In perhaps the least surprising news ever: Harry Potter fans online have a lot of thoughts about the HBO show’s first teaser trailer. Much of the reaction is exceedingly positive, while some of the reactions are, well, less so.
HBO dropped a two-minute first look Wednesday of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone that pulled back the veil on its new adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s beloved book series. The trailer quickly introduced all the major characters — including Harry (Dominic McLaughlin), Hermione Granger (Arabella Stanton), Ron Weasley (Alastair Stout), Albus Dumbledore (John Lithgow), Severus Snape (Paapa Essiedu) and Minerva McGonagall (Janet McTeer).
The Potter reboot is a hugely important big bet for HBO, so even this first blush reaction from fans can matter. Leading up to the trailer, the fandom seemed split: Some were very excited by the idea of HBO doing a deeper dive into Rowling’s books that fleshed out the story in ways the Warner Bros. films could not. Others took a “I love the movies and don’t need this” stance. Still others were ready to slam the project for various reasons (such as Rowling’s trans views, or gripes about Snape being played by a Black actor).
Now that the trailer is out, fan reaction seems to be split along somewhat similar lines, with some notable new wrinkles.
The strongest reaction seems to be nostalgic joy, coupled with fans getting very excited by minor details in the trailer from Philosopher’s Stone that were not included in the first Warner Bros. film. Several accounts on X gushed that the trailer made them weep.
“I’ve already cried 3 times watching this Harry Potter trailer,” wrote one. “I cried like a child when I saw the trailer, seeing my childhood and adolescence reflected in every image,” wrote another. “I cried … the little kids from the golden trio give me so much tenderness. I hate JK Rowling and I’ll always recognize Daniel [Radcliffe] as the author of Harry Potter idfc. What a cute trailer, help.”
Some of the other positive reactions, culled from YouTube, X and Reddit:
— “It feels like magic has finally come back to life in the way fans have been waiting for. Not just nostalgia this is something deeper, richer, and far more immersive. From the very first frame, you can feel the darker tone, the cinematic scale, and the attention to detail that instantly separates this from anything we’ve seen before. HBO isn’t playing safe here. They’re rebuilding the wizarding world with a level of depth that the films never had time to explore.”
— “I love how accurate this was with the 1991-1998 setting depicted, instead of the 2001-2008 setting in the films. I loved the shot of Harry watching Molly hug Ron goodbye, something he’s never known. 25 years on and the magic is still there.”
— “This is what i have always wanted. The books fleshed out in TV series. No movie can do justice to how much there is in the books.”
— “So many iconic moments from the first book just in the teaser! The knocking on the door! The haircut! The 90s vibe! Gahhh it looks go good!”
— “Harry being bullied by Dudley at school when he ends up on the roof. Like this is for the book fans.”
— “Obviously, the original Harry Potter can’t be beaten, but just from the trailer I have super high expectations for this series, and aesthetically speaking, for me it’s already a huge YES.”
Many others discussed a feeling of uncanny weirdness watching the trailer, given its “similar but different” vibe to the iconic films.
— “I think I’m overwhelmed. With cautious optimism, fear of this failing, excitement of returning to my childhood, worry for the kid actors’ immense pressure, disappointment of Snape’s casting and the producers saying it’ll be years between seasons today. All of it.”
Several commenters — including a top-voted comment on a Reddit post about the trailer — called out the lack of John Williams’ iconic score (particularly “Hedwig’s Theme”). Hans Zimmer is doing the music for the new series (though what’s in the teaser trailer sounds like it might be temporary).
— “I can deal with the reboot, the recasting and probably all the alternative interpretations. But I have a nagging feeling it will all still feel wrong without John Williams’ music.”
— “Dude the music in this trailer was so bad it was all I could focus on.”
Some found it looks too much like the movies…
— “It looks well made… but it also just looks like the movies. Uncannily so, with some imagery and shots looking pretty near identical. Which then makes me wonder… what’s the point?”
While others found the trailer a bit too “TV,” despite its high production value, and didn’t feel as cinematic as the films.
— “This might sound like a redundant statement, but it definitely looks like a TV show. And using the same iconography of the original films just makes it feel like a more sterile version of that, more so than what [director David Yates] did to the [movies]. It just feels cheap, like generic fantasy TV, this really shows the huge achievement [original director] Chris Columbus made brining the original to life.”
— “It is remarkable how far TV Shows have come in terms of production value but they still lack the movie ‘magic’ (pun intended). This just looks like a blander version of the movies, and the trailer music is so distinctly modern that it broke all immersion. I feel no whimsy or wonder watching this.”
Then there were those who sought to remind fans of Rowling’s stance on trans rights issues, which make the series a dealbreaker for them.
— “The most important fact about this show is that Rowling uses her billions of dollars of personal wealth to lobby against the rights of trans people to exist in public. I’m sorry that so much of Reddit is so self absorbed and out of touch that they think Rowling is someone who said some ‘controversial’ things and not someone who’s devoted her life to opposing the existence of a minority group. The lives of my trans friends are all worse off because of the people and organizations she throws money at but whatever, why would any Harry Potter fan care when caring might get in the way of wallowing in their adolescent nostalgia slop.”
And those against Essiedu’s casting didn’t seem to be swayed by his brief glimpse in the trailer and first look photo of the potions professor: “Overall, everything looks great… right up until Professor Snape shows up” and “Nice to see that pretty much all of the characters are so instantly recognizable for who they are portraying and then you get to Snape who looks straight out of Twilight.”
Here is the trailer for the show, which will be released on Christmas 2026.
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