Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts: in what order should you watch the movies?

Do you want to follow the Harry Potter saga in chronological order without missing a single detail? With so many movies in the main franchise, a lot of people get confused about the order in which they need to watch them to not miss anything from the story. With such a large and magical universe, and a ton of lovable (and hateable) characters taken directly from the novels written by J.K. Rowling, it’s not an easy task for everyone.

So, we reviewed all the movies in the Harry Potter theatrical releases, beginning in 2001 with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and ending almost a decade after with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. We’ve also thrown in the Fantastic Beasts prequels into the brew, for good measure.

Harry Potter: chronological order of the movies

To enjoy the full story of Harry Potter without any issues and being able to follow the threads of the plot along the movies, you only need to watch the eight movies in the original saga by order of release. This way you watch the movies in the same chronological order that the original books follow. The last book in the franchise, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was split into two parts for the movie adaptation, so as to show all of the crucial events in the story while translating it to the big screen.

While watching the Fantastic Beasts will not affect your enjoyment of the original saga, it’s still a great experience and it’ll help you expand the universe with more stories about wizards and monsters. Currently a trilogy, this prequel series is still in development.

We leave you with the chronological order of the cinematic Harry Potter series, so this way you won't miss a single detail of the plot.

Chronological order for the Harry Potter Saga