Series / Harry Potter (2026)

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Harry Potter is an upcoming fantasy series based upon the book series of the same name by J. K. Rowling. Francesca Gardiner (Succession) serves as showrunner, with Rowling serving as an executive producer alongside David Heyman, producer of the 2001-2011 film series. The series is set to adapt the seven original books across multiple seasons, with Season 1, based on (and titled) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, set to premiere on HBO on December 25, 2026.

The show boasts quite a massive cast, including:

Previews: Announcement, Teaser.

Tropes:

• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Downplayed, given his circumstances were already bad, but the trailer has a scene where Harry cries in his cupboard as a result of the abuse he suffers at the hands of his aunt and uncle. While he was miserable in both the books and the films, he was never seen actually crying over it.
• Adaptational Attractiveness:
  • Snape is described in the books in very unsavory terms, having greasy straight hair and a crooked nose. Alan Rickman, who played Snape in the initial film adaptations, was already more attractive (albeit, older) than book Snape but Paapa Essiedu is definitely more attractive than the book's version and due to being closer to book Snape's age, his attractiveness is even more evident.
  • Vernon Dursley is a grotesque Fat Bastard in the books. This version makes him significantly thinner and easier on the eyes.
  • Petunia Dursley is described as having a horselike appearance in the books, a far cry from her portrayal here by the lovely Bel Powley.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: As shown in the trailer, Hermione's hair while still brown is much darker than in the first film, even taking lighting into account (let alone in later films in the series), and darker than usual book illustrations. While Rowling didn't detail Hermione's hair colour beyond simply "brown" in the books, in her own sketches Hermione's hair is not filled in or shaded unlike Harry's, and she still oversaw the looks of characters for the first film, so Hermione's hair is darker than originally intended. This has the visual effect of having less contrast between her hair and Harry's, compared to the movie trio's hair colors all individually sticking out more.
• Adaptational Expansion: As shown in the trailer, the series will actually show several incidents of Harry's pre-Hogwarts life that were only mentioned by the narrator, such as Dudley's gang bullying him at school and Aunt Petunia's attempting to cut his hair.
• Adaptational Hairstyle Change: As shown in the trailer, Snape is played by Black British actor Paapa Essiedu, and his hair is in dreadlocks compared to the long greasy straight hair described and even doodled by Rowling.
• Art Evolution: The initial announcement video for HBO Max has the same Harry Potter logo◊ as the films, the original US editions of the books and the wider Warner Bros. franchise (as the logo was drawn by the original US illustrator Mary GrandPré), albeit with some kerning variation with the letters spaced out more, compared to prior appearances like this◊. The first proper trailer, now just for HBO, has a new similar but distinct logo with a bit more of a tree-branchy look.
• Ditching the Dub Names: The series retains the title Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone across the world instead of re-titling it as Sorcerer's Stone for the American market like the books and films did.
• Mythology Gag: Promotional materials have shown that Harry's Quidditch robes bear the number 7, much like in the films.
• Race Lift: While Snape's race is never explicitly stated in the books beyond having pale sallow skin, he like the majority of human characters is implicitly white by default given the setting and because Rowling mentions otherwise if they aren't like with Dean Thomas and Blaise Zabini, or indicates their ethnicity more obviously through their names like with Cho Chang and the Patil sisters. Rowling's own artistic depictions also show Snape as white,^note Compare her drawings of most of the characters to Dean Thomas, originally called Gary in the sketch, who had his skin shaded to denote that he was black. and she handpicked the late Alan Rickman to play him in the movies. Plus she partly based Snape on one of her own school teachers, who was white. As shown in the trailer, Snape is played by black British actor Paapa Essiedu.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Petunia Dursley, Harry's aunt, in the trailer, as she takes the time to crazily tell Harry that he is not special no matter what he may think of himself.
• Resentful Guardian: The trailer shows Petunia, who adopted Harry, cutting his hair without any regard for his comfort (with Harry visibly displeased from the ordeal) and taking the time to chew him out and tell him that he is not special.
• Truer to the Text: While there's still notable changes from the source material like Snape's Race Lift, promotional materials have stated that the series is set to adapt the seven books much more accurately than the movies.
  • As shown by the title alone, the first season retains the "Philosopher's Stone" terminology from the original UK version of the first book, whereas invokedit was changed to "Sorcerer's Stone" in the US edition, losing the direct alchemy allusion on the assumption that kids wouldn't read or understand something with "Philosopher" in the title. This affected the first movie as the US version similarly had "Sorcerer's" instead of "Philosopher's", to the point of alternate takes and line readings for every instance.
  • As the films were made without knowledge of Rowling yet confirming their ages, Lily, James, Vernon, Petunia, and Snape were cast with actors over 30, with the most blatant example being Alan Rickman, who was in his 50s, playing Snape, who was meant to be in his 30s. This show casts all of them in an age appropriate manner.
  • As shown by the Muggle world costumes and sets in the first trailer, the series will be strictly following the book's timeline of 1991-1998 and avoiding the Anachronism Stew of the films caused by the creators incorporating several elements of the then-contemporary 2000s culture.
  • The first trailer shows bits from Harry's pre-Hogwarts life that the films skipped past, like Aunt Petunia cutting his hair to no avail and Dudley and his minions bullying him at Muggle school.
  • In the first trailer, Arabella Stanton is closer to the book description of Hermione than Emma Watson due to having naturally large front teeth. Watson wore false teeth on the first day of filming the first movie, but this was quickly abandoned due to them hindering Watson's speech and the teeth only show up at the final train sequence which was the first scene shot. At this point, Stanton also sports Hermione's bushy brown hair akin to Watson in the first film, whereas the look of Watson's hair got less bushy in the later films.
  • In the films, Aunt Petunia's hair is dark. This adaptation makes her hair blonde, as it is in the books.