Fresh off a tease from Harry Potter influencers who visited the set of the show, HBO has revealed an official photo from the set with young star Dominic McLaughlin as the titular boy who lived. McLaughlin is seen from the back, wearing Harry’s Quidditch uniform as he walks towards the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch with his gear in hand. As immediately captivating as this image is as a first look, it’s also not the only tease from the production, who captioned the photo with a single word and an emoji, writing simply: “Tomorrow ⚡️”
The tease in today’s post from HBO and the Harry Potter team will no doubt have fans scrambling for the next day about the possibilities of what the big announcement could be. Given today’s reveal is just a photo, perhaps tomorrow will bring with it the official first teaser trailer from the Harry Potter TV show. Given how long filming has been going for the show, there’s almost certainly enough footage in the can to cut something together, but the series is also unlikely to premiere until 2027, meaning a teaser trailer this early would be shocking. This Friday will mark the arrival of HBO Max in the UK, though, which appears to be the timing for this week’s big teases, rather than a significant date for the production or in Harry Potter lore.
Production on HBO’s Harry Potter kicked off in July of last year and is set to continue through this year. The massive first season of the show will bring the first book of the series to life, digging into details that the original feature film adaptation had to remove for the sake of condensing the narrative for the big screen. In truth, this is one of the main reasons to even reboot Harry Potter in the first place, following the massive success of the eight films, telling the story with all of the details fans read on the page, brought faithfully to life.
Francesca Gardiner is working as the showrunner for Harry Potter, with massive plans for the series to continue for nearly a decade. Much like the movie adaptations before it, the Harry Potter TV show will have a ticking clock working against it in the form of the lead cast growing up and getting older. As a result, the series is already making plans for Season 2 to begin production shortly after the conclusion of the first season, wasting no time in telling the full story of Harry Potter as its main cast are still the right age.
Dominic McLaughlin has only a few credits to his name before landing the role of Harry Potter for the show, but he’s flanked by an all-star ensemble. Though he’ll be joined by fellow young stars Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley and Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger, the cast for the Harry Potter TV series also includes John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore, Nick Frost as Hagrid, Janet McTeer as Professor McGonagall, and Paapa Essiedu as Professor Snape. The series also includes one returning cast member from the films, with Warwick Davis reprising his role of Professor Flitwick.
One of the biggest questions around the new Harry Potter series that has yet to be answered is who will take on the role of He Who Must Not Be Named, Voldemort. After the iconic portrayal of Ralph Fiennes in the films, the new star will have big shoes to fill, and fans are still buzzing about who will take on the part. Though this reveal could come from the production at any time, the truth is that Voldemort’s appearances are quite limited until later in the timeline of the Harry Potter story, meaning a star may not even need to be found for a few years. That said, Voldemort does make an appearance in the first Harry Potter story by the end, which would be nothing but a glorified cameo for the actor, whoever they are.
In the end, even though we’re probably almost a year out from the premiere of Harry Potter, the fact that the marketing plan is officially starting is good news for fans. Now we have just one day before this big surprise is revealed, meaning the reality of this reboot is finally going to set in for fans.
