Sarah Aubrey lifted the cauldron lid on the Harry Potter TV series today, saying it represents “a financial investment that normally you wouldn’t make with a television show.”
Aubrey, who is Head of Original Programming for HBO Max, was on stage at Series Mania in Lille when she began talking about “a little show called Harry Potter.” She pointed to footage released today of influencers who had been given exclusive access to the set in Leavesden, UK, as evidence of the scale.
“We’ve made such a big commitment to this show,” she said. “We’re committed to filming all the books. We’ve made a financial investment that normally you wouldn’t make with a television show.
“The world created is truly extraordinary. Fan after fan would come through, round an alley into Diagon Alley and to a person they burst into tears. It’s very special working on something that means that much. It’s a lot of pressure, but also rewarding.”
In a separate interview with Deadline, Aubrey expanded on the point saying: “I’ve been on a lot of sets as a film and TV producer and I have never seen anything like it. My jaw was on the floor. Your jaw would be on the floor.”
Her comments came on the same day that HBO released a first look image of Harry Potter, with the new title star, Dominic McLaughlin, from behind in a Gryffindor cloak approaching a Quidditch game. “The journey with these incredible books continues and I’m so excited for all of you to be a part of it,” she added.
HBO is planning to launch the series in “early 2027,” Aubrey boss Casey Bloys has previously told Deadline.
McLaughlin is starring as Harry Potter, Alastair Stout is Ron Weasley and Arabella Stanton is Hermione Granger. The adult leads include Paapa Essiedu, John Lithgow and Janet McTeer, and filming has been going on since the summer in the UK.
Aubrey talked to the huge fan hype around the show’s new stars, recalling how eagle-eyed online sleuths had deduced the casting of Draco Malfoy, who will be played by Lord of the Flies star Lox Pratt.
“On the day when we cast the kids, Dominic, Alastair and Arabella, within two hours someone had looked at one of their Instagram feeds and figured out through who they were friends with who we were casting as Malfoy,” she said. “They posted and said, ‘This kid looks like a perfect Malfoy’. The fact they did that extrapolating in hours was a little like ‘woah, that’s what this whole thing is going to be like.’”
Harry Potter is written and executive produced by Francesca Gardiner. Mark Mylod is executive producing and directing multiple episodes of the series, produced by HBO in association with Brontë Film and TV and Warner Bros Television. Also executive producing are Rowling, Neil Blair and Ruth Kenley-Letts of Brontë Film and TV, and David Heyman of Heyday Films. Hans Zimmer is signed on as composer.
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