Harry Potter fans from across the world have gathered for the first London Back to Hogwarts celebration led by HBO Max, as anticipation builds for both the television series arriving on OSN+ this Christmas and the themed land being developed in Abu Dhabi.
Influential content creators and fans from across Europe, Asia and North America are among those attending the day-long event at Old Billingsgate on Tuesday.
Inside, Potterheads can pose on Hagrid’s flying motorcycle, inspect a wizard chess display and try games including Hogwarts Legacy and Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery. At the centre of the experience is Platform 9¾, where young witches and wizards traditionally begin their journey to Hogwarts school in the books and films.
The event places HBO’s forthcoming adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone at the forefront of the annual celebration.
Its cast includes Beirut-born Lebanese-Palestinian actress Sirine Saba, who grew up in Cyprus and trained at Rada. She will play Professor Pomona Sprout, the Herbology teacher and head of Hufflepuff house.
Abu Dhabi's growing wizarding world
Beyond the television series, another part of Harry Potter’s future lies in Abu Dhabi. A themed land is being developed at Warner Bros World Yas Island, with several fans and content creators at Old Billingsgate already considering it as a future must-visit destination.
The Harry Potter-themed land was announced in 2022 as a major expansion of Warner Bros World. It will be the first Harry Potter attraction of its kind in the Middle East and the first outside parks operated by Universal Studios.
Miral and Warner Bros Discovery have said it will be “significant in scale” and allow visitors to enter familiar locations from the wizarding world “in an all-new way”. Like the rest of Warner Bros World, it will be entirely indoors and climate-controlled.
Planning documents and industry reports suggest the land could contain Hogwarts Castle, Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade and the Forbidden Forest, alongside about three original rides. Miral has yet to announce its final contents or an opening date.
An advertisement posted in May by Entertainment + Culture Advisors, a consultancy working on the project, said the land was expected to open in 2029. Miral has not confirmed that time frame.
Back to Hogwarts in London
Back to Hogwarts Day takes place annually on September 1, the date students board the Hogwarts Express. The official London gathering has moved from King’s Cross to Old Billingsgate this year, with free timed sessions running between 11am and 7pm.
Alongside its recreation of Platform 9¾, the experience includes a Time-Turner photo installation marking the 10th anniversary of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, film-inspired robes and scarves, and a display of Lego’s new Ministry of Magic set. Bloomsbury is giving away books, while Pottermore Publishing and Audible are offering visitors a complimentary download of the full-cast audio edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
The event also introduces visitors to the changing visual identity of Hogwarts. Redesigned crests for Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin are among the elements being presented through this year’s global Back to Hogwarts celebrations.
Fans look to Abu Dhabi
Among those attending is British content creator Alice Lambert-Brown, who has more than 900,000 followers on TikTok and 111,000 on Instagram, and has visited Harry Potter attractions in Japan and Orlando. Her interest in the Abu Dhabi development is also personal.
“I lived in Abu Dhabi when I was younger, so it would be great to go back,” she says. “I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for that.”
Belgian creator Will Giffard has visited Harry Potter attractions in Japan, China and Orlando, documenting his travels for 192,000 Instagram followers. He singles out the Ministry of Magic at Universal Epic Universe in Orlando when explaining what keeps him travelling between them.
“It’s the immersion,” he says. “It feels like you’re part of the films, like you’re in the world.” Giffard says Abu Dhabi now joins the destinations he hopes to visit as the wizarding world expands.
Turkish content creator Mine Yagiz has visited the Warner Bros Studio Tour London twice and travelled to Universal Studios Beijing. She distinguishes seeing the sets and objects used on screen, and entering a fully realised theme park.
“You feel like you’re inside Honeydukes, Diagon Alley or the castle,” she says. Yagiz has travelled to Kuwait and Qatar, with the Warner Bros World project now giving her a reason to add Abu Dhabi to that journey, she says.
Her Wands and the City account has 100,000 followers, while her own connection to Harry Potter began when she was 11. Returning to Hogwarts at 35 has given her a different perspective on the story.
“This is my 25th year in the Harry Potter universe,” she says. “I was the luckiest generation, because we grew up with the characters. Now I feel like an adult coming back to university again.”
The growing international scale of Back to Hogwarts Day also allows Yagiz to represent a large community of Turkish fans. “It’s a comfort zone,” she says. “We have somewhere that feels like home, and hundreds of people we see as family. It’s going global and it never gets old.”
Mexican creator Azul, known online as Blue Menaa, has travelled from Mexico specifically for Tuesday’s event and previously visited the Harry Potter land at Universal Studios Hollywood. Her response to the prospect of visiting the Abu Dhabi attraction is immediate.
“That will be my dream come true,” she says. Looking around Old Billingsgate, she adds: “There are people from every single part of the world here. Magic keeps us together.”
Harry Potter returns to television
Dominic McLaughlin will lead the television series as Harry Potter, alongside Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger and Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley. John Lithgow plays Professor Albus Dumbledore, Paapa Essiedu is Severus Snape and Nick Frost takes the role of Rubeus Hagrid.
The story is set in the 1990s and will include scenes from JK Rowling’s first novel that were not depicted in the 2001 film. Lambert-Brown is also among those looking forward to seeing the story revisited in a longer format.
“I think it will be nice to have another version of something that’s already great,” she says. “Because it’s going to be a series, you might get more screen time and more footage of Hogwarts than you could in an hour-and-40-minute film.”
Young fan Nina, 8, has already read all the books and watched the films. “The movies miss out a lot of the stuff that is in the books,” she says. “I think the TV series is going to include all of that.”
She has yet to visit a Harry Potter attraction, but her plan for the new land in Abu Dhabi is straightforward: “To try and do everything that’s there.”
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone premieres on OSN+ this Christmas
