HBO’s Harry Potter TV series has been renewed for a second season, prior to a single episode being released, as the streamer attempts to limit the hiatus between each instalment.

The show is expected to devote an entire season to each entry in JK Rowling’s series of books, meaning that the second entry will be based primarily on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Production will resume in the autumn, with season 1 writer Jon Brown (The Franchise, Succession) being promoted to co-showrunner alongside Francesca Gardiner in order to facilitate the show’s demanding overlapping schedule.

“It has become clear that bringing on a co-showrunner is the key to maintaining our momentum,” said Gardiner in a statement.

The comment implicitly addresses concern that a slow production cycle could result in stars Dominic McLaughlin (Harry), Alastair Stout (Ron) and Arabella Stanton (Hermione) growing up faster than their characters.

“I’ve loved working with Jon from the very first day we met on Succession through to these recent times together on Harry Potter,” she continued. “Not only do I have huge admiration for his writing, but he’s also a brilliant collaborator and a lovely person.”

Brown commented: “It has been a joy to write on Philosopher’s Stone and I’d like to thank Francesca and HBO for putting their faith in me to continue this remarkable journey. Seems you’re never too old to get your invitation to Hogwarts.”

The news comes with speculation still rampant over who will play the Wizarding World’s big bad, Lord Voldemort, in the rebooted series, with original star Ralph Fiennes recently playing down rumours of his return.

It seems more likely that, as with the rest of the Harry Potter cast, the role will go to a new actor, with suggestions ranging from Cillian Murphy to Tilda Swinton and, most recently, Paul Bettany.

The actor, known for playing JARVIS/Vision in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, addressed the murmurs of his involvement in a new interview for the US launch of Amadeus, where he expressed reluctance to take on another role requiring extensive make-up.

“Unfortunately, it’s just a rumour,” he said. “I’m not sure that I could face any more prosthetics in my life. I’ve had a lot of them… Maybe by then we’d be able to AI my nose [but] nobody’s even asking me to do it.

“We’re talking about it as if anybody’s interested in hiring me… they’re just not!”

In the same interview, Amadeus co-star Will Sharpe interjected that he thought Bettany would be “excellent” in the villainous role. But for now, we’ll just have to wait and see who the show bosses will settle on.

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Harry Potter author JK Rowling has faced backlash in some quarters due to her views on transgender rights.

In 2020, she published a lengthy statement detailing her stance on sex and gender debates – the essay was criticised and disputed by LGBTQ+ charities including Stonewall.

Rowling has also shared her views on social media, including in a 2024 post on X (formerly Twitter), in which she insisted that “there are no trans kids” and opposed the idea that a child can be “born in the wrong body”.

In May 2025, Rowling set up the JK Rowling Women’s Fund, which describes itself as offering legal funding support to “individuals and organisations fighting to retain women’s sex-based rights”.

Harry Potter actors including Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson, have distanced themselves from Rowling’s views and have issued statements supporting the transgender community.

Others, including Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter and Jim Broadbent, have defended the author from the criticism she has received.

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Harry Potter will be coming to HBO in the US and HBO Max globally on 25 December 2026. Subscribe to HBO Max in the UK from £5.99 a month.

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