Harry Potter HBO TV Series Set Photos Offer First Glimpse Of Platform 9¾

By Nina Starner
Harry and Ron wheeling their trolleys at King's Cross in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Warner Bros.

We've already gotten a look at Privet Drive, one of the major sets for the upcoming "Harry Potter" series on HBO. Now, according to an account on the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), another important location is being built for this massive show. Take a look:

Platform 9¾, which is where the Hogwarts Express picks up students on the first day of September each year to bring them to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, appears to be under construction. See also:

The particularly wild thing about building a set for Platform 9¾ is that the original "Harry Potter" film series (which premiered in theaters from 2001 to 2011) simply used London's real King's Cross train station, which is the in-universe home of the magical platform, as a practical location (while some exteriors were filmed at a different travel hub in the British capital, St. Pancras Station).

Another post from the same account, UnBoxPHD, showed a different set that might be Diagon Alley. In case you need a refresher on all things "Potter," Diagon Alley is where new and returning Hogwarts students go before they head over to Platform 9¾ and catch the train to their school, as it's their one-stop shop for schoolbooks, Potions ingredients, and all sorts of magical artifacts they need for their education. The original Diagon Alley was also a set built specifically for the production, though Leadenhall Market in London was used for some exterior shots in the first film, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." In fact, if you attend the "Harry Potter" studio tour in Leavesden at the massive Warner Bros. compound there (it's just a short train ride from central London), you can walk through Diagon Alley yourself.

With casting news and locations being built from the ground up, the Harry Potter TV series is majorly taking shape

Harry looing at his new wand bathed in light in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Warner Bros.

There have been a lot of updates about the "Harry Potter" TV series recently. The biggest piece of news is probably that the main trio — Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, who were played by Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson in the film franchise — has been cast and three newcomers will portray the three best friends. Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout, and Arabella Stanton will take the reins from Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson, respectively, and potentially spend the next decade or so playing these beloved characters. (The show is intended to adapt a book a season for seven seasons, which, based on production time, will presumably take at least 10 years).

Some other newcomers have been cast as Hogwarts students Draco Malfoy, Seamus Finnegan, Parvati Patil, and Lavender Brown — they'll be portrayed by Lox Pratt, Leo Earley, Alessia Leoni, and Sienna Moosah — and a handful of recognizable older actors are rounding out the adult cast. John Lithgow is Hogwarts headmaster Dumbledore, Nick Frost will play Hogwarts groundskeeper Rubeus Hagrid, Paapa Essiedu is set to play Potions master Severus Snape, and parents like Lucius Malfoy and Molly Weasley (Johnny Flynn and Katherine Parkinson) have also been cast, though they've all been considerably aged down from their predecessors in the "Harry Potter" movies (which, to be fair, is more in line with the original books themselves).

Things are moving fast, which makes sense; as of this writing, the "Harry Potter" series is set to premiere on HBO sometime in 2027. Still, things aren't going completely smoothly; it's hard to talk about this new "Harry Potter" project without mentioning the controversy surrounding Wizarding World creator Joanne "J.K." Rowling, who has taken a firm stance against transgender women and is putting her considerable financial weight behind efforts to restrict the freedom of transgender people in the United Kingdom. Rowling's views have understandably disappointed and alienated a large swath of the franchise's fans, but the fact of the matter is that "Harry Potter" is still undeniably popular. It is, however, still vital to keep Rowling's views in mind as we watch this project continue to take shape.

If you miss Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson wandering through the sets in the original "Harry Potter" films, those movies are streaming on Peacock now.

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