Warner Bros. confirmed that the Harry Potter MAX/HBO series will begin production in summer 2025 back at Leavesden Studios outside London, the home of the original film series.
The first season, based on
Harry Potter an the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone, will be 8 episodes long, as the production team teased, "We have 8 hours to tell the first book."
Variety
revealed more details about an event hosted by Warner Bros. that gave some insight into the series, including:
- 32,000 children auditioned for the roles of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, with the casting team going through 500 and 1,000 audition tapes per day to view all of them to workshop with a shortlist from that in January
- Actors cast in the series will be canonically closer to age of their characters in the series, most notably Lily and James Potter, who died at 21 years old, and the Dursleys who will be portrayed by younger actors that Fiona Shaw and the late Richard Griffiths
- Severus Snape will be played by an actor in his 30s (a stark difference to Alan Rickman who took on the role at the age of 55). British actor Paapa Essiedu, 34, is currently rumored to take on the role of Professor Snape
- Series director Mark Mylod noted that for the adult actors, similar to the film series, they will be casting renowned British and Irish theatre actors (such as Mark Rylance who's rumored to play Dumbledore, and Janet McTeer who may play Professor McGonagall)
- Mylod stated that they plan to expand upon Hogwarts (characters, sets, Great Hall, etc) beyond the films, more to evolve upon what was created for the movies
- Fan-favorite Peeves, omitted from the films, will indeed be in the show, said the showrunners, "We’ll get to have some fun with Peeves in the corridors!"
The Harry Potter TV series is tentative to debut sometime in 2027, with J.K. Rowling heavily involved along with showrunner Francesca Gardiner.