Harry Potter HBO Series Sets Behind-the-Scenes Special

It’s time for a sneak peek at Hogwarts.

On April 5, HBO will debut a special taking viewers behind the scenes of its upcoming adaptation of the “Harry Potter” books. “Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic” charts the making of Season 1, which is currently being filmed at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in the U.K.

A new trailer for the special shows several artisans and actors working on the set of “Harry Potter”: camera operators capturing Hogwarts students walking through the school and the woods, production designer Mara LePere-Schloop designing a small model and then constructing a large set, McGongall actress Janet McTeer and Snape actor Paapa Essiedu remarking on the feeling of seeing the sets for the first time.

John Lithgow, who plays Dumbledore, says, “The ‘Harry Potter’ stories are this extraordinary phenomenon. To reimagine the ‘Harry Potter’ canon, to let it breathe — we get to enact all the things that you know are going on in the wings, but you don’t see them.”

“To be able to build at a scale like this, it’s just a designer’s dream. We’re trying to get in the joy and playfulness of what it means to be a magical kid,” says LePere Schloop. Later, she adds, “To play in a sandbox that’s this big, it’s incredible. We’re adding a level of world-building beyond what the audience is familiar with.”

The trailer closes with Lithgow growing emotional, saying, “You wait forever to do something that means that much to people.”

See a trailer for the special below.