LODON  –  The boy who lived will rise again on Christmas Day 2026 as HBO Max reboots the tale of orphaned wizard Harry Potter in an eight-episode opening series bearing the name of the original novel: “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.” And in case you’ve been living in a cupboard under the stairs –– the trailer has dropped. The two-minute tidbit was released on Wednesday ahead of the launch of the HBO Max UK and Ireland streaming service on Thursday. (HBO, like CNN, is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.) Although just a snippet of the saga ahead, the trailer has already got muggles talking. Potterheads across the globe will instantly recognize Harry’s not-so-homely house on Privet Drive, his cramped excuse of a bedroom and the endless disdain oozing from the young wizard’s unloving aunt and uncle, Petunia and Vernon Dursley. Envelopes inscribed with cursive text, luggage cart run-ups at London’s King’s Cross Station and sweeping landscape shots glimpsed through a train window are also likely to get the hearts of diehard fans pounding.

But it’s the first look inside the enchanting Great Hall and at the all-knowing Sorting Hat that will ignite a fire in the bellies of all those who still check their mailbox every birthday, hoping for a summons from Hogwarts.

 If there is one thing HBO Max has thrown everything at for the reimagining of this world, it’s the cast. Star-studded, and then some, the upcoming show boasts giant of stage and screen John Lithgow as Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, Golden Globe winner Janet McTeer as stern but wise Professor Minerva McGonagall, and comedy stalwart Nick Frost as gentle oaf Rubeus Hagrid.