HARRY POTTER: Nick Frost On What He's Bringing To Hagrid And Why He Decided To Join The Wizarding World

HARRY POTTER: Nick Frost On What He's Bringing To Hagrid And Why He Decided To Join The Wizarding World

Hot Fuzz star Nick Frost has broken his silence on playing Hagrid in HBO's small screen reboot of Harry Potter, revealing what he's seen on set and why the creative team was such a big draw for him...

By JoshWilding - Jun 03, 2025 09:06 AM EST
Filed Under: Harry Potter
Source: SFFGazette.com

HBO's upcoming reboot of the Harry Potter franchise has assembled an impressive cast. There's been the odd divisive pick, but everyone seemed to have responded well to the notion of Shaun of the Dead and Truth Seekers star Nick Frost being cast as Hagrid.

The British actor follows in the footsteps of the late, great Robbie Coltrane, and seeing how Frost brings Hogwarts' gamekeeper and groundskeeper to life promises to be a lot of fun for fans. 

Screen Rant recently spoke with Frost, learning more about how he's approaching his first Harry Potter role, what he's seen of this small screen take on the franchise, and why the creative team was a big part of what drew him to the Wizarding World. 

"Look, I'm a dad myself, so I am going to be very protective to the children, and I think that is Hagrid's — one of the kind of baselines of his relationship with those children," the actor shared. "He's very protective of them, and I honestly can't wait."

"I've had the opportunity to go and see some sets, and they're growing a Hagrid beard, and I'm seeing the Sorting Hat, and here are some wands. It's absolutely amazing," Frost teased. "Getting the chance to start to learn Francesca's script and hanging out with [director] Mark Mylod — that's the reason I wanted to do it in the first place — to get to retell and to be Hagrid. I get a chance to be Hagrid. It is amazing."

In a separate interview with Collider, he said, "While I'm really aware of what went before me in terms of Robbie's amazing performance, I'm never going to try and be Robbie. I'm going to try and do something, not 'different,' I think you have to be respectful to the subject matter, but within that, there's scope for minutia."

"I think the beauty of being able to do a book a season means I get to explore that a lot more, and I can't wait," Frost continued. "He's funny! I want it to be funny and cheeky and scared and protective and childlike. That's what I'm planning on doing."

He also confirmed that a single season is likely to take "ten or eleven months" to shoot, meaning Harry Potter's cast will be devoting a lot of time to this reboot in the coming years. 

The movies did a great job adapting Hagrid's biggest moments from the books, so it should be interesting to discover how the Harry Potter TV series expands on those and the character. Hagrid's a fan favourite on the page and screen, so the pressure is on Frost to deliver. Something tells us he'll do so. 

We recently learned that Dominic McLaughlin has been cast in the role of Harry Potter, with Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger, and Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley.

Harry Potter's adult cast includes John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore; Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall; Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape; Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid; Luke Thallon as Quirinus Quirrell; and Paul Whitehouse as Argus Filch.

The series will be a faithful adaptation of the beloved Harry Potter book series by author and executive producer J.K. Rowling and will feature an exciting and talented cast to lead a new generation of fandom, full of the fantastic detail and much-loved characters Harry Potter fans have adored for over 25 years.

Exploring every corner of the wizarding world, each season will bring Harry Potter and its incredible adventures to new and existing audiences and will stream exclusively on HBO Max where it’s available globally, including upcoming markets such as Turkey, the UK, Germany, and Italy, among others.  

The series is written and executive produced by Francesca Gardiner. Mark Mylod will executive produce and direct multiple episodes of the series for HBO in association with Brontë Film and TV and Warner Bros. Television. The series is executive produced by J.K. Rowling, Neil Blair, and Ruth Kenley-Letts of Brontë Film and TV, and David Heyman of Heyday Films.

The new Harry Potter TV series is expected to premiere on HBO next year. 

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bobevanz
bobevanz - 6/3/2025, 9:17 AM
Casting doesn't get any better than this lol perfection
MakeAmericaGrea
MakeAmericaGrea - 6/3/2025, 10:51 AM
Snape is an automatic dealbreaker and cause for never paying for Max, and unsubscribing from Max.

Hermione is added incentive to let Hairy Pooter bomb.

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foreverintheway
foreverintheway - 6/3/2025, 11:03 AM
@MakeAmericaGrea - Sir, this is a childrens show.
MakeAmericaGrea
MakeAmericaGrea - 6/3/2025, 1:59 PM
@foreverintheway -

And Hell is just a sauna.

It's just a kids show.

So no problem with millions boycotting it.
foreverintheway
foreverintheway - 6/3/2025, 2:49 PM
@MakeAmericaGrea - yeah it seems like you're boycotting because they will have black people in the show, whereas a lot of other people are boycotting to avoid giving JKR more money to fund her transphobic war on women.
TheFinestSmack
TheFinestSmack - 6/3/2025, 9:19 AM
Best casting of the bunch so far.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 6/3/2025, 9:30 AM
Nick Frost is perfect casting as Hagrid imo…

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Honestly putting aside the JK Rowling of it all , I’m pretty excited for this show even if I have some reservations still of course!!.
DocSpock
DocSpock - 6/3/2025, 9:36 AM

Hard pass.
mountainman
mountainman - 6/3/2025, 9:36 AM
Most of the casting, including Frost, seems spot on. Snape is the obvious exception, and Lithgow seems an odd choice as well - not only because he is American, but also his age means that he might die before the series finishes. Do we need ANOTHER Dumbledore recast?
Super12
Super12 - 6/3/2025, 10:06 AM
@mountainman - Lithgow's performance as Churchill in the Crown made me convinced he might actually be an inspired choice. Frost is exceptional. Snape is an unforgiveable insult to everyone who picked up the book.
mountainman
mountainman - 6/3/2025, 10:36 AM
@Super12 - Lithgow can play British. It just seems weird as the movies, and the rest of this show’s cast, has always gone out of its way to only cast British actors. I think he could play an inspired Dumbledore, it just feels weird to go against the standard for casting this property for a man who may not live long enough to film the entire series. I hope I’m wrong.

Also, the people who are mad about the Hermoine actress are idiots. She looks just fine for the role. Let’s see how they do with the Malfoys, Neville, Luna, Sirius, and some of the other important secondary characters.
outsider
outsider - 6/3/2025, 10:11 AM
Before Nick Frost's casting, I was gunning for Simon Pegg as Dumbledore. Age him up with makeup but actually allow a nimble, >70-year-old actor to age WITH the role. The films' Dumbledores were sorely lacking in whimsy, especially Gambon. Harris showed a spark (in the hospital scene end of Sorcerer's Stone) but obviously and sadly too old. Lithgow's energy is definitely closer, but the man is American and old as well. Big missed opportunity IMO.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 6/3/2025, 10:24 AM
@outsider - i think Lithgow will do very well , he’s obviously a great actor and can do a British accent well…

I do agree with you that i hope this Dumbledore has that twinkle in his eyes that Harris had at times but i woukd say even Gambon which i think he will .

His age is obviously a big concern since he’ll be 80 this year so we’ll see.

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KaptainKhaos
KaptainKhaos - 6/3/2025, 11:48 AM
@outsider - Simon Pegg as Dumbledore is actually brilliant casting
Wahhvacado
Wahhvacado - 6/3/2025, 10:28 AM
Nick's casting its spot on! I don't have much interest in this project though
Typhoon20
Typhoon20 - 6/3/2025, 10:44 AM
Arguably one of if not the best recast of a previous character I've ever seen. Dude looks exactly like the character with a beard and all. Back when HP came out I always said the actor playing Hagret looks exactly like Nick Frost..and here we are.
SteviesRightFoo
SteviesRightFoo - 6/3/2025, 10:55 AM
The cast is great apart from the obvious clanger that is snape
MakeAmericaGrea
MakeAmericaGrea - 6/3/2025, 2:00 PM
@SteviesRightFoo -

And Hermione.
SteviesRightFoo
SteviesRightFoo - 6/3/2025, 3:03 PM
@MakeAmericaGrea - not the worst but they definitley could've gone more book accurate with her, yea
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 6/3/2025, 10:58 AM
10/11 month per season... for 7 books? Jesus get those kids some therapy now
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 6/3/2025, 2:26 PM
@MyCoolYoung - yeah, that's insane work. Atleast they have job security for the next seven years, assuming they're doing a season a year (probably not)
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 6/3/2025, 3:13 PM
@bkmeijer1 - can’t do that or maybe they film two. I don’t know, but that’s a whole lot. If they filmed them bi yearly then we talking about 14 years of this? Jeez. I guess the other one did go 10
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 6/4/2025, 5:52 AM
@MyCoolYoung - yeah, it's gonna be biyearly. That's a long time. By 2040 we'll be on the moon watching cheap horror knock offs starring the (by then) public domain characters of Batman, Superman and Captain America
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 6/4/2025, 9:18 AM
@bkmeijer1 - i hope I'm on Saturn but point still stands lol
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 6/4/2025, 11:59 AM
@MyCoolYoung - Europe sounds nice. I'd be moving from the continent to the moon
dragon316
dragon316 - 6/3/2025, 11:26 AM
Say it’s pay check

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