New Harry, Ron and Hermione got their first taste of real fame Wednesday night in London.
Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout and Arabella Staunton, the young actors who play Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger respectively in the upcoming TV reboot, spent a night away from Hogwarts and attended their first red carpet together at HBO Max’s lavish UK launch event.
The trio, Variety understands, were not allowed to be out past 7.30pm, but were among an astonishingly star-studded guest list at the party, which was held at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London’s Southbank Center, with HBO pulling talent from across its programming line-up.
In addition to Potter’s new lead cast, Steve Carell, Lisa Kudrow, Noah Wyle, Linda Cardellini and David Chase have arrived from across the Atlantic. Meanwhile, Marisa Abella, Amy Lou Wood, Jason Isaacs, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke and James Norton were among the heaping lineup of local participants.
The long-planned launch of HBO Max in the UK (made official as of Thursday) comes amid doubts about whether HBO Max will survive Paramount Skydance’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, and plans to merge HBO and Paramount+ were recently revealed. But on Wednesday night, future business concerns were put to rest as attention was turned to near-endless trays of champagne, cocktails and canapés.
“This is a moment that has been years, if not decades, in the making,” said WBD CEO and President of Global Streaming JB Perrett in a short but sweet speech. “It’s a big deal for us to be here,” added HBO CEO Casey Bloys (who laughed off questions about his future at the company in an interview with Variety earlier this week). “We’re proud to launch in the UK and Ireland and have access to our library and all our programming.”
The launch party began at the exact moment HBO released the first teaser for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, showing McLaughlin, Stout and Stanton heading into their first term at Hogwarts. In keeping with the event’s theme of the HBO show, guests were able to answer an emergency red line in “The Pit” to get a prescription for a penicillin cocktail shot, and watch a Potter teaser under the stars in a room designed to resemble the boy’s famous cupboard.
