Harry Potter fans have been left furious by the rumoured number of episodes in the first season of the HBO TV reboot.
Earlier this week, filming for the ambitious seven-season show kicked off at Warner Bros Studios in Leavesden, Hertfordshire.
The newly cast Harry Potter, Dominic McLaughlin, was pictured in the iconic Hogwarts outfit, with the look completed with a lightning scar.
This came before fans got their first glimpse at Nick Frost as Hagrid, although not all were totally happy with the new casting choice.
However, following the reveal that season 1 of the HBO series is only meant to have six episodes, fans have called for the show to be ‘abolished’ altogether.
According to a production insider, the first two seasons of Harry Potter will be filmed back to back.
Both seasons are believed to only have six episodes, with further seasons potentially expanding to eight, Redanian Intelligence claim.
The first season is said to be filming from now until May 2026, with season 2 being planned to start at the same time next year from July 2026 to May 2027.
Commenting online, @Nljigakulive wrote: ‘6 episodes???? Isn’t the whole point of this to flesh out everything the books cut? Is that enough time.’
@voxpaucorum said: ‘Six episodes? This seems like way too little to cover a single book unless the seasons cover multiple episodes which would be insane.’
@adamagb also commented: ‘Six episodes, they better be 1 hour long.’
@NicholasLightTV added: ‘So sick of this 6 episode season… Miss the days where we had 20+ episode seasons of Smallville and had something to look forward to weekly for months, even with filler.’
Meanwhile, @brwninh4 argued: ‘Only 12 episodes??? please cancel the show and do it again.’
@SpencisKnight similarly said: ‘ONLY 6 EPISODES?!?! Crazy. I thought at least 8 but ok guess it makes sense cause 1 & 2 are the shortest books so the later seasons will be longer.
‘Also how the hell does 6 episodes take them filming season 1 until spring of next year.’
Finally, @Jay_MK_Marvel wrote: ‘You’re telling me all this for 6 episodes for the first 2 seasons? Give us more.’
While many fans have shared their frustrations over how long it is taking to film the series, one reason behind the delays could be because of child labour laws.
Warner Bros)
According to the same source, the first episode is also said to end with the young students and Hagrid approaching the castle of Hogwarts on a boat for the first time, to give context to how the season might be paced and structured.
Another piece of information they revealed is that Voldemort is already cast and will appear in several episodes, but HBO has no plans of announcing who they are casting until the season airs.
HBO has confirmed to Metro that the series will debut in 2027 on HBO and HBO Max where it’s available.
Harry Potter will come out on HBO in 2027.
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