Here’s Your First Teaser For HBO’s Harry Potter Show

They’ve been talking about redoing the Harry Potter saga as a TV show since 2021 — five years of pre-production — but even still, nothing prepares you for the day you see a Harry that isn’t a 10-year-old Daniel Radcliffe. It means you’re getting older! (So’s Dan, if you’ve seen him on NBC’s Reggie Dinkins lately.)

Dominic McLaughlin now plays the title character, with Arabella Stanton, and Alastair Stout playing his friends Hermoine and Ron. But as this teaser begins, he doesn’t know them yet, or his Super Special Destiny, or why he has a lightning bolt scar on his forehead. The show has more hours available to tell its story, so we get more time covering Potter’s miserable childhood with the Dursleys, living under a staircase.

But it isn’t long until he meets a giant, runs into a secret opening at the train station and sets on his path for Hogwarts. The second half of the trailer covers the good stuff: the Sorting Hat, the Nimbus, Quidditch, and the Three Most Iconic Teachers, Albus Dumbledore (John Lithgow), Minerva McGonagall (Janet McTeer), and Severus Snape (Paapa Essiedu).

This barely skims the surface of the size of this show’s cast, rivaling Netflix’s One Piece for immensity. The first season alone includes (deep breath)…..Rory Wilmot as Neville Longbottom, Lox Pratt as Draco Malfoy, Leo Earley as Seamus Finnigan, Elijah Oshin as Dean Thomas, Tristan Harland as Fred Weasley, Gabriel Harland as George Weasley, Ruari Spooner as Percy Weasley, 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, Sirine Saba as Pomona Sprout….

(another deep breath)

Daniel Rigby as Vernon Dursley, Bel Powley as Petunia Dursley, Paul Whitehouse as Argus Filch, Johnny Flynn as Lucius Malfoy, Bertie Carvel as Cornelius Fudge, Luke Thallon as Quirinus Quirrell, Katherine Parkinson as Molly Weasley, Amos Kitson as Dudley Dursley, Gracie Cochrane as Ginny Weasley, Richard Durden as Cuthbert Binns, Louise Brealey as Rolanda Hooch, Bríd Brennan as Poppy Pomfrey, Leigh Gill as Griphook, Anton Lesser as Garrick Ollivander, and finally, JK Rowling as Lord Voldemort, since she’s become the guy in real life.

Back when the teaser for the first Harry Potter film was released, the WB logo stated “An AOL TimeWarner Company” beneath it. Who the heck knows what it’ll say when this show premieres. Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone (yes, we’re using the original British title) is the first of seven planned seasons, each adapting one book over the next decade. Then maybe they’ll do Cursed Child if they get desperate. The show premieres December 25.