HBO Max has revealed more footage for the upcoming Harry Potter reboot, which lands on the platform at Christmas. As part of a new hype reel that showed glimpses at DC’s Lanterns, House of the Dragon, The Pitt, and more of HBO’s flagship programming, an extended tease of the new take on The Philosopher’s Stone, and setting the stage for something most of the original movies notoriously overlooked.
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The new footage is built around the second Gryffindor Quidditch match, against Hufflepuff, which was cut out of Chris Columbus’ movie back in 2001. It was a disappointing cut, given how well it set out Harry’s concerns about Snape, and it’s great to see it back in the series. We get shots of the Golden Trio at the foot of Hogwarts’ moving staircase, Harry coming out into the Quidditch stadium, a pre-match team huddle, and Harry’s encounter with Garrick Ollivander in his wand shop. Here’s the new footage:
Harry Potter’s Reboot Can Finally Bring Justice For Quidditch
The inclusion of the Hufflepuff match isn’t just a positive because it restores part of the original story: it is beneficial in two further ways. First, as already mentioned, the match is a key part of Harry’s suspicions about Snape in the book. Snape, of course, was the referee in that match, which came just weeks after the Slytherin match in which Harry suspected the Potions professor was attempting to hex him. That led to Harry’s fear of something worse happening – which Hermione and Ron both shared – which accounts for how unsure he seems during the new teaser. Immediately after the match, Harry also witnessed Snape leaving Hogwarts and meeting Quirrell in the Forbidden Forest and demanding to know if he’d found a way past Fluffy, further cementing Harry’s suspicions. That scene, too, was left out of the movie.
On top of the missing scenes, more generally, the original Harry Potter movies largely cut the Quidditch sequences out, thanks to cost concerns and to shave off run-time. The Philosopher’s Stone reboot putting this restored match front and center in marketing goes a long way to telling fans this time it will be different. With some (quite silly) cynicism around the reboot’s existence and accusations of a close remake, that’s also a smart psychological play. Anything that suggests difference should be welcomed. And if it helps show more of Snape being a dick (since he awards a penalty against Gryffindor for literally no reason), it’s even better.
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