HBO's Harry Potter producers working through 32 000 audition videos, series to show unexplored parts of Hogwarts

by Thinus Ferreira

HBO's new 10-year Harry Potter drama series will start filming around June 2025 at the Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in the East of England with the producers currently working through 1 000 audition videos per day out of 32 000 that were submitted for casting.

On Thursday in London, HBO executives and the series showrunner and director gave an update to the media on the Harry Potter show that will very likely be on M-Net (DStv 101) and MultiChoice's video streaming service Showmax after it was reclassified a few months ago as an HBO Original and said that over 32 000 kids auditioned for the lead roles.

The Harry Potter series is expected to debut in 2026 and will very likely be an Express from the US title on MultiChoice's M-Net (DStv 101) channel on DStv.

According to showrunner Francesca Gardiner, producers are watching through almost 1 000 audition videos per day and haven't made any final casting choices yet.

According to Francesca Gardiner, the show will go according to the characters' ages as mentioned within the books, meaning that Professor Severus Snape will be 31 and Harry Potter's deceased parents James and Lily Potter will appear as 21-year-olds.

The series will make use of the existing sets at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden where the Food Network (DStv 175) recently filmed its Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking food competition series, and which has been used for studio tours since the production of the Harry Potter film series ended.

Director and executive producer Mark Mylod said that the Harry Potter series will use the existing infrastructure and architecture and "won't mess" with The Great Hall at Hogwarts but will expand upon the architecture of Hogwarts and other well-known places within the Harry Potter universe.

New as-yet-unseen areas of the Hogwarts school will be shown and explored within the show.

About casting Mark Mylod said "We haven't made any final choices but we're workshopping with a shortlist in January and there are some crackers".

Science-fiction sandworm series Dune: Prophecy coming to M-Net from 18 November as an Express from the US title

by Thinus Ferreira

M-Net (DStv 101) has snagged the HBO Original science-fiction prequel series Dune: Prophecy which will broadcast as an Express from the US title on Mondays, from Monday 18 November at 21:00, similar to Sky in the United Kingdom.

Dune: Prophecy is a prequel series from Diane Ademu-John and Alison Schaper also serving as showrunner, set 10 000 years before the events of the Dune film of 2021 and its sequel. 

Dune: Prophecy is produced by Legendary Television and has a 6-episode first season. It is inspired by the novel Sisterhood of Dune, written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.

The series is an origin story of the start and growth of the secretive and powerful Bene Gesserit sect of women, with the official logline stating that the story "follows sisters Valya and Tula Harkonnen as they combat forces that threaten the future of humanity, and establish the fabled sect known as the Bene Gesserit". 

Besides the galactic machinations behind closed doors of the secretive sect to control the politics of the galaxy, Dune: Prophecy will also explore the origins of the interstellar family feud between the evil Harkonnens and the noble Atreides, although the Harkonnens when the series starts are not the vicious and depraved clan they end up being thousands of years later. 

 The TV series, filmed in Hungary, is a direct spin-off from the 2021 film and will debut on HBO in the United States on 17 November. 

Sky in the United Kingdom and MultiChoice's DStv will both show Dune: Prophecy on 18 November as an Express from the US title, after it was rebranded in July as an HBO Original.

Another upcoming series, Lanterns, was also rebranded as an HBO Original and will tell a Green Lanterns story, making it very likely also an M-Net and Showmax acquisition.

After the release of two Dune: Prophecy teasers over the last few months, HBO released an official trailer on Thursday at New York Comic Con.

It stars Mark Strong as the emperor, together with Travis Fimmel, Emily Watson, Olivia Williams, Jessica Barden, Jodhi May, Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, Josh Heuston, Chloe Lea, Jade Anouka, Faoileann Cunningham, Edward Davis and Aoife Hinds.