HBO’s Bold Harry Potter Season 2 Pivot Has Fans Cheering — and Could Dodge the Stranger Things Trap
With cameras already rolling on season one, HBO’s Harry Potter series is charging ahead: CEO Casey Bloys said at a Nov. 20 press conference that season two is already in the works.
HBO is filming its new Harry Potter series right now, and the network has already jumped ahead to Season 2. Yes, before you even see a frame of Season 1, the next batch is being written. That is not the norm, and it tells you exactly how HBO wants this rollout to go: fast enough that the kids do not grow up between seasons and viewers do not drift away.
Season 2 is already being written
At a Nov 20 press conference, HBO CEO Casey Bloys said the writers room for Season 2 is up and running while Season 1 is in production. He made it clear they are trying to avoid a long wait between seasons. There will be a break, but the goal is to keep the gap reasonable for the cast and for the audience. This show is a huge build with a ton of VFX and moving parts, but they are planning for momentum, not multi-year pauses.
Fans had one immediate reaction: please, no long gaps
As the news hit, the chatter on X (formerly Twitter) was basically: good move, do not let this turn into the Stranger Things situation. A couple of the takes summed it up nicely — keep the releases coming, or the kids will be in their late 20s by the finale. Hyperbole, sure, but the point stands.
Why people keep bringing up Stranger Things
Netflix’s sci-fi hit launched with quick turnarounds, then the gaps stretched out — a lot. Season 4 landed in 2022, and the final season starts rolling out this month. For context, here is the timeline everyone keeps referencing:
- Stranger Things Season 1: 2016
- Stranger Things Season 2: 2017
- Stranger Things Season 3: 2019
- Stranger Things Season 4: 2022
- Stranger Things Season 5: 2025 (Volume 1 arrives Nov 26)
Rowling visited the set (and it felt like a state visit)
With cameras rolling at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden and on locations around the U.K., J.K. Rowling made her first trip to the HBO set. People on the production described it like a royal drop-by — senior staff literally penciled it into their diaries. Rowling is an executive producer on the series, and this was her first in-person look at how the adaptation is coming together.
Meet the new trio
The series is building its cast around a very young core, much like the original films did. Dominic McLaughlin is playing Harry Potter, Arabella Stanton is Hermione Granger, and Alastair Stout is Ron Weasley. They are starting this adventure around the same age Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint were when they first walked into Hogwarts. Which brings us back to the scheduling point: keep the turnaround tight, keep the kids the right age, keep the audience hooked.
Daniel Radcliffe reached out to the new Harry
Radcliffe wrote a note to Dominic McLaughlin with exactly the kind of energy you would hope for from the original lead passing the wand to the next generation:
I do not want to be like a specter in the lives of these children at all. I just wanted to write to him to say, 'I hope you have the best time, and an even better time than I did. I had a great time, but I hope you have an even better one.'
Release dates to circle
HBO’s Harry Potter series is slated to premiere in 2027.
Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 1 hits Netflix on Nov 26, 2025.
Want to revisit the films? The Harry Potter movies are streaming on Amazon Video.