HBO is rebooting Harry Potter for televiison, and that means casting new actors as Hogwarts' students (who, for the most part, weren't born when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 was released in 2011).
Dominic McLaughlin (Gifted, Grow) takes over from Daniel Radcliffe as the Boy Wizard, and his predecessor recently revealed that he wrote to the actor to express support.
Now, McLaughlin has broken his silence (via SFFGazette.com) on what it meant to hear from Radcliffe, revealing that he received the letter while travelling on a train home to Glasgow. "It was insane," he enthused during a recent interview with BBC's Saturday Mash-Up! Live.
"My Dad tapped me on the train and just gave me this letter," McLaughlin continued. "I read it and then I got to the bottom, and it said, 'Dan R.' I was going mad, but I had to [keep cool]. I was on the train."
Asked how filming is progressing, he responded, "It’s going amazing, it’s going really well. I’ve made good friends with everyone, it’s great to be there."
Like Radcliffe before him, McLaughlin will devote the next decade or so of his life to playing Harry Potter. The days of year-long releases for new seasons of TV shows appear to be over, presenting HBO with quite a predicament.
After all, it won't work if the gaps between seasons of Harry Potter are as big as Stranger Things, resulting in the kids being adults by the time this adaptation of J.K. Rowling's novels ends. For this story—with each book taking place a year after the previous one begins—that won't work.
HBO CEO Casey Bloys recently addressed that when he said, "The plan is to still try and get it — I don’t know if it’s going to be like stop shooting Season 1 on Friday and start Season 2 on Monday. There’ll be a break in there, but we’re going to do whatever we can to not have a huge gap."
"For the kids, obviously, but also for viewers," he continued. "You know, trying to not have massive gaps. It is a big show, lots of special effects, obviously, massive operation, but we’re going to do what we can."
You can watch the full interview with McLaughlin in the player below.
Dominic McLaughlin has been cast in the role of Harry Potter, with Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger, and Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley.
Joining them will be Lox Pratt as Draco Malfoy, Rory Wilmot as Neville Longbottom, Tristan Harland as Fred Weasley, Gabriel Harland as George Weasley, Ruari Spooner as Percy Weasley, Gracie Cochrane as Ginny Weasley, Leo Earley as Seamus Finnigan, Alessia Leoni as Parvati Patil, Sienna Moosah as Lavender Brown, Amos Kitson as Dudley Dursley, Elijah Oshin as Dean Thomas, Finn Stephens as Vincent Crabbe, and William Nash as Gregory Goyle.
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, Louise Brealey as Madam Rolanda Hooch, Paul Whitehouse as Argus Filch, Sirine Saba as Pomona Sprout, Richard Durden as Cuthbert Binns, Bríd Brennan as Madam Poppy Pomfrey, and Warwick Davis as Filius Flitwick.
The series will also feature Katherine Parkinson as Molly Weasley, Johnny Flynn as Lucius Malfoy, Bel Powley as Petunia Dursley, Daniel Rigby as Vernon Dursley, Anton Lesser as Garrick Ollivander, Bertie Carvel as Cornelius Fudge, and Leigh Gill as Griphook.
Harry Potter 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.
HBO's Harry Potter TV series premieres in 2027.