Harry Potter season 1: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

What season 1 covers

Season 1 adapts the first book from beginning to end: Harry's life with the Dursleys, the discovery that he's a wizard and his first year at Hogwarts. With 8 episodes, it has several times the running time of the 2001 film, which ran for about two and a half hours.

These are the main story beats from the book. HBO hasn't said how they split across episodes, so treat this as a guide to the story rather than an episode list.

1. The boy under the stairs. Harry lives with the Dursleys, who hide the truth about his parents and his past.
2. The letters. Letters from Hogwarts arrive in their dozens, until Hagrid comes to deliver one in person.
3. Diagon Alley. Harry learns he is a wizard, visits Gringotts and chooses his wand at Ollivanders.
4. Platform nine and three-quarters. Harry meets the Weasleys, Ron and Hermione on the way to school.
5. The Sorting. The Sorting Hat sends Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville to Gryffindor and Draco to Slytherin.
6. First lessons. Potions with Snape, flying lessons and Harry's surprise place on the Quidditch team.
7. The troll. A troll on Halloween turns Ron, Harry and Hermione into a trio.
8. The Mirror of Erised. At Christmas, Harry finds a mirror that shows his heart's desire.
9. Norbert and the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid's dragon lands the friends in detention, and something is killing unicorns.
10. Through the trapdoor. Fluffy, Devil's Snare, flying keys, a giant chessboard and the final confrontation over the Stone.

Episodes

There are 8 episodes. HBO hasn't released the titles, runtimes or confirmed schedule yet. Weekly episodes are widely expected. We'll add each episode here, with a short spoiler-free summary, as they air.

Who's in season 1

Dominic McLaughlin plays Harry, Arabella Stanton plays Hermione and Alastair Stout plays Ron. The Hogwarts staff include John Lithgow as Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu as Snape, Nick Frost as Hagrid, Warwick Davis as Flitwick and Luke Thallon as Quirrell. See the full cast.

Where it was filmed

Filming started on 14 July 2025 at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, where all eight films were made. The production built a temporary school on site for up to 600 young actors. Location filming included:

• King's Cross station and Borough High Street in London
• London Zoo
• Windsor Great Park, where a Hogsmeade station set was built
• Cornwall, including Kynance Cove and Cadgwith
• Skipton in Yorkshire and Ashridge in Hertfordshire
• The Île de Sein, an island off Brittany in France

The working title during filming was Dark Train.

What the extra time could allow

The film of Philosopher's Stone had to trim a lot. Eight episodes leave room for scenes and characters fans have long wanted to see on screen:

• Peeves, who is confirmed for the series.
• More of the Dursleys and Harry's life before Hogwarts.
• Snape's potion puzzle, the logic test Hermione solves in the book's final chapters, which the film left out.
• Life at Hogwarts: more classes, more Quidditch and more of the other students.

Read more in movies vs series.

Season 1 and the Sorting

The Sorting ceremony is one of the key scenes of season 1, and the second trailer showed a glimpse of it. If you'd like to know where the Hat would put you, take our Hogwarts house quiz, or read how the Sorting Hat decides.