HBO drops brand-new Harry Potter trailer and fans are all saying the same thing

For some Harry Potter fans, the hardest part of HBO's reboot may not be seeing a 'new' Hogwarts, but seeing different actors in the iconic roles of the characters.

The first trailer for HBO's new Harry potter series has arrived, giving viewers a close look at Dominic McLaughlin, Arabella Stanton and Alastair Stout as Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley.

But while the trailer showcase a new take on the wizarding world, comments from fans on X have focused on one major sticking point - the original cast do not feature.

One viewer wrote, "Harry Potter without the original cast just feels wrong," while another said, "I grew up with HP, so seeing new faces tell the same story is hard to accept."

The reaction comes as the new series attempts to revisit a story millions of people already know, this time with a fresh cast and more room to explore the events of J.K. Rowling’s books.

Who is in the new HBO Harry Potter?

The new trio is led by McLaughlin as Harry, Stout as Ron and Stanton as Hermione.

They are joined by a collection of established actors taking over roles previously made famous by the original movies.

John Lithgow plays Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer is Professor McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu takes on Severus Snape and Nick Frost plays Rubeus Hagrid.

The wider cast includes Lox Pratt as Draco Malfoy, Daniel Rigby as Vernon Dursley, Bel Powley as Petunia Dursley, Amos Kitson as Dudley Dursley, Johnny Flynn as Lucius Malfoy, Katherine Parkinson as Molly Weasley and Rory Wilmot as Neville Longbottom.

Warwick Davis is also returning to Hogwarts, this time as Professor Filius Flitwick.

The trailer gives viewers their first substantial look at several of those performances, including McLaughlin’s Harry, who is shown growing up with the Dursleys, as well as Stanton’s Hermione, Stout’s Ron, Lithgow’s Dumbledore, McTeer’s McGonagall and Essiedu’s Snape.

There are also glimpses of Hogwarts and other familiar parts of the story, while the series appears willing to spend more time on material that was not shown in the 2001 movie adaptation.

What do fans think of the new Harry Potter trailer?

The response on X has been mixed, with several viewers comparing the new footage unfavorably with the original movies.

"It's better than the last trailer but…nah, doesn’t look anywhere near as good as the movies," one person wrote, adding that it looked "like a generic Netflix show as opposed to a high budget HBO production."

Another fan questioned why the story needed to be revisited at all, writing, "Why not make a spin of series with the og cast that’s still alive? Haven’t we watch this story play out already?"

The new adaptation is also offering viewers some scenes and perspectives that were not part of the original movie, including footage involving the Weasley family.

That suggests the series will not always remain strictly focused on Harry’s point of view.

The first season is based on Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, known as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in the US, and is expected to give the first book a much longer adaptation than the movie received.

For fans who grew up with Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson in the roles, though, the question now appears to be whether a new generation can make the characters feel like their own.