FANS have finally had their highly anticipated first glimpse of the new Harry Potter TV series – and it is fair to say that not everyone is spellbound.
The official teaser trailer for HBO’s show about the beloved boy wizard divided opinion when it dropped on Wednesday night.
While some were ecstatic to see Harry back in action for the first time since the 2011 release of movie Deathly Hallows — Part 2, others reckon the new production looks like nothing more than a copy of an already brilliant film franchise.
We met Dominic McLaughlin, 11, who plays Harry — the role that propelled child actor Daniel Radcliffe, now 36, to fame in the Noughties.
Young Alastair Stout and Arabella Stanton have been cast as Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.
The trio were selected after more than 30,000 kids auditioned at an open casting call to find the programme’s leading stars.
Telly executives plan to make seven Harry Potter seasons, each covering one of JK Rowling’s books, on which the movies were originally based. The action kicks off with the plot of The Philosopher’s Stone.
There is set to be eight episodes in each series, and it is hoped they will delve into details from the novels that never made the big screen.
The new trailer has already teased never-before-seen moments, including Harry attending a school for “muggles” — those without magic abilities — before Hogwarts.
Elsewhere, the book and movie scene in which Harry meets Ron and Hermione on the Hogwarts Express is recreated — as is his first Quidditch match for Gryffindor.
Some of the franchise’s most popular characters have already been cast. Lox Pratt takes the part of Draco Malfoy, Rory Wilmot is Neville Longbottom, and Amos Kitson steps up as Dudley Dursley.
Meanwhile, actors playing the show’s grown-up characters include John Lithgow as Hogwarts’ headmaster Albus Dumbledore and Janet McTeer as Professor Minerva McGonagall.
Paapa Essiedu, who is black, has faced nasty backlash after being picked to play Professor Severus Snape, portrayed in the films by Alan Rickman, who is white.
He revealed: “I’ve been told, ‘Quit or I’ll murder you’,” and said he regularly receives death threats from members of the public.
Lovable half-giant Hagrid, brought to life by Robbie Coltrane in the films, will be played by Nick Frost, and Warwick Davis, who was Filius Flitwick in the movies, reprises the role for TV.
But Harry’s arch-enemy Lord Voldemort — previously portrayed by Ralph Fiennes — is yet to be cast, according to HBO boss Casey Bloys.
The first Harry Potter TV season will launch on Christmas Day this year, on streamer HBO Max.
But filming for the entire show is expected last around a decade in total.
Little surprise, then, that JB Perrette, CEO and President of Global Streaming and Games for Warner Bros Discovery, described it as “the biggest streaming event in the history of HBO Max and arguably in streaming, period”.
In fact, such is the commitment to this production, Warner Bros Studios, located near Watford, was last summer granted permission to build a temporary school for the child actors.
And Harry star Dominic knows he can count on the support of Daniel Radcliffe, who revealed in November that he had written to the young lad wishing him “the best time”.
It is still another few months before we will know for sure if the new TV series will unite fans — or leave them Sirius-ly divided.
So for now, two of The Sun’s biggest Potter fanatics give us their differing views on the reboot.
IT’S A PALE IMITATION
By Tom Bryden
I WILL never forget reading Harry Potter for the first time when I was eight years old – and I couldn’t put the books down.
Then came the films, which perfectly captured the magic.
So you could be forgiven for thinking I would be over the moon about the new show.
But the truth is, the trailer left me feeling cold. Given it looks to be pretty much a straight copy of the originals, what’s the point?
We see Harry and Hagrid looking practically identical to the characters first portrayed by Daniel Radcliffe and Robbie Coltrane. Then the moment all the new students enter Hogwarts, Harry’s first Quidditch match – even his meeting with best friend Ron.
All undeniably iconic moments already depicted superbly in the films.
Yes, some fans will be cheering the nostalgia, but it seems clear to me it will be nothing more than a pale imitation that will dilute the magic and ruin the films’ legacy.
They say turning each book into a whole season will allow them to cover storylines that never made it into the movies.I fear this will just turn it into a snooze-fest.
Let’s call it what it is – a cash grab.
You only need to look at the much-panned Lord Of The Rings series to see how wrong TV adaptations of beloved movie franchises can go.
Kids nowadays deserve their own stories to fall in love with, not our reheated leftovers.
WE NEED THE MAGIC
By Grant Rollings
IF anyone thinks audiences don’t need to be transported to a magical world, they’ve been drinking too much butterbeer.
The timing for a TV show based on JK Rowling’s bestselling Harry Potter books couldn’t be better.
With the way 2026 is going so far, most of us will be grateful to escape to Hogwarts on Christmas Day when it starts streaming.
The trailer for the adaptation of the first book, Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, gave me goosebumps. The steam from the Hogwarts Express; the chandeliers floating in the Great Hall.
It took me back to 2001’s Potter-mania, when the film hit cinemas.
Grown men and women discussed if it was better to be in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw – and everyone had an opinion on whether Daniel Radcliffe made a good Harry.
Quarter of a century on, a new generation of youngsters deserve to experience the excitement and debates.
The original movies will be hard to top, but I remember fans whingeing about bits of the novels being cut out. That shouldn’t happen with the TV series, because the first book will be told over eight episodes.
As for the complaint it needs updating, I’m sure everyone would be more upset if Hagrid was on Ozempic or the Sorting Hat was replaced by an algorithm.
Don’t forget what happens when Rowling tries something different . . . Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald. That’s something we’d love to “obliviate”.
