Harry Potter's Birthday: What is known about the new HBO series, cast, and release date
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HBO announced a new seven-season Harry Potter series, scheduled to premiere in 2027.
Today, July 31, all fans of books and films about the adventures of the boy with magical abilities, Harry Potter, celebrate his birthday. This summer, HBO announced the start of filming for a new Harry Potter series. UNN tells what is known about the new series, who will participate in the filming, and when to expect its release.
Harry Potter's Birthday
According to the plot, the fictional boy wizard was born on July 31, 1980. Interestingly, on this very day, but in 1965, the author of the Harry Potter books, J.K. Rowling, was also born.
According to J.K. Rowling, the idea to write a book about an orphaned boy with magical abilities came to her while she was waiting for a train to London at Manchester station. On the way in the carriage, she made her first notes.
The main series of Harry Potter books consists of seven novels, and the main series of films consists of eight movies.
The role of Harry Potter made the young actor Daniel Radcliffe world-famous.
Announcement of the new "Harry Potter" series
In December last year, it became known that filming for the new HBO Harry Potter series would begin in 2025 at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden. This is the same studio where all eight well-known Harry Potter films were shot.
The producers emphasized that the series would be a complete adaptation of J.K. Rowling's iconic books with an entirely new cast, including auditions for the main roles in the series, which involved 32,000 children.
A total of seven seasons of the series are planned, each of which will be an adaptation of one of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books.
The series' producers were approved in early 2024, with Francesca Gardiner and Mark Mylod taking on the roles.
HBO will shoot a new series about Harry Potter: filming starts in 202507.12.24, 12:53 • 111801 view
Planned release date
Filming for the series has already begun this year and will continue until spring 2026, with the premiere scheduled for 2027 on HBO and the HBO Max streaming service.
Main cast and key characters
In April, HBO announced the first actors who will play key roles in the upcoming "Harry Potter" series.
The cast includes: John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape, and Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid. It was previously reported that all four actors were in negotiations to join the show.
Additionally, Luke Tallon has joined in the recurring role of Quirinus Quirrell. Paul Whitehouse will appear in the recurring role of Argus Filch.
In July, a photo of young actor Dominic McLoughlin in the image of a wizard appeared online. Arabella Stanton (Hermione Granger) and Alistair Stout (Ron Weasley) also debuted in the main roles. The trio was chosen from over 30,000 applicants who auditioned in the fall of 2024.
Also this summer, HBO announced nine more key roles for its Harry Potter series, completing the cast. Lox Pratt and Jonny Flynn will join the already known cast as Draco and Lucius Malfoy, while Bel Powley and Daniel Rigby will portray Petunia and Vernon Dursley.
Differences from the films and emphasis on book details
Many fans of the Harry Potter film series were disappointed that numerous passages from the books were not included in the films and that the adaptation generally did not very accurately correspond to the fictional world of Rowling's novels. Warner Bros. promised to make the series an accurate adaptation and invited J.K. Rowling to "not miss a single detail and ensure an impeccable reproduction of all storylines."
The main character of the series is an orphaned boy, Harry Potter. At the age of eleven, Rubeus Hagrid informs him that Harry is actually a wizard, and his parents were killed by the dark wizard Lord Voldemort. At that time, Voldemort tried to kill one-year-old Harry, but he failed, which made the boy extremely famous in the wizarding world.
Harry begins his studies at Hogwarts — a school of witchcraft and wizardry.
It is known that each book in the novel series will be turned into a separate season.