HBO Reportedly Builds School on Set So Young ‘Harry Potter’ Actors Can Study While Filming Long Series

Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, where HBO is filming the new “Harry Potter” TV series, is creating a temporary school for the many child actors working on the show. This school will help the kids keep up with their education during filming, which is expected to last for eight to ten years, according to the BBC. HBO confirmed on July 15 that production on the series has officially started.

The BBC reports that the local Three Rivers District Council has given permission to set up portable classrooms at the studio. These classrooms can hold up to 600 students during busy filming periods, like when big crowd scenes are shot. Most of the time, the school will serve around 150 students.

The school will be open weekdays from early morning at 5:30 a.m. until 8:30 p.m., allowing the young actors to fit their lessons between late-night shoots and other filming schedules.

Though the planning documents didn’t mention “Harry Potter” by name, they referred to the classrooms as part of a “significant new TV series” expected to be based at the studio for up to ten years. The BBC also mentioned the school will stay in place for a maximum of ten years.

Warner Bros. started planning the new Harry Potter TV show back in January 2021 for the streaming service HBO Max. In May 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav met with author J.K. Rowling to discuss upcoming wizarding world projects.

The official announcement came on April 12, 2023, when Warner Bros. Discovery revealed a new live-action Harry Potter series during a press event for their streaming platform, now called Max. This series will reboot the story from the original books, with each season focusing on one of the seven novels.

The plan is to produce the show over the next ten years. J.K. Rowling will serve as an executive producer and said she is “looking forward to being part of this new adaptation which will allow for a degree of depth and detail only afforded by a long form television series.” The show was originally expected to premiere in 2026.

In June 2024, the series was moved from Max to HBO. The next day, Francesca Gardiner was named showrunner, Mark Mylod was announced as director and executive producer, and David Heyman, who produced the original Harry Potter films, also joined as an executive producer.

For the casting, HBO held open auditions and saw about 32,000 children try out for the roles. Some of the young actors who will attend the on-set school include Dominic McLaughlin as Harry Potter, Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley, Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger, and Lox Pratt as Draco Malfoy, among others.

The new “Harry Potter” series is set to debut on HBO and HBO Max in 2027.

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