As production officially begins on HBO’s Harry Potter reboot, dozens of young actors are headed not just to set but to school.
Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, the longtime home of the Wizarding World, is constructing a temporary on-site school to accommodate the needs of its youngest cast members, according to new planning documents reported by the BBC. The facility will allow child actors to continue their studies while shooting the high-profile series, which is expected to span the next decade.
The setup is no small operation: the production has been granted permission by Three Rivers District Council to erect a series of portable classroom buildings, which will remain on-site for up to ten years. While the planning documents don’t mention Harry Potter by name, they reference a “significant new TV series” with long-term residency - one that’s projected to shoot well into the 2030s.
The school will accommodate up to 150 students on a regular basis, with room for as many as 600 during scenes involving large numbers of young extras. It will operate weekdays between 5:30AM and 8:30PM to account for early call times, night shoots, reshoots, and location filming, all while making sure actors hit their required classroom hours.
Among the young cast juggling lessons and spells are Dominic McLaughlin (Harry Potter), Alastair Stout (Ron Weasley), Arabella Stanton (Hermione Granger), Lox Pratt (Draco Malfoy), Alessia Leoni (Parvati Patil), Leo Earley (Seamus Finnigan), Rory Wilmot (Neville Longbottom), and Amos Kitson (Dudley Dursley).
If the setup sounds familiar, that’s because it is. The original Harry Potter films also had dedicated school facilities on the Leavesden lot. Flick Miles, who served as Emma Watson’s double in the earlier series, recently spoke to BBC News in Herefordshire to Journalist Danny Fullbrook and recalled studying in full costume - often with fake cuts or bloody noses still applied for continuity!
“At one point, Hermione has cuts from the Whomping Willow, you’d just be sitting in class with a lip wound”
- Flick Miles to BBC News Herefordshire
Due to child labor regulations, underage actors could only film for four hours a day, which meant the rest of their time was tightly scheduled around education. While the main trio received private tutoring, supporting cast members attended shared classes just down the hall from hair and makeup. Miles remembers studying alongside familiar faces like Tom Felton, Matthew Lewis and Alfred Enoch.
Attendance was logged in 30-minute increments, with Assistant Directors keeping a close eye on lesson time to ensure legal requirements were met. Runners also monitored lessons to make sure each child had enough breaks. Interestingly, each child was given their own purpose built curriculum so their individual needs could be met by the attentive team on set.
Miles noted that her academic year often took place almost entirely on set: during one stretch between Year 6 and Year 9, she only attended her regular school in Barnet, North London for 15 days total. She had initially applied for 180 days away at Leavesden but her school only granted her 30 but her parents championed the opportunity and ultimately she continued the role.
Now, history is repeating itself - with a new generation of Hogwarts students following in the footsteps of Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint. Only this time, they’ll have a bit more company. With a maximum enrollment of 600 and plans to operate for up to ten years, the new Leavesden set school may become one of the largest and longest-running education operations ever built for a television production.
Filming for HBO’s Harry Potter series began this month, with plans for each season to cover one of J.K. Rowling’s original seven novels. The cast, production scale, and level of ambition all suggest that the streaming giant is betting big on this new iteration of the Wizarding World and clearly, it’s playing the long game. Even giving their child stars the ability to really go to Hogwarts!
