Harry Potter TV Series on HBO: Release Date, Title, Trailer, and Everything Else to Know

The Harry Potter franchise has experienced a small lull in relevance in the last few years, but one of the biggest brands in the world is about to come back in a big way with a new big-budget TV adaptation of the book series for HBO with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. That's right; we're not doing any side stories or prequels like Fantastic Beasts here. This is the original story, with the idea being that a TV series will allow for a more in-depth exploration of the Harry Potter universe than we got from the film series that starred Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint. Each of the movies was between two and three hours long — but each season of this series will give us far more time in the Wizarding World than that.

Just in case you've been living under the Shrieking Shack and have no idea what's going on, Harry Potter is an 11-year-old boy who gets accepted into the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry only to learn that his family's history with a deadly dark lord will come to threaten the entire wizarding world and those he loves most.

The retelling of one of the most popular film franchises of all time — which spanned eight films between 2001 and 2011 — is the latest effort to mine J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World cinematic universe. Warner Bros. has also produced three films in the spin-off franchise Fantastic Beasts, licensed a theme park attraction, mounted the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child stage production, and launched the open-world video game Hogwarts Legacy.

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Here's everything to know about the new series, including its release date, cast, and trailer.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone latest news

On March 25, HBO said "Alohomora" to whatever trove held some major information about the series and delivered much-needed details about the show, including the name, premiere date, and first trailer. The official title is Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which is also the name of the U.K. versions of the first book and first film (that won't be confusing at all). HBO has not indicated whether or not the title will change as new seasons cover different books. The series will premiere on Christmas Day 2026, which is earlier than the 2027 premiere that HBO previously targeted. The first trailer, which shows off two minutes of Harry and friends, is below in the trailers section.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone release date

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone will premiere on Christmas Day 2026. It's an early gift for Pott-heads, as HBO previously stated that the series wouldn't debut until 2027.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone trailers

Our first real look at Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released on March 25, and it will look familiar to most Harry Potter fans because, well, it looks A LOT like the first movie. Good news for those of you who thought the movies were too short!

In announcing the series, HBO Max released a brief teaser that offers nothing about the new series, only acknowledging its existence. But it does include the original film series' iconic typeface and John Williams' score. (Hans Zimmer is taking over for Williams for the series.)

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone cast 

One of the biggest selling points for the original Harry Potter films was the dynamic cast, led by Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson, along with legendary British actors like Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Michael Gambon, and Ralph Fiennes. But HBO was clear in its announcement of the new series that it will feature an entirely new cast.

In May 2025, HBO announced the casting for its three main characters, all of whom are relatively unknown (but not for long). Dominic McLaughlin will play Harry Potter, Arabella Stanton will play Hermione Granger, and Alastair Stout has landed the role of Ron Weasley. "The talent of these three unique actors is wonderful to behold, and we cannot wait for the world to witness their magic together onscreen," showrunner Francesca Gardiner and director Mark Mylod said in a press release. "We would like to thank all the tens of thousands of children who auditioned. It's been a real pleasure to discover the plethora of young talent out there."

And in February 2025, we learned our first major piece of casting: John Lithgow will play Dumbledore. While it may seem like an odd choice at first, since Lithgow is American, it's worth pointing out that the 79-year-old actor won an Emmy and was nominated for a BAFTA for playing Winston Churchill on The Crown less than a decade ago. So there's certainly no question that he can do the accent.

Lithgow's casting was rumored for a few weeks, but the actor confirmed the news in a chat with ScreenRant. "It was not an easy decision because it's going to define me for the last chapter of my life, I'm afraid. But I'm very excited. Some wonderful people are turning their attention back to Harry Potter. That's why it's been such a hard decision. I'll be about 87 years old at the wrap party, but I've said yes."

When Lithgow's casting was made formal in mid-April, five other actors and their roles were also revealed: Paapa Essiedu as Snape, Janet McTeer as Professor McGonagall, Nick Frost as Hagrid, Luke Thallon as Quirinus Quirrell, and Paul Whitehouse as Argus Filch.

Notably absent so far is Voldemort, but that isn't necessarily that surprising as the movies didn't cast Ralph Fiennes for that part until the fourth one. Voldemort is more of a behind-the-scenes presence during the early books, just a spooky rumor for the kids who don't really know what's going on. He only starts to physically appear in the later books.

In June 2025, HBO announced nine new actors added to the ensemble: Bel Powley as Petunia Dursley, Daniel Rigby as Vernon Dursley, Katherine Parkinson as Molly Weasley, Johnny Flynn as Lucius Malfoy, Lox Pratt as Draco Malfoy, Leo Earley as Seamus Finnigan, Alessia Leoni as Parvati Patil, Sienna Moosah as Lavender Brown, and Bertie Carvel as Cornelius Fudge.

In July 2025, HBO added four more actors to its ever-expanding cast: Rory Wilmot as Neville Longbottom, Amos Kitson as Dudley Dursley, Louise Brealey as Madam Rolanda Hooch, and Anton Lesser as Garrick Ollivander.

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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone behind the scenes

In June 2024, Warner Bros. announced a showrunner for the new series: Francesca Gardiner, who has never led a series before, but whose previous writing credits include Succession and His Dark Materials. 

Mark Mylod, a peak TV veteran, will executive produce the show and direct multiple episodes. Mylod has plenty of experience directing for HBO and Showtime — including episodes of Succession, Game of Thrones, The Last of Us, Shameless, The Affair, and the dark satire film The Menu with Ralph Fiennes.

Other key members of the behind-the-scenes team include Adriano Goldman (director of photography), Cate Hall (hair and makeup designer), Paul Herbert (stunt coordinator), Mark Holt (SFX supervisor), Mara LePere-Schloop (production designer), Naomi Moore (set decorator), John Nolan (creature effects design supervisor), Alexis Wajsbrot (VFX supervisor), Dom Sidoli (VFX producer), and Holly Waddington (costume designer). 

Hans Zimmer, and the Bleeding Fingers Music collective he co-founded with Kara Talve and Anze Rozeman, will compose the score for the series. That makes Zimmer the sixth composer to handle those duties on a Harry Potter adaptation, following John Williams, Patrick Doyle, Nicholas Hooper, and Alexandre Desplat on the original series, and James Newton Howard on Fantastic Beasts.

How many seasons will there be?

Initial reports of the series said it would run seven seasons, with each one dedicated to adapting one of Rowling's books. But Warner Bros. Discovery has also stated it would be a "decade-long series." In February 2024, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav  confirmed that the series would run for seven seasons, with each season corresponding to a book.

There's also the vast Wizarding World mythology that Rowling has built out over the years, which the show's creators could pull from to flesh out the new TV adaptation as well.

In all, that means you should expect a much more robust adaptation of the novels than we saw with the movies, since each season will be significantly longer than any of those movies were. This will also allow them to flesh out some of the early stories with key elements that weren't conceived until later books, if they want to. And they probably will want to, since those first couple books were relatively short and probably don't have enough material to each support a full season of TV.

Is J.K. Rowling involved in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone?

Yes. Rowling has become a much-maligned figure in recent years, focusing her social media presence on posting hateful attacks on the transgender community. In 2025, she announced the creation of the J.K. Rowling Women's Fund, an entirely self-funded organization dedicated to "women's sex-based rights," another example of her commitment to promoting and funding anti-trans legislation.

None of this stopped Warner Bros. from bringing her on board the new Potter series, on which she will serve as an executive producer. In a statement, Rowling said, "Max's commitment to preserving the integrity of my books is important to me, and I'm looking forward to being part of this new adaptation which will allow for a degree of depth and detail only afforded by a long form television series."

Variety reported on the studio's defense of Rowling's "right to express her personal views." Warner Bros. said, "We will remain focused on the development of the new series, which will only benefit from her involvement."

HBO's chief content officer Casey Bloys doubled down on the network's support of Rowling, saying, "It's pretty clear that those are her personal, political views. She's entitled to them. Harry Potter is not secretly being infused with anything. And if you want to debate her, you can go on Twitter."

Original Harry Potter cast reactions to the TV series

With a whole new cast donning the robes of Hogwarts' four houses, the original cast will be passing the wand. Daniel Radcliffe, the original Harry Potter, is totally fine with it.

"My understanding is that they're trying to very much start fresh and I'm sure whoever is making them will want to make their own mark on it and probably not want to have to figure out how to get old Harry to cameo in this somewhere," Radcliffe told ComicBook.com in July 2023. "So I'm definitely not seeking it out in any way. But I do wish them, obviously, all the luck in the world and I'm very excited to have that torch passed. But I don't think it needs me to physically pass it." (It's worth noting that Radcliffe, a longtime supporter of the Trevor Project, has publicly criticized Rowling's anti-trans views.)

How to watch the Harry Potter movies

Until the Harry Potter series starts to take shape, an entire corner of the HBO Max streaming service is dedicated to the Wizarding World. There, fans can stream all eight of the original films, along with the three Fantastic Beasts movies, the Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts reunion film, and specials like the Hogwarts Tournament of Champions hosted by Helen Mirren. The movies are also available on other streamers at times.