People are fuming, so here’s why Hogwarts looks exactly the same in new Harry Potter series

A new trailer for the Harry Potter HBO series dropped on Wednesday, and everyone’s moaning about the same thing. Why have they made Hogwarts look exactly the same as it does in the films? It feels like an attack on the original movies, but people think they’ve worked out the reason. 

The upcoming series is an identical reboot of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, based on the books by JK Rowling, who is grossly profiting from the whole thing after her horrid transgender views.

It’s releasing on Christmas Day, and people are, rightly so, fuming about the whole thing. They’ve got a brand new cast in to re-tell the exact same story that doesn’t need to be retold, and are exploring some new storylines, yet have chosen to keep other things the same. It makes no sense. 

The new Harry Potter trailer just dropped, and the reason we’re all universally upset is that they’ve made it look almost exactly like the original—the Great Hall is the same, the Hogwarts uniforms are virtually unaltered, the dialogue is eerily familiar—while swapping out enough… pic.twitter.com/vmnEiqN1vA

— Liza Libes (@pensandpoison) September 2, 2026

The thing people are most annoyed about is Hogwarts, which looks identical to the films. The Great Hall and the school uniform are literally unaltered. And people are convinced it all comes down to merchandising. Think about it. Harry Potter is one of the biggest franchises in the world, and Hogwarts as we know and love it is absolutely everywhere.  

Hogwarts is recreated at Universal Studios parks in Florida, California, Japan and Beijing, as well as Harry Potter Studios in London. Then there are the millions of Lego sets, dolls, toys and models that recreate the fictional boarding school and its uniform, and games like Hogwarts Legacy. 

If the HBO series changed the look of the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry or even just the uniform, they’d have to create a brand new world of merchandise. Suddenly, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios wouldn’t match up to the Hogwarts you see in the new series, and the Harry Potter brand loses all its credibility and becomes confusing. 

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Theory: Warner Bros. couldn't change the Hogwarts sets because the entire Wizarding World theme park (+ merch) is based on the look of the films. https://t.co/wwi5cGgveS

— Aidan (@aidanlising) September 2, 2026

Oh, and the original sets no longer exist, so it’s nothing to do with saving money. HBO has had to construct brand new Hogwarts sets at Leavendon Studios from scratch.

One person wrote on Twitter: “Theory: Warner Bros. couldn’t change the Hogwarts sets because the entire Wizarding World theme park (+ merch) is based on the look of the films.”

“100 per cent. They changed some stuff that they can change in the parks and games and merch, but not the stuff that has to be fixed. So you get slightly different-looking main cast and monsters, but the props and dressing are nearly identical,” someone else agreed. 

It also comes down to the fact that Hogwarts was very explicitly described in the novels, and the new series is obviously based on the books, so it wouldn’t make any sense to change it. But it’s totally understandable why people are annoyed. The films mean so much to so many people, and recreating exactly the same storyline for money just feels wrong. A spin-off would have been so much better. 

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Featured image credit: HBO