HBO Max Launches Harry Potter Podcast, Adds Thrones Slate
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- Harry Potter: The Official Film Podcast launches globally today, hosted by film critic Rhianna Dhillon, and will run as a rewatch series covering all eight Harry Potter films with two episodes dedicated to each movie and weekly releases thereafter.
- HBO Max will debut several franchise-led podcasts in Europe from June, anchored by the Game of Thrones universe, including The Game of Thrones Anniversary Podcast Special, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Podcast, and The Game of Thrones Podcast: House of the Dragon.
- A House of the Dragon video podcast will arrive next month to accompany season three of the series, which the source describes as depicting a war within the ruling Targaryen family.
- The broader slate will also include companion podcasts for The Last of Us, The Pitt, The Comeback, Sinners, and the multi-season rewatch podcast The History of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
- HBO Max framed the rollout as a plan to "superserve" the fandoms of major franchises, positioning the audio programming alongside its tentpole scripted series.
Why it matters: HBO Max is synchronizing podcast drops with tentpole programming — the June Game of Thrones slate is timed to House of the Dragon season three, betting that deeper franchise engagement drives streaming loyalty in Europe. The Harry Potter podcast getting a global launch first signals it's the priority IP for converting rewatch audiences into platform subscribers.
