The plot of Hogwarts Legacy was purposefully set in a time period where many pre-established characters from the Harry Potter franchise (such as Newton Scamander or Harry Potter himself) are not around. According to lead writer Moira Squier, this was done in order to provide the player with a unique world. As part of this, the writing team focused on creating a diverse collection of characters for players to potentially identify with:


However, while main characters from across the franchise are not present, selected minor characters (such as Nearly Headless Nick and Peeves the Poltergeist) are still present in the game.