HBO’s Harry Potter TV Show: Cast, Updates & Everything We Know

The first-ever Harry Potter TV show is coming to HBO, and every detail about the wizard’s return is hotly anticipated. Harry Potter was already adapted into the smash-hit, eight-film series from Warner Bros., and Rowling’s magical tale came to define early 2000s blockbuster cinema. However, like all book-to-movie adaptations, there are always scenes and characters that are excised, and some fans who are left disappointed. The show, with a much longer format, has the potential to really capture every detail of the original novels, creating the perfect adaptation that the movies couldn’t be.

However, there are some concerns around the upcoming show. Re-booting popular franchises is nothing new, but the sheer volume of reboots over recent years has garnered criticism for choosing guaranteed-money projects over telling new stories. In addition, creator J. K. Rowling has fallen from favor due to her very public transphobic views, and as a result, many fans of the original series have now renounced their love for the juggernaut franchise. Despite these concerns, the series is likely to be another big hit – at least initially – and every announcement is major news.

HBO’s Harry Potter Show Latest News

Several Cast Members Are Confirmed

After months of speculation and rumors, the latest news confirms the first cast members have joined the Harry Potter series. The six additions all constitute adult characters, and include several names that were previously floated as rumored castings over recent months. HBO has now revealed that John Lithgow (Dexter) will indeed be playing Hogwarts Headmaster, Dumbledore, while Janet McTeer (Kaos) is Professor McGonagall.

Paapa Essiedu (I May Destroy You) has been tapped to play the prickly potions professor, Severus Snape, and Nick Frost (Hot Fuzz) will assume the role of lovable groundskeeper, Hagrid. Two new names were also added that weren’t previously rumored, with Luke Thallon (A Room with a View) joining as Professor Quirrell and Paul Whitehouse (The Fast Show) as Hogwarts caretaker, Filch.

Producer and showrunner Francesca Gardiner released the following statement alongside producer and director Mark Mylod:

“We are happy to announce the casting of John Lithgow, Janet McTeer, Paapa Essiedu, Nick Frost, Luke Thallon and Paul Whitehouse to play Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Hagrid, Quirrell and Filch. We’re delighted to have such extraordinary talent onboard, and we can’t wait to see them bring these beloved characters to new life.”

HBO’s Harry Potter Show Is Confirmed

HBO Is Tackling The Wizarding World

A tweet posted by HBO Max on April 12, 2023, served as the official confirmation that the Harry Potter TV show was in development. In the short video, the magical floating candles that illuminate Hogwarts’ Great Hall in the movies appear and move around to spell out “Harry Potter” in the memorable lightning-like font of the series, and the iconic magical school appears in the background with the Max Original logo above the title.

In the year since the announcement, several key updates have been revealed, including that the show is currently aiming for a 2026 to 2027 release window. In June 2024, crucial behind-the-scenes crew members were hired, including showrunner Francesca Gardiner and Mark Mylod, who will be directing several episodes of the upcoming season. Casting began in September 2024, though no names are attached quite yet.

What Daniel Radcliffe Has Said About The Harry Potter TV Series

The Original Star Won’t Be Returning

Though the show is a complete reboot and unrelated to the blockbuster movie franchise, many in the Harry Potter fandom still want to see Daniel Radcliffe return. His most recent comments regarding the Harry Potter TV show were while speaking with Access alongside his Miracle Workers co-star Geraldine Viswanathan. Radcliffe gave a definitive no about returning but stated that he was very excited to see what the new Harry Potter TV show cast would be doing. His full comment can be read below:

“I certainly haven’t. I mean, I don’t, I think it’s very much like they’re going for a new series and it would be, there would be somebody else playing Harry. So I think it would be very weird for me to show up. I’m very, you know, I’m very excited to see what other people do with that. And I think the thing, you know, the comparison I’ve made is like to a story like ‘Sherlock Holmes.’ You know, it was always gonna, I think the Potter series of books was always going to be bigger than like one interpretation or one franchise. So it’ll be cool to like, see the, the torch get passed on,”

Radcliffe has also addressed the possibility of having a cameo in the Harry Potter TV show. Unfortunately, the odds don’t look good as Radcliffe mentioned, “I don’t think so, no.” However, Radcliffe’s statements are from the mindset that the show is unrelated to the movies he starred in, as he added, “Certainly from everything that I’ve read about the series, they’re starting fresh and would probably be weird to have me pop in…“

In a July 2023 interview with Variety about his Emmy nomination for portraying Weird Al in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, Radcliffe stated that he hoped the Harry Potter TV show would satiate fans who were disappointed with the movies. The actor said that he was happy to be a viewer this time around, and he recognized that there were things cut from the films that angered audiences. His full quote can be read below:

I’m excited for it as a viewer. I’ll be able to enjoy it with everyone else possibly, with a slightly different perspective. It’s a nice thing that a whole new generation is going to get introduced to the stories in a new way. They’ll see it as a TV series, so they’ll probably have time to go into all the things. So for the people that were angry about things that were cut from the film, hopefully, they will finally be able to see the full version they wanted.

HBO does indeed have an obligation to expand on the plot for the Harry Potter TV show. While many cuts were made for time, some of these cuts reduced the impact of key reveals and robbed side characters of triumphant arcs. Peeves the poltergeist was omitted entirely, Voldemort and Dumbledore’s full backstories weren’t included, and the idea that Neville Longbottom could’ve been the Chosen One was never even brought up. The Dursleys’ presences were also muted, and Dudley’s redemption scene was deleted.

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The Cast Of The Harry Potter TV Show

The Harry Potter Show Has Some Recast Challenges

While the advent of the new Harry Potter TV show is an exciting prospect, there’s no question that the HBO Harry Potter recast challenge is probably one of the series’ greatest. Some of the hardest characters for HBO to recast in the Harry Potter TV show are first and foremost the golden trio themselves. Helping to introduce the characters to the world, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were made famous by Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson.

Recasting iconic adult characters that were played by actors who have passed on is another challenge, and the late Robbie Coltrane was the perfect double of Hagrid, along with Alan Rickman’s iconic Snape performance. Likewise, Dumbledore will prove to be another difficult casting, though some character details weren’t brought to the film series that are worth exploring. Bringing new actors to the Harry Potter TV show will prove to be difficult regardless, since they will have to live up to both the original character and audiences’ expectations based on the movies.

After a long period of casting speculation and rumor, the first names have finally joined the Harry Potter series. While the golden trio remains uncast for now, several key members of the Hogwarts staff have been announced. First and foremost, John Lithgow (Dexter) has joined to play Hogwarts Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. Joining him is Janet McTeer (Kaos) as Professor McGonagall, and Paapa Essiedu (I May Destroy You) as potions professor, and Harry’s foil, Severus Snape.

Other confirmed cast members include Nick Frost (Hot Fuzz) as the lovable groundskeeper, Hagrid, and Paul Whitehouse (The Fast Show) as the much-less-friendly Hogwarts caretaker, Argus Filch. Finally, Luke Thallon (A Room with a View) will play Professor Quirrell, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor during The Sorcerer’s Stone. All the new cast members, excluding Thallon, are expected to play their parts throughout the series.

The confirmed cast of HBO’s Harry Potter series includes:

Actor	Harry Potter Role
John Lithgow	Professor Albus Dumbledore
Janet McTeer	Professor Minerva McGonagall
Paapa Essiedu	Professor Severus Snape
Nick Frost	Rubeus Hagrid
Paul Whitehouse	Argus Filch
Luke Thallon	Professor Quirinus Quirrell

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J. K. Rowling Is Involved In HBO Harry Potter TV Show

The Author Is Mired In Controversy

A controversy around HBO’s Harry Potter TV show has been whether author J. K. Rowling will be involved in the project. It has been confirmed that HBO is working with J.K. Rowling on their Harry Potter reboot. Rowling is serving as an executive producer and a statement released on J.K. Rowling’s website confirmed she would be working on the project alongside Neil Blair and Ruth Kenley-Letts.

J.K. Rowling has become a controversial figure in recent years thanks to her outspoken views on trans people. The J.K. Rowling anti-trans controversy could be one of the key obstacles facing the upcoming HBO Harry Potter TV show. J.K. Rowling’s involvement in other Harry Potter projects like the game Hogwarts Legacy has even led to fan boycotts. Only time will tell if the Harry Potter HBO show will face the same issue, though the healthy sales of Hogwarts Legacy likely mean that Warner Bros. is confident the series can still be a hit even with Rowling’s involvement.

Harry Potter HBO Show Story Details

How Will HBO Adapt The Books?

The Harry Potter HBO television show can offer much more time to explore supporting characters, flesh out the main ones, and depict fan-favorite scenes from the books that could not be shown in the films. The Harry Potter TV show will have the chance to fix some mistakes of the Harry Potter movies. For the films to have an appropriate run-time, some characters were cut out completely, arcs were shortened, and the day-to-day life of living in Hogwarts, a necessary theme of the books, was weakened.

Though the books will serve as the main inspiration, it has also been confirmed that the series will call upon new Harry Potter source material as well. Namely, the HBO original is looking to incorporate elements introduced in the hit video game, Hogwarts Legacy, which proved that the franchise could be expanded by someone other than J.K. Rowling. Details are scant, but it does address concerns that the HBO series is a cynical remake that doesn’t add anything new.

HBO has shown itself to be diligent in respectfully adapting source material, so the story from the Harry Potter books should remain the same. Harry’s journey from a lonely orphan into the hero who saves the world from Voldemort will be the core of the show, but it’s the small moments of magic and wonder that will make the Harry Potter TV show so special. Those moments of Harry and his friends discovering something truly amazing and giving the audience a unique experience is what the HBO show will be able to put on screen better than anyone has before.

Harry Potter

Showrunner

Francisca Gardiner

Directors

Mark Mylod