I was skeptical. But that first look has, surprisingly, won me over. It looks gorgeous. https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/first-harry-potter-tv-show-trailer-reveals-hbos-remake-it-looks-magical/

The way I sprinted to this forum to see the commentary! [With my lawn chair, beer, and bucket of popcorn]

I won't lie: a tear may have escaped my eye.

The kids look great - and, as a father who has a kid about the age I want to start exposing her to Potter and similar books, I can see this being something we watch together in season 2.

The first movies are great, so I get why there's a bit of a question around this whole production but if they're able to flesh out more of the story and smaller bits that couldn't make it into the movies, I'm glad for a reason to watch through the saga again.

I was actually pleasantly surprised by the trailer! It definitely has me intrigued and eager to at least give it a try. The casting of the kids is spot on!

Looks wonderful. The kids are perfect, absolutely love the brief glimpses we get of the Golden Trio together, and Dudley and Draco both look like little shits, as they should. I wasn't entirely sure about Lithgow as Dumbledore (an American?!), but he looks fantastic and even from a second, he's got that glint in his eye the character needs. I like the warmth and slight weirdness we get hints of with Nick Frost as Hagrid. I think Hogwarts (internal) might already be looking better than the movies - the Entrance Hall is fantastic, the classrooms look more magical, and I'm excited for it to just have more of school life. Also a big fan of Petunia and Vernon; they look more like they ought to, whereas the movie versions were already anachronistic at the time.

40 minutes ago, KOutlaw said:

The way I sprinted to this forum to see the commentary! [With my lawn chair, beer, and bucket of popcorn]

I won't lie: a tear may have escaped my eye.

I also felt a little emotional, though that may have partly just been relief having spent an entire day with the draft of the trailer article open waiting for it to drop so I could publish

Robbie Coltrane's Hagrid is so engraved in my mind that it's hard for me to shake the "wrong sounding Muppets" vibe Nick Frost is giving me.

I thought the trailer was fine overall. If this was the first ever adaptation of the books, I'd probably be more excited about this. But as someone who grew up with the movies, it's hard for me to get all that enthused here. There's still a feeling of "been there, done that."

The fact that I'm not much of a Potter fan these days probably contributes to that. I was much more into this franchise when I was younger. The ending of the last book never sat right with me (possible hot take alert).

I think it’s really suffering from a lack of John Williams’ score, and it just doesn’t look like it leaned into the whimsy of the world enough so far. Putting the comparisons together of it with the previous movies, it just looked so dark and grey compared to the color grade of the movies ☹️

I honestly wasn't expecting much from this, but it looks fantastic! I've been wanting my kids to watch the original series, so maybe this will get them interested in the movies too.

I think it looks really good. The kids seem well cast.

Unfortunately, my issues with JKR put a pretty dark cloud over this one for me.

It didn't quite hit for me, but I do also have a general tough time with the franchise these days due to JKR's behavior. Even so, the fact that so many costumes and set pieces are similar to the films made all the new actors feel weirdly out of place. I'm hoping it'll be good for the fans who are excited for it, but I'm not sure I'll be watching.

I do think it needs a more distinctive score, on reflection; not a rinse-and-repeat, but something just as catchy. Which will be a challenge :P

9 hours ago, Tom Bacon said:

I do think it needs a more distinctive score, on reflection; not a rinse-and-repeat, but something just as catchy. Which will be a challenge :P

Huuuuge challenge, but we've not heard any of Hans Zimmer yet. But it will need to be something different (or at least, I hope it is), so he's a good person for that

22 hours ago, Amanda Kay Oaks said:

It didn't quite hit for me, but I do also have a general tough time with the franchise these days due to JKR's behavior. Even so, the fact that so many costumes and set pieces are similar to the films made all the new actors feel weirdly out of place. I'm hoping it'll be good for the fans who are excited for it, but I'm not sure I'll be watching.

On top of that, the lighting is atrocious... Why have streaming companies collectively decided everything needs to be colorless and dark?

It hilariously can't change too much from prior movie aesthetics because it'd be too expensive to revamp the theme park, so hopefully it can still find its own identity. The JKR part of it all means I'll never see the show, but the part of me that loved the books and movies as a kid wants the best for the potential new kids who might see the show. Its modern day approach to lighting and early Prisoner of Azkaban darkness does seem to skew more towards nostalgic millennials rather than current kids, however.

On 3/25/2026 at 4:01 PM, ChrisA90 said:

Robbie Coltrane's Hagrid is so engraved in my mind that it's hard for me to shake the "wrong sounding Muppets" vibe Nick Frost is giving me.

I thought the trailer was fine overall. If this was the first ever adaptation of the books, I'd probably be more excited about this. But as someone who grew up with the movies, it's hard for me to get all that enthused here. There's still a feeling of "been there, done that."

The fact that I'm not much of a Potter fan these days probably contributes to that. I was much more into this franchise when I was younger. The ending of the last book never sat right with me (possible hot take alert).

The Nick Frost part is so on point! I'm sure he'll do a great job in the role, but I don't think he'll ever truly feel like Hagrid. Robbie Coltrane's Hagrid is just too iconic.

On 3/27/2026 at 12:54 PM, Marco Vito Oddo said:

On top of that, the lighting is atrocious... Why have streaming companies collectively decided everything needs to be colorless and dark?

Yeah, I mean... I could understand using the darker lighting for the Muggle world. But for the MAGICAL one--?

I really enjoyed this way more than I expected, and the cast looks spectacular. Excited for the premiere