Pop Commentary

Here’s what we know so far about the new Harry Potter series coming to HBO!

Some major cast members were officially announced Monday, April 14, with John Lithgow playing Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer playing Minerva McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu playing Severus Snape, Nick Frost playing Hagrid, Luke Thallon playing Quirinus Quirrell, and Paul Whitehouse playing Argus Filch.

The young actors who will play the lead roles of Harry, Ron and Hermione have yet to be announced.

HBO says the show will be a faithful adaptation of the book series by J.K. Rowling, who will serve as an executive producer. The author said in a statement that this adaption will allow for a degree of depth and detail only afforded by a long form TV series.

The network expects this series to last a decade, which suggests that each season won’t be dedicated to one of the seven books, like some originally thought.

The showrunner of the series will be Francesca Gardiner, who has worked on shows like “Succession,” “Killing Eve,” and “His Dark Materials.” David Heyman, who produced the film series, is also returning as an executive producer.

The series will be available to stream on Max and HBO expects it to air in late 2026 or early 2027.

Personally, I’m excited for the series. I’m a big fan of the books and films, so I’ll take any Harry Potter content I can get. However, I’m a little worried the show won’t live up to expectations and it could fail due to J.K. Rowling’s controversial statements about the trans community, but we’ll have to wait and see.