Harry Potter TV series: how many HBO episodes and seasons of Wizarding World reboot show will there be?

HBO will remake the Harry Potter novels into a TV series with a brand new cast in a project expected to be released over 10 years. The series will be a reimagining of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter novels which made the author a billionaire with 500 million copies sold worldwide. 

The story of Harry the boy wizard who attends a magic school of Hogwarts with friends Ron and Hermione and nemesis Draco is well-known by millions of fans who have encountered the Wizarding World through the books, movies and interactive video games.

The original Harry Potter films starred Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint alongside many other well-known British thespians, but the rebooted series is slated to feature a brand new cast.

The latest projects based on Rowling’s work include the video game Hogwarts Legacy, which sparked controversy among some fans due to Rowling’s comments on trans rights issues. The third film in the five-part Fantastic Beasts series, The Secrets of Dumbledore, was released last year and made just over $400 million off a $200 million budget.

How many seasons of the HBO Harry Potter series will there be?

HBO confirmed on 12 April that it has commissioned a TV series adaptation of the best-selling Harry Potter books. 

Whereas the film series is made up of eight instalments, with the final novel, The Deathly Hallows, being split into two movies, the series is expected to contain seven seasons released over a decade.

HBO confirmed that each series of the show will follow the events of one book as Harry Potter and his friends come of age at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and take on the evil Lord Voldemort.

HBO said: “Each season will be authentic to the original books and bring Harry Potter and these incredible adventures to new audiences around the world, while the original, classic and beloved films will remain at the core of the franchise and available to watch globally.”

Streaming giant HBO is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the company that also produced the Harry Potter films between 2001 and 2011. The film series is the third highest-grossing movie franchise of all time, having made $9.5 billion at the box office, behind only Star Wars and the MCU, both of which contain more instalments. 

How many episodes in each season of Harry Potter will there be?

The number of episodes have not yet been confirmed, however most HBO big budget shows typically have between eight and 10 episodes per season. It is likely that this will be the case with Harry Potter - episodes are likely to be around one hour long.

This means that, with a plan to produce seven seasons, Potterheads will be treated to somewhere between 56 and 70 hours of new Hogwarts content over the entire show’s run. This is between three and four times as long as the original eight Harry Potter films combined.

When is the release date of the Harry Potter HBO series?

An official release date of the Harry Potter series has not been confirmed, but according to RadioTimes, it is not expected to premiere until 2025 or 2026. As the series is expected to be released over a decade, a new season is likely to arrive every 18 months, with the final season arriving in 2035 or 2036.