HBO's Harry Potter TV series gears up to start shooting later this year. A huge cast reveal has to be somewhere on the horizon and, in the meantime, casting rumours for the cable network's take on author J.K. Rowling's beloved series of novels keep coming in thick and fast.
The 8-movie franchise grossed over $7.7 billion at the worldwide box office and there's plenty of interest in seeing a new approach to the books that expands on characters and moments there simply wasn't time for in a two-hour movie.
As we first reported on SFFGazette.com, scooper @MyTimeToShineH brings word today that, "Janet McTeer has been offered the role of Professor McGonagall in the upcoming Harry Potter series."
Deadline has also confirmed that McTeer is in talks and that Paapa Essiedu is pretty much a lock for Professor Severus Snape.
McTeer has racked up multiple Oscar and Emmy nominations and received acclaim for her work on stage and screen. Noteworthy film and TV credits include Tumbleweeds, Wuthering Heights, The Divergent Series, The Menu, Damages, Jessica Jones, and Ozark.
In the books, Professor Minerva McGonagall is the stern yet fair Transfiguration professor and head of Gryffindor House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
She's also a skilled Animagus who can transform into a tabby cat. McGonagall plays a key role in the fight against Voldemort and eventually becomes Hogwarts' headmistress. The character was played by Maggie Smith in the movies; she sadly passed away last September.
Paapa Essiedu (Gangs of London) is reportedly in talks to play Severus Snape, with John Lithgow now confirmed to play Albus Dumbledore. Sharon Horgan (Bad Sisters) and Rachel Weisz (Black Widow) could be on the cable network's radar for Minerva McGonagall, with Brett Goldstein (Thor: Love and Thunder) looking likely for Hagrid.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, meanwhile, has been named as a likely contender for Harry Potter's Aunt Petunia.
"Well, it came as a total surprise to me," Lithgow recently said of his casting. "I just got the phone call up 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. But I'm very excited."
"Some wonderful people are turning their attention back to Harry Potter," the actor added. " 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."
Francesca Gardiner (Succession) is Harry Potter's showrunner and previously said, "We have 8 hours to tell the first book, so we can dig into the real depths and crevices and how the language of magic can evolve."
Gardiner has also said the benefit of a TV series is that it gives them a "bigger sandpit to play in" than the movies Having more room to adapt these stories also means they can "really dig into the character arcs," though she's said her intention is not to "undo what was done so brilliantly" on the big screen.
As expected, the plan is to stick much closer to the books as well because Gardiner intends to cast characters to their "canonical" ages, meaning Snape will be in his 30s and the Dursleys are also set to be much younger than they were in the movies.
HBO's Harry Potter is also executive produced by Mark Mylod, J.K. Rowling, Neil Blair, and Ruth Kenley-Letts of Brontë Film and TV, and David Heyman of Heyday Films. The series is expected to premiere either in 2026 or 2027.