As a lover of all things Harry Potter, I must admit, the films are some of my favorite pieces of media out there. When I heard there was going to be an HBO show, I felt like we might get an even better product than before.
Granted, we haven’t seen the series yet, but they've released some teasers, and so far everything looks great. It’s bringing back a lot of the magic I loved it as a kid, and I think it will make a whole new generation of Potterheads very happy.
But there’s one little aspect I really hope this new show gets right — one that was done totally differently in the films.
Voldemort’s design needs to change
I don’t know about you, but when I hear "Voldemort," I don’t really think of a man who looks like an alien with two nose slits and is just kind of creepy-looking.
The first time I heard that name in the Harry Potter books, I envisioned a monster, a total, abnormal creature that was an amalgamation of all things bad, chaotic, and dark.
In the movies, we didn’t really get that. Voldemort is very much human in appearance.
The novel has a very distinct description of what Voldemort looks like. For reference, he’s described as having a chalk-white, waxy face that resembles more of a skull than a human, with protruding cheekbones. His eyes are meant to glow red and be vertical, like a cat's. His nose is supposed to have slits and be like a snake, and he has no hair or lips, just this scary-looking resemblance to what used to be a man. He also has a very tall body and very long fingers.
In the movies, we were given those characteristics. He certainly had the snake-like nostrils, and he was bald, with waxy skin and everything else. But something about Voldemort in the films felt a little too human.
The whole point of his character is that he really doesn’t have a full soul anymore, as he split his soul into seven pieces to stay alive after his human body was killed because he never wanted to die.
So, of course, when he was put back into a body, it makes sense that he wouldn't look anything close to human. If anything, he would at least have the same build, but his face would look totally different, and he’d be much more monster than human.
Ralph Fiennes was fantastic, but we need someone who can really become the monster
I’m not saying Ralph Fiennes didn’t do a phenomenal job as Voldemort. He’s an absolutely amazing actor, and I will not speak ill of his name because I don’t think anyone else could have pulled off the performance he gave.
If the HBO series decided to be much more book accurate, the best way to do so would be to embrace the true Voldemort styling. Allegedly, the studio made a design closer to the book’s description but scrapped it because it was deemed too scary for children. The pictures I’ve seen online show him more snake-like than human, which isn’t entirely the same as how he’s described in the books. For that, I can understand.
However, I think this is the moment to take some risks. Harry Potter is already an incredibly popular franchise, much more than it was before those films were released years ago. This is the time to really embrace Voldemort's true scariness and bring him to his full potential with a highly realistic version of his features.
It doesn’t need to be a full, terrifying, skull-like creature. Something a little more horrifying than what we were given in the films would be preferred. Then, it would make sense why everyone seemed absolutely terrified of him whenever his name was mentioned.
I don't know whether this will actually happen. Professor Quirrell is cast in the first season, and his connection with Voldemort is when Harry first sees what Voldemort sort of looks like. So who knows what we'll see in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Only time will tell.
You can watch all eight Harry Potter films on HBO Max. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone premieres on Dec. 25, 2026.
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