Actor Says HBO Harry Potter Series Will Expand Beyond the Books

HBO Max's upcoming Harry Potter reboot has been called a "faithful adaptation," but one of its new stars says it will not be a page-by-page retread. Lox Pratt, 14, will play Draco Malfoy in the series scheduled to premiere in early 2027, and is expected to appear across a seven-season run — one season per book.

Pratt says the show will expand beyond the books' limited perspective. "The books are very much over Harry’s shoulder… and that’s how they played the film as well. With this adaptation, you get to see so much more than the books. You get to see all the teachers in their little rooms.

You get to see Draco at home." He adds that the series aims to make Draco more dimensional than the films made him. "In the films, Draco is sort of 2D; he is the sneery villain. I feel like there’s so much more — you need to understand why." The cast includes Dominic McLaughlin as Harry Potter, Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger, and Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley, with John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore and Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape.

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