HBO's Harry Potter Episode Schedule: When Every Episode Drops (Leaked Dates)
A leaked schedule puts all eight Philosopher's Stone episodes on the calendar, from Christmas Day to Valentine's Day. Here is what is confirmed and what is not.
Six weeks out from the premiere, the question in every group chat has shifted from “when does it start?” to “how long do we have to wait between episodes?” As of this week there is an answer going around. It just isn’t an official one yet.
A schedule surfaced on Monday, November 9, reported by the entertainment site Unboxholics from what it called early data, that puts all eight episodes of season one on the calendar. If it holds, Philosopher’s Stone runs from Christmas Day straight through to Valentine’s Day.
The leaked schedule
| Episode | Date |
|---|---|
| 1 | Friday, December 25, 2026 |
| 2 | Sunday, January 3, 2027 |
| 3 | Sunday, January 10, 2027 |
| 4 | Sunday, January 17, 2027 |
| 5 | Sunday, January 24, 2027 |
| 6 | Sunday, January 31, 2027 |
| 7 | Sunday, February 7, 2027 |
| 8 | Sunday, February 14, 2027 |
No episode titles came with it, and the report itself notes that dates and times may shift by region.
What is actually confirmed
Let’s keep the two piles separate.
On the record: season one premieres on Friday, December 25, 2026, on HBO and HBO Max. It is eight episodes long and adapts Philosopher’s Stone. Season two, adapting Chamber of Secrets, is already renewed.
Not on the record: everything after episode one. HBO has not announced per-episode dates, a weekly cadence, or a premiere time. The schedule above is a leak, and leaks get things wrong.
Why the leak looks plausible
A few things about it line up with how HBO usually works:
- Sundays are HBO’s home turf. The network’s flagship dramas have traditionally aired weekly on Sunday nights. A Christmas Day special premiere followed by a move to the regular Sunday slot is a very HBO shape.
- The nine-day gap after the premiere makes sense. Episode two skips Sunday, December 27, two days after the premiere, and lands on January 3 instead. Nobody schedules a second episode into the post-Christmas leftovers haze.
- A weekly release fits the show. Dropping all eight at once would burn through the biggest event in HBO’s calendar in a weekend. Weekly episodes mean seven more Mondays of fans arguing about it online, which is the whole point.
None of that makes it official. It makes it a reasonable guess with a source attached.
The Valentine’s Day finale
If the dates are right, the season ends on February 14. For a book that closes with a boy facing down the man who murdered his parents, that is a slightly funny date to land on. Still, there are worse ways to spend Valentine’s night than the trapdoor, the chessboard and the mirror, and plenty of couples in this fandom will tell you so.
What to watch for next
The real confirmation will come from HBO itself, most likely as a full schedule release or a listing on HBO Max closer to the premiere. Until then, pencil the dates in. Don’t carve them into anything.
Our HBO series tracker collects the confirmed details as they land, and the second trailer breakdown has the latest footage to pick apart while you wait.
The premiere lands on present-opening day, so if someone on your list is counting down to it, our best Harry Potter gifts of 2026 are sorted by budget. And if you want something to do every day for the next six weeks, the Daily O.W.L. is a fresh round of trivia each morning, and the Sorting Hat quiz takes two minutes if you still need to know whose side you’re cheering for.