New HBO Harry Potter Trailer Teases Hermione Taking Neville’s Best Book Moments Again

Here we go again: HBO is taking its swing at adapting Harry Potter, promising die-hard fans that this time—really, they mean it!—we’re getting a version that sticks closer to JK Rowling’s original books than the blockbuster movies ever bothered to. But already, from the very first teaser, there’s one glaring sign that their approach might not be as book-purist as they’re hyping it up to be. And no, I’m not talking about the internet grumbling over Papa Essiedu stepping into Snape’s robes (RIP, Alan Rickman, you’ll always be my Severus).

Instead, HBO’s new series looks like it’s carrying over a pretty notable change from the original movies: Hermione’s beefed-up role at the expense of poor Neville Longbottom. This one’s always bugged the readers who wanted a 1:1 take on the source material, but it looks like the new show isn’t itching to raise Neville’s profile any higher, either.

Some Book Accuracy—But with Caveats

Credit where it’s due: the series is at least starting in the right decade. Unlike the movies, which yanked the Potter timeline into the 2000s for reasons that never made much sense, HBO is setting things where Rowling actually began—with that thoroughly 1990s British vibe.

But for all the “true to the books” marketing spiel, the trailer shows the same version of the main trio we’re used to from the films: Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the spotlight, with Neville all but vanished into the background.

The Golden Trio: Still Not Quite as Rowling Wrote Them

Just a little refresher: Rowling’s first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (or “Sorcerer’s Stone” if you had the American edition forced on you by Scholastic), hit shelves in 1997. When the movie finally arrived in 2001, the books had already made the “Golden Trio” iconic—Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. But the movie leaned in harder on Hermione than the source material did, giving her several lines and entire moments that actually belonged to Neville in the book.

In that first story, Neville sometimes gets to stand beside Harry and Ron as a sort-of fourth wheel, even semi-main character. Movie Neville (Matthew Lewis) mostly did comic relief and got the scene-stealer once or twice, but then faded into the background almost entirely. And now, based on the new trailer, the HBO series is sticking with this dynamic.

• Rory Wilmot, who’s playing Neville this time around, is barely visible in the trailer. If HBO was really ditching the movies and going full-book-purist, we’d see a lot more of him.
• Meanwhile, Arabella Staunton’s Hermione is front and center with Dominic McLaughlin’s Harry and Alastair Stout’s Ron, just like Watson, Radcliffe, and Grint in the old films.

Looks pretty clear: they’re not reversing Steve Kloves’ 2001 script choice to give Hermione Neville’s breakthrough moments. The “faithful adaptation” tagline is already bending.

Why Hermione Still Wins Out

Honestly, it’s not a huge shock. Even Rowling herself saw that Hermione made a better central character over time. For all his big moments, Neville ultimately faded back after book one. If you break it down, Hermione simply makes more sense as part of the tight trio:

Harry and Ron give you the fresh-eyed new kid and the fully-immersed wizarding world guide. Hermione, meanwhile, is the ultimate outsider—Muggle-born, fiercely smart, and as new to Hogwarts as Harry. That clash of perspectives just works. By contrast, Neville’s backstory is a bit of a greatest-hits mashup: he’s an orphan (like Harry), pure-blood (like Ron), and awkward (like… everyone).

Putting Neville in the main trio wouldn’t really add anything new. And let’s be honest, pushing Hermione aside for “strict book accuracy” would be jarring now that the trio are pop-culture icons.

"It’s better for the upcoming Harry Potter series to be more consistent, even if that means gently rewriting the myth that HBO is diving any deeper than the movies did."

So, bottom line: HBO’s Harry Potter isn’t shaping up to be a page-for-page translation, even if that’s what the PR team suggested. And if you’re Team Neville, you may want to get used to seeing him lurking at the fringes again. Maybe next reboot?