HBO Max’s highly anticipated Harry Potter series, coming to the streamer in 2027, will be “the streaming event of the decade,” JB Perrette, CEO and president of global streaming & games at Warner Bros. Discovery said in London on Monday. At least that!
After all, he went on to describe the show as “the biggest streaming event in the history of HBO Max and arguably in streaming, period. It’s number one, two and three in many ways.”
His excitement for the series kept shining through at a Monday event in London. “We can’t wait for this global streaming event,” he said at the press event detailing the launch date and details for HBO Max, the streaming service from Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), in the U.K. and Ireland as March 26.
The new series will star child actor Dominic McLaughlin as Harry Potter in the series, which is currently shooting and targeting a 2027 premiere, with John Lithgow portraying Albus Dumbledore.
Perrette touted that the HBO brand stands for quality and content that audiences can’t wait to consume and discuss. “Nothing says quality like those three letters,” he said. “We’re a complementary and distinct service to the more volume-driven or basic cable-like streamers in the market. More is not better. Better is better. And our content slate over the next 24 months is the strongest and most targeted for our audiences in our history.”
Harry Potter will reimagine J.K. Rowling’s seven fantasy novels, which have sold more than 600 million copies worldwide, and its eight movie adaptations have cumulatively grossed $7 billion-plus. Each season will cover one of the seven books, with Succession writer Francesca Gardiner in place as showrunner and Game of Thrones veteran Mark Mylod directing several episodes of the series.
Arabella Stanton will star as Hermione Granger in the show, with Alastair Stout cast as Ron Weasley. The cast also includes the likes of Ozark scene stealer Janet McTeer as Professor Minerva McGonagall, Shaun of the Dead’s Nick Frost as the half-giant Hagrid and, in a diverse casting twist, Paapa Essiedu (I May Destroy You) as the Potions Professor Severus Snape.
