Saturday Night Live spoofed the romantic sports series Heated Rivalry with a wizarding parody called "Heated Wizardry." The pre-taped sketch aired during the Jan 17 episode, which Finn Wolfhard hosted for the first time. While the concept thrilled some viewers, others reacted with frustration and confusion.
The parody was a straightforward mashup of the Crave Original series Heated Rivalry and Harry Potter. Although some fans enjoyed the absurdity, others bristled at the comparison of an inherently queer show with Harry Potter, given J.K. Rowling's very public transphobic tweets and comments.
What happened in the "Heated Wizardry" SNL skit
In the sketch, Wolfhard played Harry Potter opposite Ben Marshall’s Ron Weasley. The segment opened with a mock HBO voiceover teasing a new wizarding series "hastily written after the success of a certain other HBO show."
Soon after, Harry and Ron met at Hogwarts and exchanged flirtatious banter. "You dropped your wand. It’s lovely, by the way," Ron said in the skit. "I’d love to see yours sometime," Harry replied, with Ron answering, "You would."
The SNL spoof reframed Heated Rivalry’s hockey tension as a Quidditch-based rivalry mixed with secret romance, including censored steamy scenes. The sketch leaned into exaggeration, including fake reviews and a pointed line attributed to J.K. Rowling that read, "I am not a part of this." Meanwhile, Jason Momoa appeared as Hagrid, with James Austin Johnson as Professor Snape.
Social media had mixed reactions to the skit
Although the jokes landed for some viewers, others immediately questioned the character choices. Heated Rivalry centered on rivals, yet SNL paired Harry with his best friend. For longtime fandom participants, that distinction mattered, given that Ron is more of Harry's Hayden (main character Shane's best friend in Heated Rivalry) than his Ilya.
@SonofAsgard71 shared a screenshot reading, "The first series written entirely by girls who wear tails." They tweeted, "This alone made me fall out of my chair laughing. 🤣🤣🤣😂🤣🤣🤣"
Similarly, @W1ldson begged, "SNL if u can hear me, i want more 10 season of heated wizardly so bad.. i know its sounds corny but whatever."
Meanwhile, others focused on missed opportunities. @hollanovfever wrote, "Harry and Ron together is basically if Shane and Hayden got with each other 😆 Such a missed opportunity," pointing out the absence of Draco Malfoy.
@DaryaZubareva17 echoed that confusion. They said, "But in a heated rivalry, they were rivals... you missed a great opportunity to show us the drarry."
That frustration tied into a larger fandom complaint. Many fans said they were tired of every light-haired and dark-haired rivalry being compared to Harry and Draco, one of the most popular ships in queer Harry Potter fan fiction. However, they still found it strange that SNL avoided that dynamic entirely.
Others objected for political reasons. X user @DisasterGay16 listed concerns, including, "associating LGBTQ media that's clearly trans inclusive with Harry Potter is vile."
@bookishlesbians added, "it’s very #strange to me that a queer show was parodied with media made by a VERY loudly transphobic and homophobic person who openly funds anti trans organizations. not a single thought went into this and you can tell not a single queer person was in the writers room."
@foahthinker simply asked, "how is this real," sharing a pared-down clip of the parody.
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