Paapa Essiedu, who plays Professor Severus Snape in HBO’s Harry Potter, says he had a memorable on-set moment when he fell off a broom while shooting a major Quidditch episode. He shared the story in an interview, describing a setup that sounds part sci-fi, part theme park ride.
The setup was huge and a little wild
Essiedu said the production built an entire stadium for the Quidditch scenes. The team used animatronics and green screens, and actors sometimes worked with wires. For Essiedu's shot, the broom was attached to a large mechanical arm. He called the production design "completely insane."
How the fall went down
While performing the scene, Essiedu fell and ended up hanging three meters above the ground. He described the moment as humiliating because no one in the room laughed. Instead, everyone had poker faces, which made the situation even more awkward.
Why this scene matters
The Quidditch sequence lines up with an event from the first Harry Potter book. In the novel, Snape referees a match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, a detail that the 2001 movie left out. The new series appears to be leaning into those book moments, and the trailer already shows a snowy Quidditch match with Harry wearing Gryffindor colors.
Who else is in the early footage
- Harry played by Dominic McLaughlin
- Ron Weasley played by Alastair Stout
- Hermione Granger played by Arabella Stanton
The trailer gives a quick look at Harry stepping onto the pitch for what looks like one of his first matches. We do not see full flight scenes in that clip, but the production clearly invested in big Quidditch visuals.
When you can watch it
HBO’s Harry Potter will start streaming on Christmas Day, 2026. If this broom incident is any sign, the show will mix ambitious effects with a few surprising on-set moments.
