Though the Harry Potter book series were initially marketed to children, the seven-book saga had its fair share frightening beasts. The imagination and sheer volume of the magical monsters in Harry Potter have become pop culture references in their own right (you know you’ve made it when Michael Scott name drops you on The Office). Which is why as HBO’s Harry Potter series continues to gain momentum with more cast announcements and by officially going in production, it’s imperative for showrunner Francesca Gardiner and director Mark Mylod to get this crucial aspect of the Wizarding World right.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione face down a slew of nightmare-inducing monsters during their time at Hogwarts and beyond. Plus, the resulting spinoff Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them franchise has only made the Wizarding World’s magical monsters more widely recognizable and iconic. We’ve identified the top seven monsters from Harry Potter that the new series really has to nail in order for the television show to be just as beloved as the books and movies that have come before it.
1) The Three-Headed Dog
Given that the giant three-headed dog, who was ironically named “Fluffy,” is one of the very first monsters Harry and his friends meet at Hogwarts, it’s imperative that the show gets him right. Fluffy belonged to Hogwarts groundskeeper’s Rubeus Hagrid as a pet. Later, headmaster Albus Dumbledore enlisted Fluffy to guard the Sorcerer’s Stone during Harry’s first year at the school in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Author J.K. Rowling borrowed the idea of a massive dog with three heads from Greek mythology, but Harry Potter marks one of the most memorable and affecting interpretations of the monster in modern pop culture. Fluffy was integral in establishing both the danger and scale of the Wizarding World, and therefore, it’s a moment the creators need to get just right as they build their version of Hogwarts.
2) The Acromantula
A fear of spiders is a common phobia among us mere muggles, so when Harry Potter introduced a species of spiders the size of small elephants that had a taste for flesh in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, we were terrified. One particular Acromantula, Aragog, played a quite a significant part in the series. Another friend of Hagrid’s, Aragog was as sophisticated a monster as he was large and lived in the Forbidden Forest with his wife and many offspring before until his death in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The new series needs to get Aragog right because of the major role he plays in The Chamber of Secrets, leading Harry and his friends to who the true perpetrator of the terror and petrifications are.
Furthermore, Aragog’s Acromantula descendants come to Harry and the Order of the Phoenix’s aid in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows during the Battle of Hogwarts. Though the Acromantula are ultimately allies of Harry’s, the new series creators also need to ensure that ever-present threat of being eaten feels palpable on screen in order for the monster to really work.
3) The Basilisk
The basilisk is the focus of the plot of the series’ second novel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Why a giant snake whose looks literally kill along with its venom was permitted to lurk beneath a school we’ll never know, but thanks to Lord Voldemort, the basilisk terrorized Hogwarts once in the 1940s when the dark wizard was a student there, and then again during Harry’s second year via the dark wizard’s diary possessing Ginny Weasley. The Chamber of Secrets‘ breathtaking climax involved Harry, Ron, and Hermione identifying the basilisk as the reason for the slew of muggle-born individuals being petrified after indirect sightings of the beast, then fighting the terrifying, incredibly deadly creature. While the film did an excellent job with the monster’s design back in 2002, VFX technology has progressed significantly since then, so the pressure is on the HBO Harry Potter team to make this already chilling monster even scarier and potentially more life-like.
4) The Werewolves
The werewolves in Harry Potter are an especially important monster for the HBO series to get right since one of the most beloved characters of the franchise is one of them: Remus Lupin. Lupin enters the series in the third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. He hold tremendous importance for Harry not only as his Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, but as one of his late father James’ closest friends. The key to getting Lupin’s lycanthrope form right is all about contrasts. Lupin himself is a compassionate, perceptive, and courageous person who has spent his life living under the stigma and shame of being bitten and infected with lycanthropy as a child. Therefore, making Lupin’s werewolf form genuinely frightening will heighten the complexity of the character, who becomes very dear to Harry over the course of the series.
Another contrast the HBO series needs to nail is between Lupin and the werewolf who infected him, Fenrir Greyback. The polar opposite of Lupin, Greyback made it his mission to infect as many people as possible with lycanthropy, and specifically preyed on children in order to build his own race of wizard-hating werewolves. Formally introduced in The Half-Blood Prince, Greyback aligned himself with Lord Voldemort in exchange for power and prey. Greyback is a monster in every sense of the word, thus presenting the HBO team with a spectrum of for the werewolves in the series they have to pull off, rather than just a single character design.
5) The Dementors
Arguably one of the most terrifying creations to come out of the Wizarding World, the soul-sucking Dementors in Harry Potter are among the most crucial for the new HBO series to get right. Harry and his friends have several encounters with the terrifying wraiths that feed off a person’s happiness and traditionally guard the wizarding prison Azkaban, which means that successfully portraying them on screen is essential for the series to work. The new series team definitely has their work cut out for them too, given how well-executed their design is in the Harry Potter movies. It’ll be interesting to see how the HBO tackles the Dementors while walking the tightrope of bringing something new to the monsters while also honoring their description in the books. We’re getting the heebie jeebies just thinking about it.
6) The Dragons
Another class of monster that plays heavily into the Harry Potter series are dragons. They constitute one of the most majestic beasts in the wizarding world, and though wizards like Charlie Weasley have made it their life’s work to train them, dragons are still one of the biggest, scariest creatures in Harry Potter. Harry himself has particularly two life-threatening encounters with fire-breathing beasts in the series. The first is during the Triwizard Tournament where Harry is tasked with capturing a dragon’s egg from a Hungarian Horntail, widely thought to be the most dangerous of all dragon breeds. He, Ron, and Hermione then cross paths with a half-blind dragon in Gringotts bank during their mission to find and destroy all of Lord Voldemort’s horcruxes in The Deathly Hallows.
Getting the dragons right in the new HBO series is incredibly important as not only are there a great many and a great variety of them in the wizarding world, but they create some of the most engaging, edge-of-your-seat moments in all of Harry Potter.
7) The Inferi
Like a host of all mythical creatures and monsters, Harry Potter had its own terrifying take on the undead, or zombies, in its universe. The Inferi are skeletal, reanimated corpses created with dark magic. Not only are they uncannily terrifying, the monsters are also unaffected by conventional pain and are known to viciously murder humans. Yikes. In one of the most harrowing scenes of The Half-Blood Prince, Harry and Dumbledore encounter an entire army of Inferi enchanted by Voldemort on their mission to destroy his locket horcrux. The Inferi nearly kill Harry, who is rescued by Dumbledore when he casts a ring of fire around themselves since the undead are repelled by light and heat.
While we have no doubt the Inferi will make for a stunning VFX set piece when the new series reaches The Half-Blood Prince, the tricky bit for the HBO series here will be making the Inferi feel distinct from the other many depictions of zombies across media, as well as making them specific and congruent to the Wizarding World. HBO certainly wouldn’t want its viewers being reminded of another show of theirs like The Last of Us when they are meant to be immersed in Harry’s journey.
HBO’s Harry Potter series is set to release in 2027. Let us know which monsters are most important you for the new Harry Potter series below in the comments!
