The first trailer for HBO’s Harry Potter series is out, and it does exactly what it needs to. It starts small, quiet almost, with a boy in a cupboard under the stairs, and then slowly opens up into something that feels unmistakably familiar. For fans who have spent years waiting for official confirmation that this project was real and worth caring about, the wait is over.
HBO Max confirmed the debut season will premiere on December 25, 2026. The first installment adapts Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the book that launched J.K. Rowling’s seven-part series and introduced a generation to Hogwarts, Platform 9 3/4, and the particular misery of living with the Dursleys.
A new face steps into Hogwarts
Dominic McLaughlin plays Harry Potter, and the trailer wastes no time establishing him as a credible fit for the role. The footage opens at 4 Privet Drive, where Harry is navigating the usual indignities of life with his aunt, uncle, and cousin before a letter, and then a giant, changes the direction of everything.
That giant is Hagrid, played by Nick Frost, whose warmth comes through even in the brief scenes the trailer offers. The pairing works. From there, the footage moves quickly through a series of moments that longtime fans will clock immediately. Harry meeting Ron Weasley, played by Alastair Stout, on the Hogwarts Express. The Nimbus 3000. The Great Hall filled with candlelight. A flash of the Quidditch pitch.
Arabella Stanton plays Hermione Granger, curly-haired and precise, looking every bit the part. Lox Pratt appears as Draco Malfoy, and the trailer makes clear that the rivalry between him and Harry will unfold with the same cold edge fans remember from the books.
The Hogwarts faculty gets a fresh class of its own
The professors are where the casting gets genuinely interesting. John Lithgow appears as Albus Dumbledore, and the brief glimpse the trailer offers suggests a softer, more weathered read on the character than audiences saw in the films. Paapa Essiedu takes on Severus Snape, a piece of casting that generated significant conversation when it was announced and looks even more intriguing now that there is footage to assess. Janet McTeer appears as Minerva McGonagall, authoritative and precise in the few seconds she is on screen.
These are not small choices. Recasting characters this embedded in pop culture is a gamble, and the production seems aware of that. The trailer introduces the new faces without apologizing for them.
Radcliffe weighs in on the Hogwarts handoff
Daniel Radcliffe, who played Harry Potter across eight films starting in 2001, addressed the new series during an appearance on Good Morning America. He confirmed that he reached out to McLaughlin directly, and his message was straightforward. He told the younger actor he hoped the experience would be even better than his own, which he described as a great one. There was no ambivalence in his account. He made clear he has no interest in casting a shadow over the new production or the people making it.
That kind of public generosity matters. The Harry Potter fanbase is large, protective, and not always easy to please. Radcliffe’s endorsement, however informal, gives the new series a degree of credibility it might have struggled to build on its own.
What the decade ahead looks like for the series
HBO’s plan is to adapt all seven of Rowling’s books across multiple seasons, giving the story more room than the films ever had. Subplots that were trimmed in the theatrical versions are expected to get fuller treatment here. Whether the series earns its runtime will depend on the writing and the performances, but structurally, the foundation is there.
The Christmas 2026 premiere gives the production roughly a year to finish and market the season. Based on what the trailer shows, the Hogwarts gates are open again.
