Who’s playing Harry, Ron, and Hermione?
More than 32,000 children responded to a public casting call to play the world’s three most famous young wizards last year in the hope of landing the role of a lifetime.
Producers whittled down the audition tapes and then ran workshops and screen tests.
The lucky trio have been confirmed as Dominic McLaughlin as Harry Potter, with Arabella Stanton playing Hermione Granger, and Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley.
All are described as being screen newcomers, though McLaughlin is in Gifted, a yet-to-be-aired CBBC series based on Marilyn Kaye’s children’s novels about kids with superpowers.
Stanton has previously appeared in the stage musicals Matilda and Starlight Express, while Stout’s agent (which says he does a “northern” accent) credits him with appearing in an Albert Bartlett potato advert.
These are the most important casting decisions, as McLaughlin, Stanton, and Stout will be expected to carry the show and deal with huge public scrutiny for years.
Francesca Gardiner and Mark Mylod, the Harry Potter show-runners, said of the trio: “After an extraordinary search led by casting directors Lucy Bevan and Emily Brockmann, we are delighted to announce we have found our Harry, Hermione, and Ron”.
“The talent of these three unique actors is wonderful to behold, and we cannot wait for the world to witness their magic together onscreen.
“We would like to thank all the tens of thousands of children who auditioned. It’s been a real pleasure to discover the plethora of young talent out there.”
Who is in the cast?
Like the films, the series is sure to be a Who’s Who of A-list talent, with budgets that dwarf almost everything else on TV.
The first performer to confirm their participation was the Conclave star John Lithgow, cast as Hogwarts’ headmaster Albus Dumbledore.
Lithgow, 79, said that he did not expect to be asked to follow in the footsteps of Richard Harris, Michael Gambon, and Jude Law (who all played Dumbledore in the Wizarding World films).
“Well, it came as a total surprise to me. I just got the phone call at the Sundance Film Festival for yet another film, and it was not an easy decision because it’s going to define me for the last chapter of my life, I’m afraid,” he said in February.
“But I’m very excited. Some wonderful people are turning their attention back to Harry Potter. That’s why it’s been such a hard decision. I’ll be about 87 years old at the wrap party, but I’ve said yes.”
HBO has officially revealed its first batch of stars to populate the new Hogwarts.
I May Destroy You star Paapa Essiedu has been cast as potions master Severus Snape, while Ozark’s Janet McTeer is to play deputy headmistress Minerva McGonagall, a role that was made famous by the late Dame Maggie Smith and previously linked with Sharon Horgan and Rachel Weisz.
Other stars confirmed to have signed up are Shaun of the Dead’s Nick Frost succeeding Robbie Coltrane as gamekeeper Rubeus Hagrid, while the role of cantankerous caretaker Argus Filch is filled by comic performer Paul Whitehouse.
We also have our first villain.
Quirinus Quirrell, the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone who is later revealed to be under the control of the evil Lord Voldemort, will be portrayed by Luke Thallon.
The 29-year-old is best known as a stage actor.
Who will play Voldemort himself in later series is being kept under wraps, but those said to be in the frame include Oscar-winner Cillian Murphy.
The confirmed Harry Potter cast so far:
- John Lithgow (Albus Dumbledore)
- Janet McTeer (Minerva McGonagall)
- Paapa Essiedu (Severus Snape)
- Nick Frost (Rubeus Hagrid)
- Paul Whitehouse (Argus Filch)
- Luke Thallon (Quirinus Quirrell)
How will the series be different from the films?
HBO boss Casey Bloys has said that the series will be a “very, very specifically British 1990s production”.
The series is being overseen by Gardiner and Mylod, Brits who are both alumni of HBO’s Succession.
One need only look at their track record to know that the series will not merely be a rehash of the films.
Gardiner worked on the TV adaptation of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials; while Mylod’s hits include Game of Thrones and The Menu, a Ralph Fiennes horror satirising fine dining.
It is expected that the series will be darker than the films, with HBO looking for a slightly older viewership than the pre-teens who were the primary target of the cinematic pictures.
Friends of Gardiner – who wrote her master’s thesis on the importance of darkness in kids’ stories and has spoken of her dislike for patronising children – say that she wants to bring a grittier, “Wednesday/Tim Burton vibe” to the series.
Perhaps most notably, the characters will be the same age as they are in the books, with each series presumably following the school year.
That means, for instance, that Snape (played by the inimitable Alan Rickman in the films) will be in his early 30s on the small screen. Essiedu is 34; Rickman, by contrast, was 55 when the first film was released.
The exception is Dumbledore, who lived to the ripe old age of 115. Lithgow is unlikely to want to be working in his 12th decade.
Is JK Rowling involved?
Despite selling more than 600 million Harry Potter books and amassing a fortune of almost £1 billion (according to the Sunday Times Rich List), Rowling has become a polarising character in recent years for her public contributions to the transgender debate.
“That’s a very online conversation, very nuanced and complicated and not something we’re going to get into,” Bloys said at an investor presentation in April 2023. “Our priority is what’s on the screen.”
The 59-year-old author is key to the whole series: she serves as its executive producer and will have the final say on all the casting choices.
Rowling praised HBO for “preserving the integrity” of her books and said that the new adaptation will “allow for a degree of depth and detail only afforded by a long-form television series”.
Will the original stars return?
Probably not. Many of the original cast members – including Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson – have criticised Rowling’s trans views, while others (including Gambon and Rickman) have died.
Jason Isaacs, who played the villainous Lucius Malfoy in the films, was asked about whether he would mount a comeback to the Wizarding World at the premiere of The White Lotus in February.
“I’m hoping to come back as Hermione,” he said, not entirely seriously. “I sent my audition tape in and I’ve yet to hear. But they have my number.”
When will the series be broadcast?
Filming at the Warner Bros studio in Leavesden, Hertfordshire, is not scheduled to start until the summer, so it is unlikely that it will hit our screens before 2027.
