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Sets and filming locations
HBO’s Harry Potter series was filmed at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, outside London, where the eight films were made, but on brand-new sets: none of the films’ sets were reused. Between July 2025 and May 2026 the crew also went on location across England, from London Zoo to the Cornish coast. HBO has not published a list of locations, so most of the places below come from the local press and from fans who spotted the filming. Each one is marked with where the information comes from.
The sets at Leavesden
The production designer is Mara LePere-Schloop, who designed Interview with the Vampire and Pachinko. According to The Leaky Cauldron, which HBO invited to visit the sets in March 2026, the series takes up a large part of the studio lot, and the Hogwarts sets are joined to each other, so that the actors can walk from one room to the next without green screen. The castle was designed to remind viewers that it stands in the Scottish Highlands, with Scottish plants and wildlife.
Hogwarts
The Great Hall, the Entrance Hall, classrooms, staircases, the library and the dormitories, including, for the first time on screen, the girls’ dormitory. Most reviewers of the teasers found the Great Hall close to the films’ version. They of the trailers noticed that the Gryffindor common room rises through the whole height of the tower, and that the Entrance Hall recalls the video game Hogwarts Legacy. The castle’s exterior has not been shown yet; it is expected to be mostly visual effects.
The Great Hall
The staff table
The Sorting
The libraryIn the book, the Great Hall is lit by “thousands and thousands of candles” floating over the tables, under a ceiling bewitched to look like the sky (ch. 7).
Diagon Alley, Gringotts and the Leaky Cauldron
A whole street was built at Leavesden: the courtyard behind the Leaky Cauldron, Diagon Alley, Madam Malkin’s, Ollivander’s and Gringotts. In the films, the entrance of Gringotts was shot against green screen; in the series, the inside of the bank is built behind its doors. In March 2026 a fan on Reddit found the Diagon Alley and Gringotts sets on Apple Maps’ aerial images [SlashFilm].
Privet Drive
The street where the Dursleys live was built on the studio backlot. Fans first saw it under construction in May 2025, and a drone video in March 2026 showed it next to a Quidditch pitch surrounded by blue screens [SlashFilm]. Those who visited the set described the Dursleys’ house as more ordinary and middle-class than in the films, which is closer to the book: “perfectly normal, thank you very much” (ch. 1). A real street of 1930s houses, Springfield Gardens in Upminster, east London, was also reported to have been used for Privet Drive in June 2025.
Vernon and Petunia DursleyPlatform Nine and Three-Quarters and the Hogwarts Express
The series built its own platform and a new Hogwarts Express. The platform appeared in videos of a set tour in March 2026 [ComicBookMovie]. In September 2025 the train was taken to Windsor Great Park, where Hogsmeade station was built and filmed at night; the Princess of Wales and her children visited the set [Deadline].
Harry at the station with Hedwig
The Hogwarts Express at dusk
Warwick Davis next to the new train, 1 September 2025The Hogwarts grounds: Berrybushes Farm
The outdoor sets were built on a farm near Watford, Hertfordshire, reported by the Daily Mail in October 2025 to have been leased for 18 months. Photos taken by fans show the Herbology greenhouses, the Quidditch stadium, a thatched cottage, part of the Whomping Willow and the house animals shaped in living hedges [ComicBookMovie]. Some fans think a stone building there is Hagrid’s hut, which would look very different from the films’ one; others doubt it is on the school grounds at all. One theory is that the cottage belongs to Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel.
Filming a Quidditch match
Inside Hagrid’s hut
The Weasleys at the BurrowLocation shoots, season 1
In order of the book. “Press” means the shoot was reported by newspapers, usually with photos; “fans” means it was reported by fans who saw the filming, mostly through Redanian Intelligence, the Wizarding World Direct account and Reddit. The scene is what the filming appeared to show, not a confirmed description.
| Place | Filmed | Scene, and where it is in the book | Reported by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lustleigh, Devon | October 2025 | Godric’s Hollow on the night Voldemort killed James and Lily Potter, with children trick-or-treating. Hagrid tells the story in ch. 4 [LBC] | Press |
| Wardown Park, Luton | 18 September 2025 | A young couple running across a bridge at night, perhaps James and Lily | Fans |
| Skipton, North Yorkshire | October 2025 | Wizards celebrating on the rooftops, probably the night Voldemort fell, ch. 1 | Press |
| Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire | 23 September 2025 | Uncle Vernon honking at people in cloaks celebrating in the street, ch. 1 | Fans |
| Malham Cove and Gordale Scar, North Yorkshire | October 2025 | A witch firing spells into the sky; also seen in Deathly Hallows – Part 1 | Fans |
| Perryn Road, Acton, London | 18 July 2025 | A street in the 1990s, with period cars and a milkman | Fans |
| John F. Kennedy Catholic School, Hemel Hempstead | July 2025 | Harry’s Muggle primary school, where Dudley’s gang chases him, ch. 2 | Press |
| London Zoo | 16 July 2025 | Dudley’s birthday trip and the reptile house, ch. 2. The films used the same zoo | Press |
| Cadgwith, Cornwall | 7–8 October 2025 | The Dursleys and Harry on the quay in the rain, and Vernon getting a boat to the hut on the rock, ch. 3 [Cornish Times] | Press |
| Embankment Underground station, London | 21 July 2025 | Harry and Hagrid on the Underground, on the way to Diagon Alley, ch. 5. The first teaser shows them on a Tube train | Fans |
| Borough High Street, London | 17 August 2025 | Harry and Hagrid walking towards the Leaky Cauldron, ch. 5 [Redanian Intelligence] | Press |
| Jenny’s Restaurant, Hayes | July 2025 | Possibly the hamburger Hagrid buys Harry, ch. 5 | Fans |
| King’s Cross station, London | 24 August 2025 | The Weasleys arriving for Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, ch. 6. Also in the films [Redanian Intelligence] | Press |
| Wardown Park boating lake, Luton | 27 September 2025 | The first-years crossing the lake to Hogwarts in boats, ch. 6 | Fans |
| Ashridge Estate, Hertfordshire | 10 November 2025 | Flying lessons and Quidditch with Harry, Ron, Draco, Neville and Madam Hooch, ch. 9 and 11. The Quidditch World Cup in Goblet of Fire was filmed here | Press |
| Kynance Cove, Cornwall | October 2025 | Dumbledore meeting Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel on the cliffs. Not in the book: the Flamels never appear, they are only mentioned (ch. 13) [Redanian Intelligence] | Press |
| Waterloo station, London | 3 May 2026 | Probably the return from Hogwarts at the end of the year, with the Dursleys, the Weasleys and Hermione’s father, ch. 17 | Press |
Two more places were reported only by fans and their scenes are unknown: Trago Mills, near Liskeard in Cornwall, where John Lithgow was seen as Dumbledore in October 2025, and the Old Magistrates Court in Watford, where Warner Bros. vans were seen in July 2025. Some fans guessed it could be the Ministry of Magic, but it may have been another production.
Season 2
Filming of Chamber of Secrets began at Leavesden in the autumn of 2026. The only location reported so far is the village of Latimer, Buckinghamshire, which was given a 1990s makeover with a village fete and fairground stalls at the end of September 2026, according to fans and the BBC. HBO has not said which scene it is.
Places from the films that the series did not use
None of the famous film locations in Scotland and the north of England has been reported for the series: not Glencoe, the Glenfinnan Viaduct, Alnwick Castle, Durham Cathedral, Gloucester Cathedral, Lacock Abbey or the Oxford colleges. Some lists online mix them with the series’ locations, but there is no report of filming at any of them. Bracknell, where the films found their Privet Drive, was not used either. The only places shared with the films so far are Leavesden itself, London Zoo, King’s Cross, the Ashridge Estate and Malham Cove.
Images © HBO / Warner Bros. Discovery. If you know of a location that is missing, or have a correction, see About this site. See also the official images, the episode guide and the differences from the books.
