Harry Potter brings its new series to HBO Max on Christmas 2026, and the streaming service released a new preview on April 5 called Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic. This special looked behind-the-scenes at the making of the first season of the new magical series. The new Harry Potter TV show brings J.K. Rowling’s books to life in a new format, with eight-episode seasons that will each tell the story from one of her books. This allows what was originally shown in a two hour movies to be told in eight hour seasons for each book, featuring the things cut from the films to finally see life.
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Here is what we learned from watching Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic, and why it makes the new series even more exciting than before.
5) The HBO Max Series Will Do Deeper Into the Harry Potter Lore
The first thing that was shown in Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic was a discussion with John Lithgow (Dumbledore), who said that each eight-episode season would take viewers into areas that they had heard about in the movies but had never seen before, allowing the story room to breathe. This is also something that ties into the production design, where locations that were just glimpsed at in the movies are shown in detail in the series.
There is also the idea that Lithgow said that the characters from the movies would be seen in greater detail concerning what they were doing just out of the viewer’s eyes in the films. The films were always from Harry Potter’s point of view, and it seems the series will open things up. The production designers also revealed that the show is going to show magical people in the Muggle world that no one notices, and it will show how this happens. This series will finally show the entire magical world in a way that the movies could only hint at.
4) The Casting Directors Had Over 40,000 Auditions
The first thing that the Harry Potter preview broke down was the casting process, which was much bigger than anyone might have expected. Casting directors Emily Brockmann and Lucy Bevan said that over 40,000 kids auditioned for the movie from all across the United Kingdom, and they watched them all before finally coming to their decision. The first actor they cast was Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley after his audition in Manchester. They then went to London where they found Arabella Stanton, who they chose to play Hermione Granger.
The decisions were for different reasons as Stout delivered the innocence of Ron, while Stanton proved to be “leading character” material by showing her intelligence as well as her playfulness, which they showed with a scene of her snorting while talking to her parents about Ron and Harry. This led them to Glasgow, Scotland, where they found their Harry Potter after Dominic McLaughlin came in and read a poem he had written, which showed them the confidence he had in himself. They said McLaughlin was the easiest choice and is the perfect Harry Potter.
3) The Sets of Harry Potter are Massive
The next people up in the preview were the production designers, who said that the sets were all massive, from Diagon Alley to the halls of Hogwarts, the classrooms, and the professor’s offices and dorms. “We’re trying to get into the joy and playfulness of what it means to be a magical kid,” said production designer Mara LePere-Schloop. However, she also said they are world-building in a way that people only familiar with the movies had never experienced.
Schloop admitted that how all the different locations from the movies connect, and the HBO series can show that in a way the films never could. It comes from the locations to the actual costuming as well, with the people in the real world dressed like it was 1991, while the magical world is so over-the-top. The regular Muggle costuming was all mostly bland in color, while the uniforms in Hogwarts are much more colorful, showing the wander of the magical world.
2) The Harry Potter HBO Series Is Using Practical Effects
The HBO series has massive practical sets, but the designers also revealed that the Harry Potter series was going to focus on naturalism, which includes both the plants, the practical design on different areas of Hogwarts, and the creatures as well. The idea is that the new reboot series will show how the magic in Harry Potter is all based in nature and the world. As a result, the creatures and animals are not going to be created as CGI, but with animatronics instead.
John Nolan, who worked on the original Harry Potter movies, also works on this HBO Max series, and they created everything from the owls to fictional creatures like Scabbers and Flubberworms, which are all a combination of animatronics and creature effects. There were even crabs that could blow fire out of their butts, and that was all done practically as well. This filmmaking style should play into the way that the series will feel more natural and keep people engrossed in the story.
1) The Actors Who Play the Professors Realize Their Place
In an discussion with Paapa Essiedu (Severus Snape), he said he was seven when the Harry Potter books came out and he was able to connect with the kids. Now, he gets a chance to play one of the most important instructors in the franchise. John Lithgow admitted that he was turning 80 when he started this new journey, and he realized how big this is for him as he joins up since he will be close to 90 when he finishes.
They all spoke about how much the franchise meant in their lives when the books and original movies came out. The cast also said that they know how important this series could be for a new generation of children, including the young actors who are playing the latest Hogwarts students as they start their acting careers. The older actors understand their role in the new series, and know they have duties to the fans now discovering the story. Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic ended with Nick Frost showing the train leaving London King’s Cross Station, as it starts the new journey for Harry Potter and the franchise’s fans.
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