Lebanese-Palestinian actress Sirine Saba is Professor Pomona Sprout in HBO’s Harry Potter, and The National says the series lands on OSN+ in the Middle East this Christmas. The full trailer promised for 2 September is not on YouTube yet.
William Mullally, writing for The National on 2 September 2026, places her on the Hogwarts staff list as the Herbology teacher and head of Hufflepuff. Casting was announced at the Back to Hogwarts Showcase in September 2025. This is not a fresh hire; it is trailer day, and a Middle East where-to-watch.
Who is Sirine Saba, Hogwarts’ new Herbology professor
Saba was born in Beirut in 1975, moved to Cyprus at eight, and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 1998. She has spent nearly three decades on the British stage: Miranda for the Royal Shakespeare Company, then The Winter’s Tale, Pericles, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Tales from Ovid and the RSC’s Midnight’s Children. In 2024 she returned as Titania and Hippolyta in the RSC Dream opposite Mathew Baynton, in Stratford-upon-Avon and at the Barbican. The National Theatre and Shakespeare’s Globe sit on the same CV.
British television credits include Beyond Paradise, Midsomer Murders, Doctor Who, EastEnders, Unforgotten, Silent Witness and a recurring turn as Patricia Ghraoui in Holby City. Films listed by The National include Maestro, Exhibition, Death of the Revolution and Ruth Platt’s The Black Forest.
She has also spent those years putting Arab stories on British stages: Hassan Abdulrazzak’s Baghdad Wedding, Omar El-Khairy’s The Keepers of Infinite Space, Dalia Taha’s Fireworks at the Royal Court, and, this July, a Seenaryo night in London built from WhatsApp messages among Lebanese women. “There is a resilience, but I think Lebanese people are sick of being called resilient – why should we have to be?” she told Hyphen, as quoted by The National.
Miriam Margolyes played Sprout in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Deathly Hallows – Part 2. In the books, the professor grows the Mandrakes that revive those petrified by the basilisk, and later helps defend the school. Season two, adapting Chamber of Secrets, reportedly began filming last month, which is when the greenhouse job gets louder.
Where to watch: OSN+ this Christmas
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone premieres at Christmas 2026. In markets with HBO Max, Warner Bros Discovery has dated that to Christmas Day. In the Middle East, The National says it premieres on OSN+. That matches the platform’s exclusive Max Originals deal, and tbreak’s own line on the Kit Harington Lockhart recast: HBO series arrive on OSN+ here, with season 1 expected this December.
Dominic McLaughlin plays Harry, with Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger and Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley. John Lithgow is Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer Minerva McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu Severus Snape, Nick Frost Rubeus Hagrid. Warwick Davis returns as Filius Flitwick. Richard Durden is Cuthbert Binns; Bríd Brennan is Madam Poppy Pomfrey.
The 1 September Back to Hogwarts Showcase in London did not drop the full trailer. ComingSoon recorded HBO’s promise of a new trailer on Wednesday 2 September, after a 10-second Quidditch clip. As of late morning in the Gulf, the official Harry Potter YouTube channel still has the March teaser, not a new official trailer. tbreak will not invent a video URL.
The region already has Potter under construction: Harry Potter Abu Dhabi is taking shape at Warner Bros World on Yas Island.
HBO’s Harry Potter reaches OSN+ this Christmas. Sirine Saba is already on the staff list. The trailer is not.
