HBO has released the first full clip from the upcoming Harry Potter series. The scene, titled The Start-of-Term Banquet, takes viewers into the Great Hall at Hogwarts.
The clip features headmaster Albus Dumbledore, played by John Lithgow, Professor McGonagall, played by Janet McTeer, and Harry Potter, played by Dominic McLaughlin, along with other Gryffindor students.
Viewers noticed a line from the book that did not appear in the 2001 film Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Harry asks about the headmaster:
‘Is Dumbledore a bit mad?’
In the first book, this question comes straight after Dumbledore’s unusual speech before dinner:
‘Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! That’s all, thank you, everyone!’
The clip also showed that the series will tell the story not only from Harry’s point of view. It includes a conversation between Dumbledore and McGonagall that was not in the book: the teachers discuss the boy’s resemblance to his father, James Potter.
The first season will premiere on HBO on 25 December. Filming is currently under way on the second season, which is based on J.K. Rowling’s second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
