Grab your wands and polish your broomsticks, because Hogwarts is calling. HBO has released the first trailer for its upcoming “Harry Potter” series, inviting audiences to return to the Wizarding World with a fresh take on the iconic series. Season 1 will premiere during Christmas 2026, the network says.

The trailer starts out by showing Harry living in his cupboard room under the stairs at the Dursleys’ home. He’s bullied by his cousin Dudley and gets a painful haircut by his Aunt Petunia, who tells him he’s not special — until he gets his acceptance letter to Hogwarts. The trailer then shows Hagrid explaining the Wizarding World to Harry and teases some information about his deceased parents. With his luggage piled onto his trolley, Harry runs through the gateway at Platform 9 3/4 to board the Hogwarts Express.

On the train, he sees Ron hugging his mother goodbye as he boards. The two sit down on the train with Hermione, and Ron asks him “Are you really Harry Potter?” There’s also a montage that show the trio exploring Hogwarts, Harry unwrapping a Quidditch broomstick and quick looks at Dumbledore, Snape, Draco Malfoy, Mr. Ollivander, the Sorting Hat and more.

Dominic McLaughlin stars as the young Harry Potter, joined by Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley and Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger. Together, they navigate the challenges of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, forming close friendships and facing the rising threat of Lord Voldemort.

The ensemble also includes John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore, Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape, Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall, Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid, Paul Whitehouse as Argus Filch, Luke Thallon as Quirinus Quirrell, Lox Pratt as Draco Malfoy, Bel Powley and Daniel Rigby as Petunia and Vernon Dursley and Katherine Parkinson as Molly Weasley.

The series is structured as a faithful retelling of J.K. Rowling’s novels, with each season adapting one book from the seven-part saga. Fans can expect iconic moments brought to life, from the magical classrooms to the soaring Quidditch pitch. A first-look image previously released by HBO showed Harry in his Gryffindor cloak walking toward the Quidditch field, signaling the production’s attention to detail and reverence for the source material.

Filmed at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in the U.K., the series is led by showrunner Francesca Gardiner, with “Succession” director Mark Mylod taking on multiple episodes. Executive producers include Rowling, Neil Blair, Ruth Kenley-Letts and David Heyman.

The “Harry Potter” series is set to give fans a chance to step back into the magic that has captivated generations.

A new analysis of social media activity during the opening days of Operation Epic Fury suggests that much of the online backlash and anti-Israel content may not have been driven by Americans at all.

The report identified recurring narratives pushed by foreign-based accounts, including claims that the operation was a “betrayal of MAGA,” “highly unpopular with the American people” and carried out “on behalf of Israel.”

Sixty percent of the most viral posts on X mentioning “Iran” during the first week of the operation originated from accounts based outside the United States — despite often presenting themselves as American voices, according to research conducted by Argyle Consulting Group, a private intelligence and data analysis firm.

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“These aren’t just random opinions,” Eran Vasker, CEO and co-founder of Argyle Consulting Group, told Fox News Digital. 

“What we’re seeing is discourse that looks American — written in English, using U.S. political language — but is actually coming from outside the country … almost impossible for a regular user to detect,” Vasker said, explaining that the accounts “look very American” and mirror domestic political language and debates.

The analysis examined 100 highly X viral posts — each with more than 10,000 shares — between Feb. 28 and March 7. In total, posts containing the word “Iran” generated 98 million posts, 696.4 million interactions, and an estimated 1.5 trillion potential views, making it one of the largest online information events on record. 

Foreign accounts alone generated 155.6 million views, compared to 93.4 million from U.S.-based accounts, outpacing them by more than 60 million views in the sample.

Even more striking, every single foreign-based post in the dataset was negative toward the operation, while the only supportive content came from U.S.-based users, Argyle found. 

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JP Castellanos, Binary Defense director of threat intelligence and a former member of U.S. Central Command’s Active Cyber Defense Team, said much of the activity is focused on Israel and combines disruption with messaging. 

“About 42% of the attacks that we’re seeing or the claims that we’re seeing online are directed toward Israel,” Castellanos said.

He also pointed to doxing campaigns and AI-generated videos “trying to basically shape the information space.”

Much of the challenge, Castellanos said, is distinguishing real cyber incidents from inflated online claims by hacktivist groups seeking attention.

“A lot of times, these are just claims that they put online,” he said. 

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Researchers said the scale, consistency and geographic spread of the messaging point to a coordinated effort rather than organic global debate.

Cyber threat analysts say that an online narrative campaign is unfolding alongside broader activity by pro-Iranian and aligned groups across the digital space.

One of the most prominent groups to emerge in the current conflict, Castellanos said, is Handala, an Iran-linked hacking operation that has claimed responsibility for attacks on both U.S. and Israeli targets. 

Among the most influential voices driving engagement, seven of the top 10 accounts were based outside the United States, including accounts linked to Russia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and South Asia.

U.S. authorities and cybersecurity firms have linked Handala to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, describing it as part of a broader effort combining cyberattacks with psychological and information operations.

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The cybersecurity researchers told Fox News Digital Handala is part of a wider network of Iran-aligned and pro-Russian hacktivist groups that have mobilized since the start of the war, blending disruptive cyber activity with narrative-shaping campaigns online.

Fox News Digital reached out to X multiple times, providing a list of the accounts in question per their request, but has not yet received a response.

London, United Kingdom – A month after being released on bail, pro-Palestine activists who participated in a months-long hunger strike in prison are planning on taking legal action over their alleged mistreatment.

On Wednesday, at a news conference where four of the activists spoke about life in jail and their lasting medical conditions, Lisa Minerva Luxx, a campaigner who supports the group, said the defendants are “seeking to take legal action against the prisons for their medical neglect”, adding, “legal action is due to take place”.

Eight young activists linked to the protest group Palestine Action began a rolling hunger strike in November that lasted until January.

Qesser Zuhrah, 21, Teuta Hoxha, 30, Kamran Ahmed, 28, and 31-year-old Heba Muraisi were bailed in February after the High Court ruled that the proscription of Palestine Action was unlawful. They had been held on remand for 15 months in connection with a raid on the Elbit Systems UK factory in Filton, near Bristol, on August 6, 2024.

‘My hair is falling out in chunks’

Heba Muraisi, who refused food for 73 days, told Al Jazeera she is still suffering from “neurological issues”.

“My hair is still falling out in chunks, I can’t walk long distances without needing to take a break. Physically and mentally, I’m still recovering. I’m still not there yet,” she said.

She told the news conference that the treatment she faced in prison “only got worse” when the government proscribed Palestine Action as a “terror” group in July 2025.

Muraisi said she was physically assaulted to the point that the “wind was thrown out of me”, was regularly placed in solitary confinement, and had her keffiyeh confiscated – so she instead used a pillowcase as a headscarf while praying.

During her detention, Muraisi was transferred to a jail in northern England, much further from Bronzefield prison near her loved ones.

Prison authorities “refused to tell me where I was going,” she said. “My mother, who is unwell, couldn’t visit for five months.”

She claimed that she was not provided with electrolytes during her hunger strike “and only received vitamins after 30 days”.

‘A calculated regime of isolation’

Others, held at different prisons, spoke of similar patterns of alleged mistreatment.

Through tears and wearing a grey sweatsuit that resembled her prison gear – and that of Palestinians detained by Israel – Qesser Zuhrah said, “I was 19 when I was kidnapped from my home by counterterrorism police in a very violent raid.”

“For the entirety of my imprisonment, I was subject to a calculated regime of isolation, blocked from making any friends, especially other young people and Muslims,” she said. “One Muslim woman I met [was told by a guard that] there are dangerous people here and that she needs to be moved away from me.”

Zuhrah added that “multiple periods of prolonged confinement and isolation in my cell without reason” made her feel “like a ghost of myself”.

She said that one day, after two prisoners had died in a week, she asked the guards to unlock the cell of a claustrophobic inmate who was suffering from suicidal thoughts.

“They responded by assaulting me,” she said. “Female guards grabbed my arms, exposed my body, dragged me through the landing and up a metal staircase, and threw me into my cell against the metal bed frame.”

Zuhrah refused food for almost 50 days as part of the hunger strike, pushing her body to the limits. Like the other activists, she was hospitalised during this period.

“Our prisons mistreated us in the most elaborate ways, in order to teach us that our bodies don’t belong to us,” she said, claiming that she was also denied electrolytes and received vitamins after only 30 days.

Guards “tried to tempt me with food”, she said, alleging “cruel tactics” that impacted her health.

“On the 45th or 46th day, they left me paralysed with muscle wastage on my cell floor for 22 hours,” she alleged. “They left me to die on my cell floor, or at least let me believe that they would [leave me].”

‘I still bear the marks of the cuffs’

Kamran Ahmed, who refused food for 66 days, said he still suffers from chest pains and breathlessness.

He said that after being admitted to hospital, he was handcuffed to an officer while showering; the use of cuffs is usually restricted for people who are likely to escape or commit violence.

“I was chained so tight that even today I still bear the marks of the cuffs,” he said.

He also said he was made to walk without shoes during his detention.

“When I had to use the public toilet, with only socks, I had to dodge stains of urine and faeces,” he said.

Teuta Hoxha, who underwent two hunger strikes whilst on remand for 15 months, said that during the second protest, she lost 20 percent of her body weight “and was defecating my muscle mass in hospital whilst chained to an officer like a dog”.

She claimed, “I witnessed guards threaten other prisoners with 14 years for saying ‘free Palestine’.

“When I raised this incident with the prison’s regional ‘counterterrorism’ lead, a meeting I secured through the hunger strike, he used the analogy of a neo-Nazi fascist symbol to compare the two.”

She added that other prisoners were warned not to associate with us “because we were deemed to be terrorists”.

But ultimately, Hoxha said, “the British state failed to disappear our resistance”.

The group called off their hunger strike, claiming victory after the UK reportedly denied a military training contract to Elbit Systems UK, instead choosing Raytheon UK, the subsidiary of the US defence firm, which also has several deals with the Israeli military.

Known as part of the “Filton 24”, the detainees denied the charges against them, such as burglary and criminal damage. Twenty-three members of the collective have been bailed. Only Samuel Corner, who faced an additional charge of allegedly assaulting a police sergeant, remains in prison.

Four other hunger strikers remain in prison, accused of involvement in a break-in at a Royal Air Force (RAF) base in Oxfordshire.

Both incidents were claimed by Palestine Action.

The Home Office has been granted permission to appeal the High Court’s decision on Palestine Action. An April date has reportedly been set for the appeal.

Al Jazeera has contacted the Ministry of Justice for a response. Throughout their hunger strike, the ministry denied that the prisoners were being mistreated.