The new trailer for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first season of the HBO series anticipated to stream at Christmas 2026, has finally shown many of the characters we will meet and revealed several details that are already sparking debate among fans of the saga. But it is on one particular frame that attention is focused. In the final seconds of the clip, a mysterious hooded figure appears and heads toward the Potter home in Godric’s Hollow, right on the night that will forever change Harry’s life. The scene seems to clearly indicate Voldemort, but there is a problem: we do not see his face, and HBO has not yet officially announced the actor chosen to play the Dark Lord. Is Voldemort really that figure? And what would it mean to see him already in the first season?
Harry Potter and the detail in the new trailer: Who is the hooded figure?
The sequence appears around the 2:09 mark of the new trailer (you can watch it below). A figure wrapped in a long cloak with a completely hidden face walks toward James and Lily Potter’s home in Godric’s Hollow. The setting is particularly meaningful. It is exactly there that, on Halloween night in 1981, Voldemort killed James and Lily and attempted to eliminate their infant son. His spell, however, rebounded on Harry, causing the Dark Lord to lose his body and leaving the boy with the famous lightning-shaped scar.
All signs therefore point to that figure being Voldemort, but the trailer does not explicitly confirm it. In fact, some fans have speculated that it could be Severus Snape. In the books it is revealed that Snape was present that night and had reached Godric’s Hollow before or during the events surrounding Lily’s death. For now, however, the most natural hypothesis remains Voldemort, especially considering the significance that night will have in the first season.
The big difference compared to the film
The Godric’s Hollow sequence could mark one of the major differences from the 2001 film. In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the night Voldemort kills James and Lily is shown only through brief images and flashbacks. The HBO series, however, seems intent on telling that night directly, as suggested by both the hooded figure in front of the Potter house and the images of James and Lily that we see in another trailer sequence. This likely means that the series will give more room to flashbacks to explore events and backstories that the films had to reduce. Voldemort’s presence could therefore be more significant, while remaining for much of the story a shadowy threat.
The trailer also shows Professor Raptor
But for those already familiar with the story, another detail tied to Voldemort will not have escaped notice. The trailer indeed shows for the first time also the Professor Raptor, played by Luke Thallon. We see him seated beside Dumbledore during the Sorting Ceremony. HBO has also released a photo (you see it above) that shows the character more clearly, who will naturally be a central figure in the first season’s storyline. In the novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, he is the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor who hides a terrible secret: Voldemort is bound to him and his presence manifests through the face on the back of the professor’s head, hidden by a turban (here presented in a more restrained version than the one worn by the film’s Raptor).
The face of Voldemort remains a mystery
Finally, it should be remembered that HBO has not yet revealed who will portray Voldemort. This has not prevented rumors from circulating. Indeed, there are those who claim that the actor has already been chosen and that HBO is simply waiting for the right moment to reveal their identity. This trailer detail could be a hint that, perhaps, the face of Voldemort might be revealed as early as the first season. But there is no certainty.
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