Harry Potter Trailer: HBO's Remake Series Heads Back To Hogwarts

There's no denying it: HBO's "Harry Potter" TV series adaptation is going to be big. Gabby Hayes big! Author J.K. Rowling has become understandably toxic in the eyes of many who grew up loving her books and the film adaptations that sprung from them. But at the same time, many people still love these characters and the magical world they inhabit, making the property hard to resist for some. And hey, so what if this new "Harry Potter" TV series looks pretty much exactly like the movies, but with a new cast? Who needs something new when we can have familiarity? 

Anyway, the latest trailer for the first season of the show, adapting "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," is here. It follows all the beats you'd expect it to, as wizard kids Harry (Dominic McLaughlin), Ron (Alastair Stout), and Hermione (Arabella Stanton) become inseparable friends during their first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Going to a magic school is hard enough as it is, but the kids will also have to deal with dark forces lurking about.

No one has actually seen this show yet, but that doesn't matter, because HBO has already gone ahead and pulled the trigger on Season 2, which will adapt "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," with news recently breaking that Kit Harington would be replacing Nicholas Hoult in the second season as Gilderoy Lockhart (Hoult dropped out for "scheduling reasons"). For now, though, you can watch the "Harry Potter" Season 1 trailer above.

So there you have it: a show that looks pretty much exactly like a movie that came out 25 years ago (which is the same takeaway we had from the first trailer, too). I want to ask, "Who is this for?" But I know who this is for: people who are shackled to nostalgia and Warner Bros. execs who need a new boathouse. Anyway, I guess I should say something positive here so this isn't a full-blown negativity fest. So, uh, the kid actors seem well-cast and charismatic. I hope they all worked out really good deals to make a fortune off this hunk of junk, because lord knows Warner Bros. is going to milk it for every penny.

The cast includes Dominic McLaughlin as Harry Potter, Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger, Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley, John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape, and Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid. Francesca Gardiner serves as writer and executive producer, while Mark Mylod will executive produce and direct multiple episodes of the series.

"Harry Potter" Season 1, aka "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," debuts on HBO Max on Christmas 2026.