HBO Harry Potter's first season is longer than the first 3 films combined

We’re over halfway through the year, which means that the premiere date of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone - season one of HBO’s new adaptation - isn’t all that far away.

The famous boy wizard is set to return to our screens on Christmas Day, 25 December 2026, with episodes rolling out weekly.

Many have said that it’s far too soon to reboot Harry Potter with the acclaimed Warner Bros. films still fresh in everybody’s mind, despite wrapping up well over a decade ago.

The original cast, costumes, locations, and props were so iconic, but HBO’s take on JK Rowling’s Wizarding World aims to offer a more in-depth version of this tale of good and evil.

That shouldn’t come as a surprise, given that each book is set to get its own season. Even still, one fan’s observation of just how long season one is set to be is enough to get any Potterhead excited.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first season of the HBO show, has a rough runtime of eight hours with eight one-hour episodes.

As pointed out by Wizarding_Press on Twitter/X, that makes season one longer than the first three Warner Bros. films combined.

The film Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone has a runtime of two hours and 32 minutes, with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets coming in at two hours and 41 minutes.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban lasts for two hours and 22 minutes, bringing those three films to a combined total of seven hours and 35 minutes - or 455 minutes.

The upcoming first season on HBO, however, is due to last for at least eight hours or 480 minutes, perhaps running slightly over.

HBO’s take on the story is set to introduce Peeves who the films scrapped

That really emphasises just how in-depth this version of the story will be, presumably allowing time for all of the books’ storylines that Warner Bros. cut.

That includes Peeves the Hogwarts poltergeist, Hermione’s S.P.E.W antics, and more.

We know that Harry Potter’s first two seasons are being filmed back-to-back, so that should cut down on the gap between season one and season two - especially as HBO can’t really afford to have the kids look too much older between seasons when we’ve only progressed from one school year to another.

The series is set to feature plenty of young new talent alongside established names for the adult characters.

Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout, and Arabella Stanton are our new Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

They’ll be joined by John Lithgow as Dumbledore, Bel Powley as Petunia Dursley, Peter Serafinowicz as Peeves, Katherine Parkinson as Molly Weasley, Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall, Warwick Davis as Professor Flitwick, Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid, Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape, Anton Lesser as Garrick Ollivander, and more.