I think Harry Potter’s going to be a huge hit
HBO’s set to retell the Harry Potter story. For a long time, I wondered why. After this trailer, I think I not only know the answer, I also want to go back to Hogwarts.
If Warner Bros. had its way, this September would probably be a few degrees colder. Summer’s stubbornly clinging on as if no one told the weather that autumn’s slowly approaching. Yet for many of us, this is the start of a very special time of year.
That’s right: it’s Harry Potter season.
I don’t know exactly when it happened, but, at some point, the cold months became inextricably linked with Hogwarts for me. Coming home, outside it’s getting dark, and inside Harry Potter’s on. Or I pick up the books again. It’s that hard-to-describe feeling of coming home, even though this home consists of a castle full of ghosts, talking paintings and surprisingly lax security measures for minors.
All this means that the second trailer for HBO’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone caught me at the worst possible time of year. It’s far too warm outside. But in my head, it’s autumn. And that means it’s almost time for Harry Potter again.
Hogwarts can finally be a school
The first trailer had already made me cautiously optimistic. Back then, HBO mainly showed Harry’s miserable life with the Dursleys: Dudley bullying him, Petunia cutting his hair, Harry watching Molly Weasley hug Ron at the train station – and that little pang of longing on his face because he’d never experienced that himself. It was good. But above all, it showed me for the first time what this series might have over the films: time.
The second trailer takes things a step further. Away from Privet Drive. Into the wizarding world. To Hogwarts Station, into the Great Hall, into the dormitories and classrooms. Suddenly, Hogwarts no longer feels like just the spectacular backdrop of a story, but like a school. That might sound trivial. But it isn’t.
Take Hermione, who’s rather awkwardly trying to strike up a conversation with the other girls. She asks about the holiday reading (optional homework for the summer holidays). Of course, she’s done it. Probably twice. The other girls give her strange looks. Who does optional homework?
Source: HBO/Warner Bros.
It’s an incredibly short scene. And yet, in just a few seconds, it tells me so much about Hermione: how conscientious she is, how desperately she wants to fit in and why she finds it so difficult at the same time. She’s Muggle-born, so – just like Harry – she’s new to this world. Unlike him, though, she tries to drown her insecurity in knowledge. If she doesn’t know anything about wizards, she’ll just read everything she can about them.
The films couldn’t really include moments like this. Not that they were poorly adapted – quite the opposite. But squeezing an entire book into two and a half hours is no mean feat. A series with eight or ten hours per season, though, can linger on things that are actually completely irrelevant to the plot, but mean everything to the world and its characters.
A timetable sometimes says more than a dragon could
My favourite detail in the trailer is a piece of paper: Harry’s timetable.
Source: HBO/Warner Bros.
The timetable lists Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts and all the other subjects. Astronomy – which has never appeared in the films before – obviously takes place at night. The individual lessons are meticulously written out, and the timetable’s jam-packed. It’s just as the books always described Hogwarts: not as a theme park for witches and wizards, but as a school where – besides taking on three-headed dogs and murderous dark wizards – Harry also has to do a hell of a lot of homework.
I love that.
Not the timetable itself. But what it promises: that we might one day experience what a whole school year at Hogwarts feels like. That lessons don’t only happen when Professor Snape drops a crucial plot point. That Harry, Ron and Hermione are actually students between their adventures. With homework, exams, free time, arguments, friendships and the perfectly normal school routine that just happens to include repotting mandrakes (screaming plants) and racing through the air on broomsticks.
That’s exactly what I’ve been longing for. It sounds weird, but it’s true.
Being faithful to the book doesn’t just mean copying
However, I find something else even more interesting. HBO’s repeatedly emphasised its intention to adapt the books much more extensively. At first glance, this seems like a commitment to sticking to the source material as closely as possible. But the trailer shows that those in charge apparently don’t understand this to mean simply slavishly recreating every page of the book. Thankfully.
For example, we see Ron in the Burrow when his Hogwarts letter arrives. We don’t actually get to know the Burrow properly until The Chamber of Secrets in the books. This scene isn’t necessary for the plot of the first book, but it is for Ron as a character.
Source: HBO/Warner Bros.
Because Ron’s a bit of a fifth wheel in his own family. Bill and Charlie are the older brothers – one working for Gringotts in Egypt, the other on a dragon reserve in Romania. Both have long since flown the nest. Percy’s the dutiful, model son. Fred and George are – well – Fred and George. And, as the youngest child and only girl, Ginny’s special.
And then there’s Ron.
The boy with the second-hand clothes, the second-hand wand and, later, the second-hand rat. A boy who loves his family more than anything, yet constantly feels overshadowed by his siblings. If the series establishes this family dynamic earlier, it’s not a departure from the books. It just uses the extra time to show something that’s already there between the lines.
That’s exactly what I want from this remake. Not more Harry Potter just because there’s time. I want more of its characters. One shot in particular has me thinking about this.
Source: HBO/Warner Bros.
We see a man and a woman walking across a bridge together, creating magical sparks with their wands. To me, this strongly resembles James and Lily Potter – Harry’s parents, before their story became the tragedy that starts everything. However, the trailer itself doesn’t explicitly confirm that it’s them.
If I’m right, it’d be another valuable addition. And one I’d gladly accept. Because in Harry’s story, James and Lily initially exist almost exclusively as a loss. As photographs. Memories. Other people’s stories. Two dead people whose absence defines Harry’s entire life. The films have found beautiful images for this, but have barely had the opportunity to show them just as two young people. Happy. In love. Alive.
If the series adds moments like those, their eventual death won’t just be something we know about. Maybe we’ll feel it a bit more.
Source: HBO/Warner Bros.
This world can become a bit more magical again
Visually, HBO seems to be slowly finding its own voice. At first glance, the Great Hall looks almost exactly as we’ve known it for the past 25 years – and yet, it doesn’t. The floor’s made of lighter stone. The Sorting Hat looks darker, more leathery, more tattered. During the feast, the food doesn’t just appear on the tables; it pops onto plates and platters as if even dinner can’t stay still.
Source: HBO/Warner Bros.
I especially like how Hermione enchants a Gryffindor banner in the trailer. She doesn’t just point her wand at it and recite her spell. Her free hand makes a small additional gesture, almost like a hand sign from Naruto or Jujutsu Kaisen. Nothing to suddenly transform it into Harry Potter: The Last Airbender, but enough to give the magic a physical presence.
The troll also looks gloriously repulsive. Unlike its somewhat dim-witted film predecessor, it looks like a creature that could have actually spent its life in some dark dungeon. Its eyes seem to be hidden beneath thick layers of skin. It’s not ugly in a cute way. It’s just hideous.
Awesome. It’s exactly the mix I need: familiarity without being a copy. I want to recognise Hogwarts while still feeling like I’m discovering it for the first time.
Source: HBO/Warner Bros.
We’ll talk about Snape later
And, of course, we also see Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape. More’s been written about this casting than Snape has dialogue in the entire series. Essiedu is Black, has dreadlocks and doesn’t look like Alan Rickman. This has been debated for months, partly with understandable criticism of the deviation from the book description and partly in a way that makes me wonder whether my godchild’s kindergarten’s a more mature environment.
I played my part in the discussion, at least in private. Now I think enough is enough. Just let the man act.
Source: HBO / Warner Bros.
Alan Rickman will probably always be Snape to my generation anyway. But Paapa Essiedu doesn’t have to be a new Alan Rickman. He has to be Severus Snape. We can judge whether he can do that when we actually see him in a scene that lasts longer than a few seconds.
Until then, Pandora’s box can stay closed as far as I’m concerned.
«Caution» can be dropped now
After the first trailer, I wrote: «Looks promising. I’m cautiously optimistic.» I think I can drop the «cautiously» now.
Of course, the series could still be a flop. A good trailer doesn’t guarantee a good series. Maybe the story will drag on for ten hours. Maybe some of the casting won’t work. Maybe all these loving details will turn out to just be pretty decoration for a series that has nothing of its own to say.
But those are worries for later.
Source: HBO/Warner Bros.
Ultimately, Harry Potter was never just the story of a boy who has to defeat Voldemort. It was also the story of a child making friends for the first time. Spending Christmas with people who love him for the first time. Skipping school, copying homework, sneaking through corridors at night, playing Quidditch, falling in love, arguing, laughing and growing up a bit more each year.
And Hogwarts was never just where this story took place. Hogwarts was a part of the story. And maybe that’s the raison d'être of this series. Not to surpass the films; to give us something the films could never deliver: the feeling of really living there.
Source: HBO/Warner Bros.
It may still be almost 30 degrees outside. But that doesn’t matter. In my mind, it’s slowly becoming autumn. I can already see myself under a thick blanket in front of the TV, homemade chocolate chip cookies within reach, warm milk beside me. And when Hogwarts first appears above the black lake, I’ll probably be eleven years old again.
I can’t wait.
I write about technology as if it were cinema, and about films as if they were real life. Between bits and blockbusters, I’m after stories that move people, not just generate clicks. And yes – sometimes I listen to film scores louder than I probably should.
This is a subjective opinion of the editorial team. It doesn't necessarily reflect the position of the company.
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