It may not be the first of September just yet, but the Potterheads among you don’t have to wait a moment longer for a sneak preview of your latest trip to Hogwarts’ School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Following yesterday’s Quidditch-y first look at Dominic McLaughlin’s boy wizard in HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter TV series — and ahead of HBO Max’s UK launch tomorrow — the official trailer for the show’s first season, now officially titled Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, has just been released. And you can catch a glimpse at what Mark Mylod and Francesca Gardiner’s return to the Wizarding World has in store below;
Merlin’s beard, there’s a lot going on here! Firstly, it looks like the extended narrative space created by a season-per-book approach means fans will be getting to see much more of Harry’s life with the Dursleys (Bel Powley and Daniel Rigby) and his troubled school days at St. Gregory’s, with Dominic McLaughlin’s Potter instantly having the ring of Radcliffe’s look about him, albeit with perhaps slightly more book-accurate messy hair. But before we know it, Harry’s had his Hogwarts letter and he’s swiftly off to Diagon Alley with Hagrid (a very jolly Nick Frost), hopping aboard the Hogwarts Express, and arriving at the Wizarding school — given a new, more nature-infused look in the shots we see here. We also catch glimpses of Harry laughing and playing in the snow with Ron (Alastair Stout) and Hermione (Arabella Stanton), getting stuck into Herbology and Defence Against The Dark Arts classes, and taking to the Quidditch field.
And as if that all weren’t enough, this first trailer also offers up tantalising teases of Paapa Essiedu’s Professor Snape (who now comes with actual dreadlocks!), John Lithgow’s Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer’s McGonagall, and Anton Lesser’s wandmaker Ollivander. Oh! And it looks like this is a proper period piece as well, with Harry’s muggle threads and Aunt Petunia’s hair-do screaming 90s, further underlining the book accurate approach being adopted here as HBO’s 10-year project gets underway.
There’s also some new first-look photos from the series to feast your eyes on, showing off more of the new cast in character (including Lox Pratt’s Draco Malfoy) and the show’s attention to detail in terms of costuming and production design. You can see those below;
Not only did Potterheads get their first proper look at the series today though, folks. The trailer also ends with the surprise reveal that contrary to rumblings of an expected 2027 release date, Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone will actually hit HBO Max globally on Christmas Day. Wands at the ready!
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