• By MuggleNet Editorial Staff
• 20 May, 2026
• Latest

New details from HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter series have surfaced from Licensing Expo 2026, and one design note is especially interesting: Quidditch players may not be sitting upright on their broomsticks the way we saw in the films.

Costume displays at the Las Vegas event, held this week at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, offered a closer look at the show’s Hogwarts and Quidditch uniforms. Licensing Expo is the major trade show where entertainment brands, retailers and licensees preview what is coming next, so it is often a place where small details make their way into the wider world. 

What’s changing

According to signage at the display, HBO’s version of Quidditch has players lying horizontally across their broomsticks, with their legs bent backward and interlocked around each other. That is a pretty big shift from the films, where players generally appeared to sit astride their brooms like a bike or horse. The change could make Quidditch feel faster and more physically intense, which frankly sounds closer to how the sport should probably feel.

The new costumes from the Harry Potter TV series are on display at Licensing Expo 2026 in Las Vegas!
by u/yourfavchoom in HarryPotteronHBO

The Quidditch uniforms are also getting a more practical redesign. The display notes that the costumes take inspiration from fencing gear, British motocross clothing and early 1990s school tracksuits. The trousers were designed with room for bent knees and a patchwork of fabrics meant to allow a full range of movement, while the jackets are described as sleek enough for aerodynamic movement, with lightly padded chests and adjustable fastenings at the wrists and ankles to keep out rain and wind.

There are still plenty of wizarding touches, though. Under the jackets, players wear Quidditch jersey tops with a “sun-ray” design in house colors. The boots, made in the U.K. by Gamba Theatrical Footwear, are dyed to house colors and include an ankle motif showing sun rays bursting through clouds.

The Hogwarts uniforms

The Hogwarts uniforms were also on display, with signs describing a tartan that weaves together the four house colors of Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Lochcarron in Scotland created the tartan, while the knitwear was made by Lochaven of Ayrshire (who also worked on the films) and dyed in a custom shade of aubergine (eggplant), which appears to be a key color throughout the school wardrobe. The display also mentions organic cotton shirts with shell buttons, robes made from mohair and wool and a new Hogwarts badge motif featuring a “H” with roots and branches growing from the top and bottom.

It seems HBO is trying to make Hogwarts feel handmade and more grounded in British tradition, while giving Quidditch a more physical look. We still don’t know exactly how this will look in motion, but the idea of players stretched horizontally across their brooms already makes it sound like this new version of the sport will feel very different from what we have seen before.

Originally published: May 20, 2026 at 9:14AM
Last Updated: May 20, 2026 at 3:01PM with new feature photography