HBO's Harry Potter Will Be "More Satisfying" Than The Movies, Says Gary Oldman
Matthew Rudoy is one of ScreenRant's Movie & TV News Editors. He covers the latest in movie & TV news, with a focus on major franchises like Star Wars, The Boys, and Game of Thrones, and also writes some features and reviews. He wrote lists for ScreenRant from 2017-2022, became a news writer in 2023, a senior staff writer in 2024, and an editor in 2025.
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Gary Oldman predicts that HBO's Harry Potter series will be "more satisfying" than the movies he was in.
Oldman played the titular character's godfather, Sirius Black, in four of the original eight Harry Potter movies, beginning in Prisoner of Azkaban and ending in Deathly Hallows: Part 2. 15 years after his last appearance as Sirius, the book series is being remade as an HBO television show, with season 1 adapting the first novel and premiering on December 25.
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01
What spell is used to disarm an opponent, famously becoming Harry Potter’s signature move throughout the series?
✓ Correct! Expelliarmus is the Disarming Charm. Harry used it so often that it became his trademark spell — even using it in his final duel against Voldemort in the Battle of Hogwarts.
✗ Not quite! The answer is Expelliarmus. Stupefy is a Stunning Spell, Protego is a Shield Charm, and Petrificus Totalus is the Full Body-Bind Curse. Expelliarmus forces an opponent’s wand out of their hand.
02
In “The Prisoner of Azkaban,” Hagrid introduces his Care of Magical Creatures class to a proud hippogriff. What is the creature’s name?
✓ Correct! Buckbeak the hippogriff became a key part of the story when Draco Malfoy insulted him and got injured. Harry and Hermione later saved Buckbeak from execution using the Time-Turner.
✗ Not quite! The answer is Buckbeak. Fang is Hagrid’s boarhound, Norbert is his baby dragon from the first book, and Aragog is the giant Acromantula in the Forbidden Forest.
03
What potion allows the drinker to assume the physical appearance of another person, and plays a major role in “The Chamber of Secrets” and “The Goblet of Fire”?
✓ Correct! Polyjuice Potion transforms the drinker into someone else for about an hour. Hermione brewed it in their second year to infiltrate the Slytherin common room, and Barty Crouch Jr. used it to impersonate Mad-Eye Moody.
✗ Not quite! The answer is Polyjuice Potion. Felix Felicis is liquid luck, Veritaserum is a truth serum, and Amortentia is a powerful love potion. Polyjuice Potion is the one that changes your appearance.
04
How many Horcruxes did Lord Voldemort intentionally create to split his soul and achieve immortality?
✓ Correct! Voldemort intentionally created six Horcruxes: the diary, the ring, the locket, the cup, the diadem, and Nagini. Harry became an accidental seventh Horcrux, making the total number of soul fragments seven — the most magically powerful number.
✗ Not quite! The answer is six. Voldemort deliberately created six Horcruxes: Tom Riddle’s diary, Marvolo Gaunt’s ring, Slytherin’s locket, Hufflepuff’s cup, Ravenclaw’s diadem, and Nagini. Harry was an unintentional seventh piece.
05
How many points is the Golden Snitch worth when caught by a Seeker during a Quidditch match?
✓ Correct! Catching the Golden Snitch awards 150 points and ends the match. This is why the Seeker position is so crucial — catching the Snitch almost always wins the game, though famously at the Quidditch World Cup, Viktor Krum caught it but Bulgaria still lost.
✗ Not quite! The answer is 150 points. The Golden Snitch is worth 150 points and also ends the match. At the 1994 Quidditch World Cup, Krum caught the Snitch for Bulgaria but Ireland still won because they were more than 150 points ahead.
06
What form does Severus Snape’s Patronus take — revealing his lifelong love for Harry’s mother, Lily?
✓ Correct! Snape’s Patronus is a doe — the same as Lily Potter’s. When Dumbledore asked “After all this time?” Snape famously replied, “Always.” It’s one of the most emotional reveals in the entire series.
✗ Not quite! The answer is a doe. Snape’s Patronus matches Lily Potter’s because of his deep, enduring love for her. James Potter’s Patronus was a stag — the male counterpart. The doe is what led Harry to the Sword of Gryffindor in the frozen lake.
07
What magical object must you look into to see the Mirror of Erised’s true purpose — and what does it show the viewer?
✓ Correct! The Mirror of Erised (“desire” spelled backward) shows the deepest desire of whoever looks into it. Harry saw his parents, Ron saw himself as Head Boy and Quidditch captain, and Dumbledore claimed he saw himself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks.
✗ Not quite! The answer is their deepest, most desperate desire. “Erised” is “desire” spelled backward. The inscription reads: “I show not your face but your heart’s desire.” Dumbledore warned Harry that the mirror gives neither knowledge nor truth, and men have wasted away before it.
08
The three Deathly Hallows are the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and which third object that Harry himself possessed?
✓ Correct! The Cloak of Invisibility was passed down through Harry’s family — he inherited it from his father, James. Unlike ordinary invisibility cloaks, this Hallow never fades or weakens, making it a true relic of Death from “The Tale of the Three Brothers.”
✗ Not quite! The answer is the Cloak of Invisibility. Harry inherited it from his father on his first Christmas at Hogwarts. Together with the Elder Wand and the Resurrection Stone, these three objects make up the Deathly Hallows from “The Tale of the Three Brothers.”
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In an interview with Entertainment Weekly at the Toronto International Film Festival, Oldman shared that “we had to cut a lot, and still we could only get the films down to, like, three hours. I believe [the TV series is] gonna do it pretty much word-for-word, which I think, as a viewer, would be more satisfying.” He added that “a lot of character detail was sacrificed” due to the "two-and-a-half-hour window" of the films, and for the television series, "I wish them luck with it."
With eight episodes in season 1 of HBO's Harry Potter show, as opposed to the two-hour and 32-minute runtime of the Sorcerer's Stone movie, the series will have significantly more time to adapt the first book. Having more time to be faithful to the novels and include details cut from films has been touted as one of the show's greatest selling points for a while now, long before Oldman's comments.
Examples of cut book details that are confirmed for the television series include the inclusion of Peeves the Poltergeist (Peter Serafinowicz) and Harry (Dominic McLaughlin) and Rubeus Hagrid (Nick Frost) riding the London Underground together. As for making scenes more accurate to the books, the trailer highlights how Neville Longbottom (Rory Wilmot) is with the Golden Trio and screaming alongside them when they discover the three-headed dog Fluffy for the first time.
As the Harry Potter books get longer, there will be even more opportunities to adapt book elements that didn't make it into the movies in future seasons, including where Oldman's character, Sirius, is concerned. This will especially be the case in seasons 3 and 5, as details like Sirius' full history with the Marauders and Kreacher's betrayal of him didn't make it into the Prisoner of Azkaban and Order of the Phoenix films.
Filming has begun on Harry Potter season 2 and key roles like Gilderoy Lockhart have been cast, but unless there is a major change from the source material, Sirius will not be introduced until season 3. Ben Barnes has long been a popular fancast for Sirius, but the role has yet to be officially cast. So far, many well-known actors like Frost, John Lithgow, and Kit Harington have been chosen for quite a few of the adult characters, including Hagrid, Albus Dumbledore, and Lockhart.
Warwick Davis, who played Professor Filius Flitwick in the movies, is the only original cast member to be reprising his role in the show. In addition to Davis, McLaughlin, Frost, Lithgow, Wilmot, Harington, and Serafinowicz, HBO's Harry Potter cast features Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley, Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger, Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape, Lox Pratt as Draco Malfoy, Luke Thallon as Quirinus Quirrell, Tristan Harland as Fred Weasley, Gabriel Harland as George Weasley, Bel Powley as Petunia Dursley, Daniel Rigby as Vernon Dursley, and Anton Lesser as Garrick Ollivander.
HBO's Harry Potter premieres on December 25.
- Release Date
- 2026 - 2026
- Showrunner
- Francisca Gardiner
- Directors
- Mark Mylod
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Dominic McLaughlin
Harry Potter
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Janet McTeer
Minerva McGonagall
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Albus Dumbledore
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Nick Frost
Hagrid
Harry Potter is HBO's adatation of the iconic Wizarding World book series tby J.K. Rowling. The first season, The Philosopher's Stone, follows the titular Harry Potter as he discovers his magical potential, enrolls at Hogwarts, and begins to uncover a sinister force.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.