7 Scenes From HBO’s Harry Potter Not In The Books

Published Sep 13, 2026, 10:30 PM EDT

Angel Shaw is a Lead Writer and Critic on ScreenRant's TV team, covering new-release and classic TV shows across all major streaming platforms. She has been a writer with ScreenRant since 2022 and specializes in Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and fantasy. 

Angel holds a bachelor's degree in language interpreting and is passionate about all things culture and communication—especially in how it relates to popular media throughout history (from Shakespeare to Friends to Game of Thrones).

We are a few months away from the official arrival of Harry Potter season 1, but it's already clear that there will be handfuls of moments that don't come directly from JK Rowling's books. It's a complicated thought, since HBO has promised fans a book-faithful adaptation—something Warner Bros' movies didn't have enough time to be. Still, with brand-new scenes added in, it doesn't exactly seem strictly true.

HBO has already released a teaser and a full trailer for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (the official title of season 1), both of which feature some new scenes. While it can't be denied that these are unique, it's worth exploring whether they actually break canon. After all, the books have left plenty implied over the years. HBO appears to have taken some of this and brought it to the screen, expanding the world a bit more at the edges. There's surely more to come, but, for now, Harry Potter has given us enough to consider.

Harry Getting Bullied At School

Among the first scenes in the Harry Potter season 1 teaser is Harry being bullied by Dudley and his buddies at their ordinary school. The other children hold Harry against a wall, and Dudley approaches him menacingly, apparently preparing to beat his cousin to a pulp. This certainly didn't happen in the Harry Potter movies, and there was never an in-the-moment play-by-play detailing such a moment in Rowling's books. Still, it's not as if HBO's TV show got the idea out of nowhere.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone makes it clear that Dudley and his friends tormented Harry while at school. At one point, it's mentioned that while being chased across the yard, Harry suddenly found himself atop the school, out of the gang's reach. HBO's Harry Potter seems to have taken this general anecdote and turned it into a solid part of season 1's narrative. Perhaps the trailer's suggestion means we will get the roof scene as well.

Hagrid Describing Harry’s Parents

Like many other things, the Harry Potter movies had to seriously condense the amount of time Harry spent with Hagrid ahead of going to school. A benefit of HBO's TV show is that we should finally see more of this budding friendship play out on screen. The teaser trailer for Harry Potter season 1 shows Harry and Hagrid on the underground together, which absolutely happened in the books (there was even a deleted scene from the movies). However, their topic of discussion is a bit more unique.

Hagrid had nice things to say about Lily and James Potter in the Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone book, but the heartfelt conversation we see in the season 1 teaser is brand new. It's not a bad addition by any means, seeing as Harry has naturally always been canonically curious about his parents and what his life might have been like had they never died. As far as new scenes go, this is an easy one to accept.

Hermione Chatting About Summer Reading On The Bus

The full trailer for Harry Potter season 1 implies that we will get to know Hermione Granger a bit before she even walks into Harry and Ron's compartment on the Hogwarts Express. We see her eagerly climb aboard the train and turn to some fellow first years, asking them if they enjoyed the summer reading. The two classmates were taken aback and answered less than enthusiastically, leaving Hermione to respond with dejected disappointment.

Based on the Philosopher's Stone book, we really don't know what things were like for Hermione before she met Harry and Ron. Still, it's made evident that she didn't exactly jive with her fellow students. It's interesting to consider what entering into the Wizarding world for the first time would have been like for Hermione, so HBO's Harry Potter shining some first-hand light on the experience isn't unwelcome.

Ron Receiving His Hogwarts Letter At Home

Just as HBO's Harry Potter will apparently give Hermione some screentime ahead of her meeting Harry and Ron, season 1 will also take a glimpse at Ron's home life. The trailer shows the boy receiving his Hogwarts letter, Fred and George getting into mischief, and Mrs. Weasley doting on Percy.

Once again, we have no idea what the morning that Ron got his Hogwarts letter looked like. We never got a chapter from his point of view, nor did Ron tell the story in any detail in the Harry Potter books. Still, what the season 1 trailer reflects looks to be a reasonable assumption. The dynamic at the Weasley house was often described as something rather similar, so HBO's show isn't doing much of a stretch to construct this scene.

Harry's Talk With McGonagall

Image via MovieStillsDB

Professor Minerva McGonagall is the head of Gryffindor House in Harry Potter, so she tended to be the primary adult looking out for Harry in the books. This would eventually become private meetings, in which Harry and McGonagall would discuss class options and potential plans after finishing school. In the early days at Hogwarts, however, Harry didn't get much one-on-one time with his teacher.

The trailer for Harry Potter season 1 changes this up by giving us a sort of pep talk from teacher to student. McGonagall is a stern but fair woman, and she cares deeply for her students. Her speech in the Harry Potter TV show is right on brand, as she encourages Harry to work hard, prove himself, build solid relationships, and explore his strengths. Once again, this isn't a canon moment, but it at least makes perfect sense.

The Couple Lighting A Bridge Up In Stars

MovieStillsDB

One of the more peculiar moments in the trailer for Harry Potter season 1 is the scene in which a man and a woman run across a bridge, igniting the structure with stars from their wands. We have no official confirmation of who these two characters are, and there was never any such moment described for any characters, man, woman, or otherwise, doing such a thing. It's the only moment in the Harry Potter trailer with no reasonable answer rooted in canon.

It has been largely assumed that this witch and wizard are Lily and James Potter. These two characters are dead by the events of Philosopher's Stone, and we never get flashbacks to their time together in this first book. So, any such scene featuring the Potters in HBO's Harry Potter will be unique to the show. This could be controversial, but it's intriguing to consider that the upcoming TV show will actually give us a chance to get to know Harry's parents early on.

Dumbledore & McGonagall’s Private Conversation

While the Harry Potter books would sometimes take the perspective of characters other than Harry, it wasn't particularly common, and it never occurred at school while Harry was there. In Philosopher's Stone, Albus Dumbledore gets his own chapter during which he drops Harry off at Privet Drive and discusses the boy's future at Hogwarts. However, the book never gives us a private conversation between this pair at Hogwarts itself.

This isn't the case in the Harry Potter trailer, where Dumbledore is heard telling MdGonagall that they can't protect "them," (seemingly the Golden Trio), and can only "prepare them." This again fits with these characters, since it is revealed that Dumbledore had been raising Harry up for his destiny from the very beginning. The question here is how our perspective of this character will change when we know exactly what he is up to from day one.

• 

  Dominic McLaughlin

  Harry Potter

• 

  Janet McTeer

  Minerva McGonagall

• 

  Albus Dumbledore

• 

  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.