Five years after the Battle of Hogwarts, the first Fantastic Beasts movie, a spinoff and prequel to the Harry Potter films, hit theaters. Since the magical events span several decades starting in 1926 and share similar movie titles, we’ve gone ahead and conjured up a guide on how best to watch the Potterverse timeline unfold.
How to watch the Harry Potter movies in chronological order:
1. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)
Set decades before Harry and his friends arrive at Hogwarts, the movie is centered around writer and Magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne)—who actually makes an appearance in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and is the author of Harry’s Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them textbook in the J.K. Rowling book series—and some of his fantastic beasts that escape from his magical case in New York.
2. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)
After being captured by the Magical Congress of the United States of America in the first film, Gellert Grindelwald has escaped custody and sets out to create a new world order in which pure-blood wizards rule over non-magical beings. Newt Scamander teams up with his former professor Albus Dumbledore to defeat the Dark wizard.
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
Muggles first met Harry Potter in The Sorcerer’s Stone. Daniel Radcliffe’s character learns he is a wizard and begins his studies at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he befriends Ron and Hermione.
4. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Dobby the House Elf, who serves a powerful wizard family, warns Harry Potter not to return to Hogwarts because there is “a plot, a plot to make most terrible things happen.” The young wizard doesn’t heed the warning and instead goes back to school…via a flying car…for his second year during which the Chamber of Secrets is opened.
5. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Harry, now in his third year at Hogwarts, is told he is in “grave danger” after a prisoner named Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban. The new, mysterious Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher will help teach a scared Harry how to defend himself from the Dementors.
6. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
Hogwarts plays host to the legendary Triwizard Tournament, which brings together three schools for a series of magical, dangerous contests. Although he is not eligible because of his age, the Goblet of Fire, an “exceptionally powerful” magical object, picks Harry as a fourth Triwizard Champion.
7. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
He Who Must Not Be Named, Lord Voldemort, is back after rising in The Goblet of Fire, but the Ministry of Magic scoffs at the idea of his return to avoid facing the scary truth. Harry, in his fifth year at Hogwarts, teaches a group of students dubbed Dumbeldore’s Army how to defend themselves.
8. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
Harry discovers an old book that was once the “Property of the Half-Blood Prince” and learns more about Voldemort’s dark past with Dumbledore’s Pensieve during his sixth year at Hogwarts, which ends in tragedy.
9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
Harry, Ron and Hermione set out on a mission to destroy the sources of Voldemort’s immortality, the Horcruxes, while also learning about the existence of the Deathly Hallows, three powerful magical objects created by Death: a wand, a stone and a cloak of invisibility.
10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
The search for Horcruxes continues before leading to one final showdown between “The Boy Who Lived” and Lord Voldemort. Next, wondering how to watch the 8 Harry Potter films in one place? Find out is where to watch and stream all of the Harry Potter movies.
