Finn Wolfhard Brought “Harry Potter” And “Heated Rivalry” Together For One Gloriously Unhinged SNL Sketch
What happens when you mash up wizards and hockey romance?
Saturday Night Live returned from its winter break on 18 January with Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard as host. The 23-year-old Canadian actor made his hosting debut just weeks after the Netflix series finale aired. And while the whole episode had its moments, one pre-taped sketch had the internet in a chokehold.
The sketch, titled Heated Wizardry, imagined HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter television reboot as if it had been “hastily rewritten after the success of a certain other HBO show.” That other show, of course, is Heated Rivalry, the Canadian hockey romance series that has dominated streaming since its November 2025 premiere.
Wolfhard played Harry Potter opposite SNL featured player Ben Marshall (Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure Of Foggy Mountain) as Ron Weasley. The two meet in the Hogwarts halls, reach for the same wand, and things escalate from there.
“I’d love to see yours sometime,” Wolfhard’s Harry says about Ron’s wand. The innuendo does not let up.
The sketch swaps hockey for Quidditch, complete with broomstick chases and locker room antics. Both characters bare their (pixelated) backsides, a nod to Heated Rivalry‘s reputation for not shying away from skin. Chloe Fineman appears as a very third-wheel Hermione, at one point asked by Harry for the spell “to make something bigger.”
Jason Momoa stole the scene in about five seconds.
The biggest surprise came when Momoa appeared as Hagrid. The Aquaman star delivered a parody of the famous line from the original film. Instead of “You’re a wizard, Harry,” Momoa deadpanned: “You’re a homo, Harry.”
The sketch also featured James Austin Johnson as Severus Snape, Kenan Thompson as Mad-Eye Moody, and Ashley Padilla as Professor McGonagall. A fake onscreen quote attributed to Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling read simply: “I am not a part of this.”
A voiceover also clarified that all characters were “18+ in this” because “Hogwarts is like college now.”
The reaction has been mixed.
While many viewers found the sketch hilarious, some felt uneasy about a queer romance being played for laughs. Others were annoyed at the pairing itself. Harry and Draco Malfoy have been one of the most popular ships in fan fiction for over two decades, with the couple earning the portmanteau “Drarry.” Ron, by contrast, is Harry’s best friend, not his rival.
“The worst part about this is that they’re promoting ‘Heated RIVALRY’ and then they put Ron instead of Harry’s actual canon rival,” one user wrote on X.
Some Stranger Things fans also noted the irony of Wolfhard playing a queer character on SNL when many had hoped his character Mike Wheeler would come out on the show. That did not happen.
Heated Rivalry has become a phenomenon. The series, created by out gay showrunner Jacob Tierney for Canadian streaming service Crave, was picked up by HBO Max just days before its 28 November premiere. It quickly became the platform’s number one scripted debut of 2025. Its fifth episode is currently tied with Breaking Bad‘s Ozymandias for the highest-rated television episode on IMDb.
The show stars Hudson Williams as Canadian hockey captain Shane Hollander and Connor Storrie as Russian rival Ilya Rozanov. Their on-ice animosity masks a decade-long secret romance. Based on Rachel Reid’s 2019 novel of the same name, the series has already been renewed for a second season.
Williams and Storrie have since been announced as official torchbearers for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.
The series has crossed over into mainstream pop culture in a way few LGBTQIA+ series have managed. When SNL parodies something, it has officially entered the conversation. The sketch acknowledged both the show’s cultural impact and the ongoing awkwardness around HBO’s Harry Potter reboot, which has come under scrutiny for Rowling’s public anti-trans statements.
Was the sketch perfect? No. Did it feel a bit like fan fiction written by someone who had only skimmed the source material? Perhaps. But it was a rare moment where queer romance was centred on one of television’s biggest comedy stages. And Momoa saying that line? Worth the entire three minutes.
