HBO has opened the doors to Hogwarts again with a brand-new trailer for its upcoming Harry Potter series, and this time we are getting a bigger look at Harry’s first year in the Wizarding World. The new footage puts Dominic McLaughlin’s Harry Potter, Alastair Stout’s Ron Weasley and Arabella Stanton’s Hermione Granger firmly at the centre, taking us through some of the most recognisable moments from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. We see the trio arriving at Hogwarts, facing the Sorting Hat, heading into their first classes and discovering that school is considerably more complicated when the curriculum includes potions, Herbology and flying broomsticks.

The trailer gives us a proper look at the Hogwarts pitch as Harry discovers his talent in the air, alongside glimpses of some of the considerably more dangerous parts of his first year. There is the mountain troll in the bathroom, the giant chess game, Harry under the Invisibility Cloak and the Mirror of Erised, as the mystery surrounding the Philosopher’s Stone begins to unfold.

Snape Is Already Giving Harry a Hard Time

The trailer also gives several of the adult cast members their chance to speak, including John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall, Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid and Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape. And apparently some things at Hogwarts never change, because Snape is already making Harry’s life difficult. We get a taste of Harry’s early encounters with the Hogwarts professor alongside scenes of him meeting Dumbledore, McGonagall and Hagrid, giving us a clearer sense of how this new cast will approach characters that audiences have known for decades.

There is plenty of student life in there too. Rory Wilmot plays Neville Longbottom, Lox Pratt is Draco Malfoy, Leo Earley plays Seamus Finnigan and Elijah Oshin is Dean Thomas. Tristan Harland and Gabriel Harland appear as Fred and George Weasley, with Ruari Spooner as Percy Weasley.

The wider Hogwarts cast also includes Alessia Leoni as Parvati Patil, Sienna Moosah as Lavender Brown, Finn Stephens as Vincent Crabbe, William Nash as Gregory Goyle, Warwick Davis as Filius Flitwick and Sirine Saba as Pomona Sprout.

Harry Potter Season 1 Will Have Eight Episodes

The first season will consist of eight episodes and adapt Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, beginning HBO’s plan to bring J.K. Rowling’s seven-book series to television. HBO has also already renewed Harry Potter for Season 2, which will move on to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

The official description for the first season introduces Harry as an apparently ordinary boy whose life changes when his Hogwarts acceptance letter arrives, bringing him into a world of magic, friendship and adventure. Of course, anyone familiar with Harry’s first year knows that getting sorted into Gryffindor is only the beginning, with much darker things waiting inside Hogwarts.

Francesca Gardiner writes and executive produces the series, while Mark Mylod will executive produce and direct multiple episodes. J.K. Rowling, Neil Blair, Ruth Kenley-Letts and David Heyman also executive produce. The series is produced for HBO in association with Brontë Film and TV and Warner Bros. Television.

For CultureCues, this trailer has us very ready to board the Hogwarts Express. Seeing the Sorting Hat, Quidditch, the Mirror of Erised and that giant chessboard again has brought back all the Hogwarts nostalgia, and we are excited to see what eight episodes can do with Harry’s first year. Dominic McLaughlin, Arabella Stanton and Alastair Stout have a huge job ahead as Harry, Hermione and Ron, while Paapa Essiedu already looks ready to make Potions one of Harry’s least favourite classes. Now we just need our Hogwarts acceptance letter. We can only assume it has been stuck with that ruddy Errol for the past 20 years.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone premieres on HBO on 25 December 2026.