A brand-new Harry Potter trailer released today, highlighting the upcoming HBO show that’s set to adapt the iconic series all over again. The trailer also proves that HBO’s upcoming show has the chance to fix some of the biggest issues the movies never got the chance to.
The upcoming series, which premieres on Christmas on HBO, will be led by Dominic McLaughlin, Arabella Stanton, and Alastair Stout as Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley. Alongside the trio, the Harry Potter TV show also stars John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape, and Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid.
Other stars include Luke Thallon as Quirinus Quirrell, Paul Whitehouse as Argus Filch, Katherine Parkinson as Molly Weasley, Lox Pratt as Draco Malfoy, Johnny Flynn as Lucius Malfoy, Leo Earley as Seamus Finnigan, Alessia Leoni as Parvati Patil, Sienna Moosah as Lavender Brown, Bel Powley as Petunia Dursley, Daniel Rigby as Vernon Dursley, and Bertie Carvel as the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge.
While the Harry Potter movies remain and will forever be legendary adaptations, the new HBO show has the chance to do things they never could, and be all the better for it.
The Harry Potter TV show will get the chance to do what the movies couldn’t
We already know that the upcoming Harry Potter TV show will be much longer than the movies. Reportedly set to last upwards of seven seasons and filmed over a decade, the show is going to have tens of hundreds of more hours of content than the movies. As a result, the Harry Potter show will get the chance to take its time, and flesh out the story of a young Potter as he grows into the legendary wizard many believe him to be.
The Harry Potter movies do a fantastic job of it, but many hardcore fans of the book still lament the fact that the movies do gloss over some key parts of the books, especially when it comes to showcasing the more magical world that Harry resides in. With the show dedicating an entire season to each book, HBO will be able to lean into things we’ve only briefly seen in the movies, including life at Hogwarts, the day-to-day interactions between students, and maybe even some characters we’ve not seen make live-action debuts yet.
Despite the chance to show off more, the HBO series still does have its own set of hurdles to clear. The original set of actors have become so memorable that it’ll be tough to convince the older audience to attach the same way. The controversy around author J.K. Rowling’s transphobic statements is its own issue many fans wrestle with to this day. Despite that, HBO has the chance to release the potentially definitive version of a live-action Harry Potter series, but only time will tell if they do.
