The new Harry, Ron and Hermione got their first real taste of fame on Wednesday night in London.
Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout and Arabella Stanton, the young actors playing Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger respectively in the upcoming TV reboot, had an evening away from Hogwarts to attend their first ever red carpet together at HBO Max‘s lavish U.K. launch event.
The trio — who Variety understands weren’t allowed to stay out past 7.30 p.m. — were among an impressively star-studded guest list at the party in the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London’s Southbank Centre, with HBO luring out talent from across its lineup of shows.
Alongside the new Potter leads, Steve Carell, Lisa Kudrow, Noah Wyle, Linda Cardellini and David Chase made there way over the Atlantic. Meanwhile, Marisa Abela, Aimee Lou Wood, Jason Isaacs, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke and James Norton were among the stacked lineup of local attendees.
Long in the pipeline, HBO Max’s U.K launch — which actually officially took place on March 26 — lands amid doubts over whether HBO Max will survive Paramount Skydance’s Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition, with recently-revealed plans to combine HBO with Paramount+. But future business concerns were parked on Wednesday night as attentions turned to near-endless trays of champagne, cocktails and canapés.
“This has been a moment that has been years, if not decades, in the making,” said WBD’s CEO and president of global streaming J.B. Perrette in a short but sweet speech. “It’s a big deal for us to be here,” added HBO CEO Casey Bloys (who in an interview with Variety earlier in the week laughed off questions about his own future at the company). “We’re proud to launch in the U.K. and Ireland, and for our library and all our shows to be available.”
The launch party kicked off on the exact minute that HBO released the first teaser for “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” showing McLaughlin, Stout and Stanton heading to their first terms in Hogwarts. In keeping with the look and feel of the event, which was themed around HBO shows (guests could pick up the emergency red phone in “The Pitt” to be prescribed a Penicillin cocktail shot), the Potter teaser could be viewed in a room designed like the boy wizard’s famed cupboard under the stars.
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