Potter is already creating magic for HBO.
The primary teaser for the small-screen adaptation — particularly the debut season, titled Harry Potter and the Thinker’s Stone — went stay on Wednesday and amassed greater than 277 million natural views, making it the most-watched trailer in HBO and HBO Max historical past, in line with a Warner Bros. Discovery press launch. Actually, the teaser broke that report by greater than double.
Forward of Harry Potter’s Christmas 2026 debut, the teaser supplies Potterheads with the primary footage from the TV present.
We see orphan wizard Harry (Dominic McLaughlin) escape life with imply aunt Petunia Dursley (Bel Powley) through an invite to Hogwarts and a drop-in from Hagrid (Nick Frost). We additionally see the Boy Who Lived as he finds Platform 9 3/4 at King’s Cross station and boards the Hogwarts Categorical, the place he meets Ron Weasley (Alastair Stout) and Hermione Granger (Arabella Stanton).
As soon as the first-years arrive at Hogwarts, we see glimpses of their life on the faculty for wizarding and witchcraft, together with the youngsters’ research in school and their leisure time in Gryffindor Tower and the Quidditch pitch. And we see transient pictures of Hogwarts school, like Headmaster Albus Dumbledore (John Lithgow), Minerva McGonagall (Janet McTeer), and Severus Snape (Paapa Essiedu).
Harry Potter, which is anticipated to cowl one novel from J.Okay. Rowling’s seven-part collection per season, stands to be a large hit for HBO. However the present has already generated less-than-charmed publicity.
For starters, the Harry Potter solid has needed to area questions on signing on to the TV present after Rowling has made her anti-transgender stances clear.
Lithgow, for instance, stated in February that he “take[s] the topic and the problem extraordinarily severely” and finds Rowling’s opinions “considerably inexplicable.” Katherine Parkinson, nonetheless, advised the press she “[didn’t] need to add to that debate in any respect” as she filmed her scenes as Molly Weasley.
And the casting of a Black man as Severus Snape has confirmed to be a difficulty for narrow-minded Harry Potter followers. Essiedu even advised The Sunday Instances he has obtained demise threats over his involvement.
“I’ve been advised, ‘Give up or I’ll homicide you,’” Essiedu revealed in an interview revealed every week in the past. “The fact is that if I have a look at Instagram, I’ll see any individual saying, ‘I’m going to come back to your home and kill you. … No one ought to must encounter this for doing their job. Many individuals put their lives on the road of their work. I’m enjoying a wizard in Harry Potter. And I’d be mendacity if I stated it doesn’t have an effect on me emotionally.”
Harry Potter and the Thinker’s Stone, Sequence Premiere, December 2026, HBO & HBO Max
