HBO’s Harry Potter Show Trailer Hid a Major Villain Twist in Plain Sight

by

The new HBO trailer for the Harry Potter series hasn’t shown Lord Voldemort yet, but it’s starting to hint at another surprising villain. The show will feature a range of enemies, from less threatening characters like Gilderoy Lockhart to the main antagonist, Lord Voldemort, and his followers, including the Death Eaters Bellatrix Lestrange and Lucius Malfoy.

The initial trailer for HBO’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone subtly revealed a major villain from the Wizarding World. This hint of a plot twist, which won’t appear until Season 3 and in The Prisoner of Azkaban, occurred while watching Dominic McLaughlin as Harry Potter and Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley meet for the first time on the Hogwarts Express.

If you look closely at the train compartment Harry and Ron share on the Hogwarts Express, you can spot the Weasley’s rat running around – and it subtly hints at a major plot twist in the series.

If you’re not familiar with the Harry Potter series, Scabbers appears to be a simple rat and a long-held pet of the Weasley family. But in Season 3 of the HBO series, based on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, it’s revealed that Scabbers is actually Peter Pettigrew in disguise.

Peter Pettigrew was a longtime friend of Harry’s father, James Potter, but he shockingly betrayed James and his wife, Lily, to Lord Voldemort, causing their deaths. He later became a key figure in the Second Wizarding War, responsible for bringing Voldemort back to power, murdering Cedric Diggory, and remaining a devoted follower of the Dark Lord.

A new HBO Max documentary called Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic gave fans a closer look at the revamped Scabbers character. The documentary also revealed that the upcoming Harry Potter series will use a filming technique that proved controversial when used in Star Wars.

The character Scabbers in the Harry Potter films was originally played by a lot of different real rats, along with a robotic rat. Now, for the new series, HBO is using modern technology to create Scabbers with a very realistic animatronic – a robotic creature – that looked remarkably lifelike in the trailer.

The creators of the Harry Potter films built another animatronic Scabbers, designed to attach to an actor’s finger and appear to playfully bite. They might use this to recreate a funny scene from Chapter 6, “The Journey from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters,” where Draco Malfoy and his friends, Crabbe and Goyle, try to steal candy from Harry and Ron, but Scabbers bites them, causing them to run away.

Look, as a fan myself, I can tell you we’re not going to see Peter Pettigrew as a person until Season 3 – that’s when they’ll finally tackle The Prisoner of Azkaban and start really digging into the backstory of the Marauders. Honestly, given the timeline, I don’t expect that until at least 2028, and probably even later. But the good news is, Season 1 of this Harry Potter series isn’t holding back on the dark side – we’re getting six dark wizards introduced right from the start!

Replacing Timothy Spall as Pettigrew in the upcoming reboot will be a challenge, considering his excellent performance. HBO reportedly plans to cast younger actors for all the Marauders – around the same age as Paapa Essiedu, who plays Snape and is 35 – to reflect their time at Hogwarts, which was about thirteen years before the main story begins.

Peter Pettigrew might be the hardest of the Marauders to find the right actor for, but many fans agree that Will Poulter – known for his roles in movies like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, We’re the Millers, and The Maze Runner – has the perfect look and talent to play the part.

Fans of HBO’s Harry Potter series are in for a surprise – and Pettigrew’s reveal isn’t the only villainous twist coming. Before that, the show will reveal who really stole the Philosopher’s Stone, confirming that a certain professor is actually working for the bad guys.

Harry Potter’s Scabbers Twist & Ending Explained

Peter Pettigrew’s story begins during James Potter’s time at Hogwarts. He was friends with James, along with Remus Lupin and Sirius Black – the four of them were known as the Marauders. Later, during the First Wizarding War, Pettigrew joined the Order of the Phoenix, a group fighting against Voldemort. However, the Order soon discovered that someone within their ranks was secretly betraying them.

When Voldemort decided to hunt the Potters, they went into hiding and entrusted Pettigrew with the secret of their location. Unfortunately, Pettigrew betrayed them, revealing their hiding place to Voldemort. He had been a spy for Voldemort within the Order, and switched allegiances due to his fear and cowardice.

On-set pictures show that the upcoming HBO Harry Potter series will include flashbacks, specifically to the night Harry’s parents were killed. However, Peter Pettigrew likely won’t be featured in these scenes.

Following Voldemort’s downfall, Pettigrew disguised himself as a rat and went into hiding with the Weasley family, hoping to avoid retribution from other Death Eaters. To make it appear as though someone else was responsible for the Potters’ betrayal, he falsely accused Sirius Black. Pettigrew also staged a scene, making it look like he’d lost a finger and died, ensuring everyone believed he was gone.

For twelve years, he remained hidden with the family, cleverly disguised. Everything changed when he saw a photo of Scabbers with the Weasleys in the Daily Prophet. This allowed him to escape Azkaban and rush to Hogwarts, intending to kill Pettigrew. However, Harry convinced both him and Lupin to stop, and instead, his true identity and loyalties were revealed.

In the fourth book, The Goblet of Fire, Harry was tricked into entering a dangerous graveyard as part of the Triwizard Tournament. There, he was forced to participate in a ritual that brought Voldemort back to life. This ritual required a sacrifice, specifically “the flesh of the servant, willingly given,” and Harry’s hand was used—though it was magically replaced with a silver one.

Pettigrew didn’t reappear in a significant role until the seventh book, The Deathly Hallows. There, he was holding prisoners for the Death Eaters at Malfoy Manor, including Harry and Ron. When Harry and Ron escaped, Pettigrew had a chance to kill Harry, but he didn’t, remembering that Harry had once saved him. This act of mercy proved to be his downfall, as the magical silver hand given to him by Voldemort turned against him and killed him.

Read More

2026-04-19 13:49