The new Harry Potter series is winging its way to HBO, but the show, based on the smash-hit books by author, JK Rowling, has divided die-hard fans of the boy wizard
JK Rowling has given her take on the new Harry Potter trailer – which has seriously divided fans. The new series on HBO, titled Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, is set to debut on Christmas Day this this year.
Featuring a new cast, including Dominic McLaughlin as Harry, each series will adapt each of Rowling’s seven books across seven seasons over the course of a decade. The teaser opens exactly where fans would expect—at the Dursleys’ house. We see Harry hidden in the now-iconic cupboard, with Petunia Dursley dismissing him as “nothing special”. But almost immediately, the tone shifts. A letter arrives. A door opens. And just like that, the magic starts to happen.
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Responding to the trailer, many fans were excited, as one took to X, exclaiming: “The trailer for the new Harry Potter looks b****y marvellous. I cannot wait, and as it seems to me, neither can the rest of the world.” However, others were not convinced, with one claiming the new offering was little more than “millennial slop”.
On Thursday, Rowling threw her support behind the project, insisting she’s “so happy” with the teaser trailer for the series adaptation of her novels, sharing her reaction to the first look with fans on social media. “It’s going to be incredible,” she exclaimed on X, adding: “I’m so happy with it.”
However, at least some of the book’s fans would disagree, with several slamming the new series in comparison to the Harry Potter films, which were released from 2001 to 2011.
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Several have also complained about the race-swapping of Severus Snape with actor Paapa Essiedu, who recently revealed he’s received racially-motivated death threats over his casting.
Giving their take on the trailer, one fan quipped: “The new Harry Potter show is truly amazing to me. Leftists won’t like because of JKR, right wingers won’t like it because JKR retconned a bunch of characters to try and be woke, and the kids of today won’t like it because it’s literally f******g millennial slop.”
Meanwhile, Rowling’s controversial views on the trans community have also called the series into question, with one fan tweeting: “You cannot ‘separate the art from the artist’ with Harry Potter.”
Scheduled to premiere on Christmas Day, Harry Potter began filming in the UK last summer.
Its cast includes McLaughlin as the titular boy wizard, Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley, Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger, John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall and Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid.
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