By Jordan Moreau, Selome Hailu
HBO HBO’s “Harry Potter” series has released an official trailer, giving a peek into the new take on the Wizarding World as it makes its way to TV.
Newcomer Dominic McLaughlin stars as Harry Potter, the 11-year old wizard previously brought to life by Daniel Radcliffe. Alastair Stout and Arabella Stanton play his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, as they enroll at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The new show is a massive undertaking by HBO, which is adapting all seven of author J.K. Rowling’s books into seven seasons of television. The first eight-episode season is set to release this Christmas and takes on the first book, which was published in the U.S. as “The Sorceror’s Stone” and in the U.K. as “The Philosopher’s Stone.” (HBO is opting to use the U.K. title.)
The cast also includes John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts; Janet McTeer as Prof. McGonagall; Paapa Essiedu as Prof. Snape; Nick Frost as Hagrid; Luke Thallon as Prof. Quirrell; Paul Whitehouse as Argus Filch; Bertie Carvel as Cornelius Fudge; Johnny Flynn as Lucius Malfoy and more. Many young actors are getting their first major roles on the series as well. Lox Pratt plays Draco Malfoy; Leo Earley plays Seamus Finnegan; Rory Wilmot plays Neville Longbottom; Gracie Cochrane plays Ginny Weasley; and Elijah Oshin plays Dean Thomas.
HBO dropped a first-look image on March 24 that showed McLaughlin as Harry in Gryffindor robes as he approaches the Quidditch pitch on the Hogwarts school grounds, surrounded by other students in their school clothes. The following day, the network released a trailer that introduced several more major characters.
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Harry Potter (Dominic McLaughlin)
Image Credit: Photographed by Aidan Monaghan / The trailer begins with Harry living in a cupboard under the stairs at the home of his aunt (Bel Powley) and uncle (Daniel Rigby), struggling to fit in with them or with his classmates at school. Soon, he finds a letter offering him admission to Hogwarts. On a train in London, Hagrid tells him how kind and brave his parents were before he sets off on the Hogwarts Express. Once he gets to school, the trailer shows him walking in the woods, taking classes and playing in the snow and unwrapping his first flying broom alongside Ron, Hermione and other classmates.
