Huge news Harry Potter fans have waited for

It’s one of the most highly-anticipated new TV shows of the past decade – and the team behind it has just dropped a magical announcement.

IN LONDON

It’s one of the most highly-anticipated (and secretive) new shows of the decade.

Harry Potter fans have been clamouring for any crumbs of information about the TV adaptation of the beloved magical franchise since Warner Bros. Discovery first announced it early last year – and finally, they’ve gotten their wish.

The series’ showrunner Francesca Gardiner and executive producer Mark Mylod (who both previously worked on Succession) made a surprise appearance alongside HBO boss Casey Bloys at the Max Showcase in London on Thursday – and revealed the production would begin filming mid-next year at the UK’s iconic Leavesden Studios, which was previously home to the original eight-part film franchise.

The self-confessed “obsessed, mega-crazy fans” also shared that they had been inundated with more than 32,000 video audition entries for the titular role of Harry since launching an open casting call – and that they were committed to watching every single one of them.

“The time and care that people took … we have a whole team that watch up to 1000 videos a day,” Mylod told press at the event.

“We haven’t made any final choices, the next stage is to finalise. It’s daunting – those actors [Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson] from the films are extraordinary, and captured our imaginations globally, and we take it incredibly seriously.”

Emma Watson as Hermione Granger, Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter and Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley in the original films.

Admitting the global phenomenon surrounding the films was a “hard act to follow”, the pair pointed out that the new adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s seven-book series also came with significant benefits.

“To take something so rich and try to pack them into two hours is extraordinary – but we get a bigger sandpit to play in and that really excites me, as we get to really dig in,” Gardiner explained.

“We get to explore Hogwarts, we’ll see things we haven’t seen, we’ll get to have some fun with Peeves [the poltergeist] in the corridor.”

Radcliffe (left) with Rowling, Watson and Grint at the Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 world premiere at Trafalgar Square in 2011. Picture: Jon Furniss/WireImage

The film franchise, which launched in 2001 with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, began its rollout before the final book was even written – and as Mylod explained, the new team now has the benefit of knowing Rowling’s full story arc prior to diving in.

“Particularly in the writing room and in production, we can plan for where the story is going,” he said, before emphasising that their approach was “not to undermine what was done previously” but to “evolve” and “expand” it.

During a Q&A portion of the presentation afterwards, Bloys was also grilled on Rowling’s close involvement with the series following backlash over her anti-transgender views, but remained firm in his support.

“I’m totally comfortable with [working with the author], I’m not worried,” he insisted, dismissing the notion it could have a commercial impact.

Either way, fans will be delighted that their return to Hogwarts is officially on the horizon.

Given the new details about production getting underway, it’s likely the Harry Potter series is on track to debut at some point in 2026 or 2027.

It will be available via HBO’s streaming service, Max, which is set to arrive on our shores early next year.