HBO's Harry Potter Series Drops a Poster With Hogwarts in Harry's Glasses
Those glasses are doing a lot.
HBO's Harry Potter series just gave fans their first real look at its new Hogwarts. The show's official Instagram account shared an image on October 29 that shows the castle lit up at night, reflected in Harry's round glasses (TVLine).
The words "The Boy Who Lived" sit inside the lens, and the caption reads, "Everyone in our world will know his name." Within a few hours, the post passed 600,000 likes and 4,000 comments, which tells you how many people have been waiting for this exact shot (TVLine).
Why is this image a big deal?
It's the first time HBO has shown the outside of its redesigned castle. The trailers so far have shown rooms inside Hogwarts and quick glimpses of the Quidditch pitch, but never the full building (TVLine).
From what we can see, the new Hogwarts looks a lot like the 2001 movie version, especially the view first-years get as they cross the lake by boat. The castle's design shifted quite a bit across the eight films, so the show may tweak it over time too (TVLine).
When does the Harry Potter series premiere?
The first season premieres on December 25 on HBO and HBO Max, which is earlier than the 2027 date HBO first planned. It has eight episodes, released weekly (TVLine). Season one adapts Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the book American readers know as the Sorcerer's Stone.
Who is in the cast?
Dominic McLaughlin plays Harry, with Arabella Stanton as Hermione and Alastair Stout as Ron (TheWrap). John Lithgow plays Dumbledore, Janet McTeer plays McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu plays Snape and Nick Frost plays Hagrid. Jasper Talbot and Hannah Chinn play James and Lily Potter (TVLine), and Warwick Davis is back as Professor Flitwick, the role he played in the movies (TheWrap).
Francesca Gardiner, who worked on Succession and His Dark Materials, is the showrunner, and Mark Mylod is directing (TVLine).
My read is that HBO knows exactly what it's doing with this one. Revealing Hogwarts for the first time as a reflection in Harry's glasses is a simple idea, and it hits a whole generation of fans right in the childhood (we're fine, thanks for asking). Christmas Day can't come fast enough.
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Images are official promotional images from HBO's Harry Potter series.
