HARRY POTTER TV Show Casts Professors Dumbledore, Snape, Quirrell, And More; Hagrid And Filch Also Announced

The upcoming Harry Potter TV series has finally started rounding out its cast, with six adult actors officially attached to take on the roles of Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Hagrid, Quirrell, and Filch.

News

By JoshWilding - Apr 14, 2025 11:04 AM EST

Filed Under: Harry Potter

Source: SFFGazette.com

Several actors have been rumoured to be in contention for Harry Potter in recent months, but HBO has officially added six adult cast members to this small screen adaptation of J.K. Rowling's beloved series of novels.

As we first reported on SFFGazette.com, series regulars will include six-time Emmy, two-time Tony Award, Olivier winner, and BAFTA and Oscar nominee John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore; Tony Award, Golden Globe, and Olivier winner, and Oscar and Emmy nominee, Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall; Emmy, Olivier, and BAFTA nominee Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape; and BIFA nominee Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid.

Newly announced guest/recurring cast include Luke Thallon as Quirinus Quirrell and five-time BAFTA winner Paul Whitehouse as Argus Filch.

Lithgow is best known for his roles in Dexter and The Crown. Janet McTeer has appeared in The Menu and Ozark, while Paapa Essiedu recently starred in Gangs of London and The Lazarus Project. Nick Frost, meanwhile, was featured alongside Simon Pegg in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, and will next be seen in How to Train Your Dragon.

Thallon is primarily a stage actor with no noteworthy screen credits but previously played Hamlet for The Royal Shakespeare Company. Whitehouse is a big name in the UK who has frequently collaborated with Bob Mortimer and appeared in Alice in Wonderland and The Death of Stalin.

"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," said Francesca Gardiner, showrunner and executive producer and Mark Mylod, director of multiple episodes and executive producer.

They added, "We’re delighted to have such extraordinary talent onboard, and we can’t wait to see them bring these beloved characters to new life."

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 Max where it’s available globally, including upcoming markets such as Turkey, the UK, Germany, and Italy, among others.

The upcoming 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.

As always, keep checking back here for updates on Harry Potter as we have them.

#HarryPotter TV series casts 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. pic.twitter.com/zI7yCtGlwt
— Josh Wilding (@Josh_Wilding) April 14, 2025

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139 Comments

1 2 3 4

Lisa89 - 4/14/2025, 11:37 AM

BLATANT RACISM INCOMING!

Odekahn - 4/14/2025, 12:03 PM

@Lisa89 - this casting is racist.

Scarilian - 4/14/2025, 12:08 PM

@Lisa89 -
The casting is actively racist and disrespectful in an adaptation sold as being 'faithful'

Lisa89 - 4/14/2025, 12:08 PM

@Odekahn - Because John Lithgow is American? 😏

Lisa89 - 4/14/2025, 12:08 PM

@Scarilian - Because John Lithgow is American? 😏

TheFinestSmack - 4/14/2025, 12:13 PM

@Lisa89 - Albus should be an English actor. Also way too old since this show would have to go until he's 95 and that is a massive gamble.

Lisa89 - 4/14/2025, 12:17 PM

@TheFinestSmack - Mason Gamble for Dumbledore? I don't know. He's only 39.

TheFinestSmack - 4/14/2025, 12:21 PM

@Lisa89 - Lol, Dennis the Menace isn't English either! Damn, I haven't thought about that movie in ages.

Scarilian - 4/14/2025, 12:34 PM

@Lisa89 -
Snape is defined by his looks as a parallel to Harry Potter, the idea that he's what Harry could have became if he had let the Dursleys abuse of him impact him. This adaptation was stated by those involved to be getting made entirely for a 'faithful adaptation' being as close to the books as possible.

• In the source material Harry Potter dislikes Snape instantly, this now has racial connotations.
• In the source material James Potter singles out Snape because of how he looks, this now has racial connotations.

By changing the race/visuals of the character you change the context of the story and if the source material is irrelevant to this then you devalue the project's entire stated goal.

At its core: John Lithgow still fits the visuals of Dumbledore, Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape does not.

TheFinestSmack - 4/14/2025, 12:42 PM

@Scarilian - Harry will be black in this version. Taking bets.

Lisa89 - 4/14/2025, 12:45 PM

@Scarilian - So, in your assessment, the book makes clear that Harry dislikes Snape because he is white? That's fascinating.

DrDReturns - 4/14/2025, 12:53 PM

@Scarilian - Agreed.

Also, not like he was going to be able to compete with Rickman anyway ;-)

vegetaray - 4/14/2025, 12:54 PM

@Scarilian - Harry is going to be black, or mixed race. Fairly clear that’s the approach they’ll be taking with this.

Which brings up a whole separate issue…They’re going to show a black / mixed race child being locked in a closet and treated as what is tantamount a slave by his “family”?

Scarilian - 4/14/2025, 1:01 PM

@Lisa89 -
I responded to another comment with the same question - and yes, in the books Harry takes an instant uneasy and suspicion of Snape simply because he looks at him. His visuals the primary reason with the books repeatedly describing Snape as such. They show this in the film, accompanied with suspenseful music, but don't explore it.

Then later his dislike for Snape grows.

@TheFinestSmack -
It's rare they do this to the primary lead character because they generally want to sell the product. It's effectively the Simpsons meme, creatively bankrupt corporations where they'll alter or add something in order to sell the same product over and over again - only this time they'll call you 'ists' if you dislike the new thing they added.

fenrirschains - 4/14/2025, 1:21 PM

@TheFinestSmack - John Lithgow somewhere 😳

DrDReturns - 4/14/2025, 2:40 PM

@vegetaray - Ron will be black/mixed. Redhead...

UncleHarm1 - 4/14/2025, 3:28 PM

@Scarilian - Did you know you can judge someone on their appearance and dislike them, all without race being a factor? Like I take one look at Kevin Hart and I know his comedy is not for me. He just looks like a goofy comedian. But I love Dave Chappelle... so where's the racism?

Heaven forbid a clueless child make a snap judgement about someone and then learn to evolve their opinion. Who wants to see a story about character growth anyway.

Also, according to JK "Transphobia" Rowling, Harry's friend Hermione is canonically black. So I think maybe with context clues people can figure out that he doesn't hate Snape because he's racist.

Scarilian - 4/14/2025, 6:00 PM

@UncleHarm1 -

J.K.Rowling has said a lot of things since, but the books still exist and are the core source material. She wrote them as having white skin and to be faithful to the source material, as they advertised the show as a faithful adaptation, requires delivering on what was written - not her insane post-book retcons.

"so where's the racism?"

Black-washing Snape makes it so the only black professor at Hogwarts in the HBO series so far is the one Harry hates.

To dispel this notion from a narrative point of view you'd need Harry to show that he has positive interactions with other black characters. The trouble is there's nobody else that Harry interacts with for quite a while where he has a positive interaction outside of Rons lineage and Hermione. You have Neville who grows to be an ally, but the trio spend the book thinking he's disturbed and end up doing a spell on him because he gets in the way. Cho Chang could be introduced early and race swapped but AVPM already did that gag.

In Harry Potter, the interactions he has with the professors are generally trivial except for Snape, Lupin, Moody, Dolores and Slughorn. The only solidly positive one of these is Lupin - who they'll probably race swap him to dispel the notion that Harry & James Potter's dislike of Snape is racially motivated. Though Lupin won't be around until Season 3.

Just the consequences of race swapping characters recontectualizes the lived experiences of that character and the characters around them. This is the same argument people use for why it is important to have representation yet they never apply that to the characters they swap for a bait whenever they try and leech off existing properties.

twistedcastles - 4/14/2025, 6:06 PM

@Scarilian - JK Rowling was making up stuff as she went I doubt she was thinking that deep about Snapes appearance being important, and even then this show is something she has control over so as the original creator of the story she doesnt feel it changes her story

from a story perspective Snape is meant to look different and imposing ( they can cast other black good guy roles to counteract this, its way too early to tell )
something that will be down to acting,
this is an adaptation its implied James hates Snape because he is Lilys friend , Snape antagonizes Garry too
there are lots of ways those dynamics can be recreated without referring to race

Race also isnt seen as important in those books either I doubt Snape being black will change anything about his story at all either
race in the books exists within the confines of wizards and muggles

twistedcastles - 4/14/2025, 6:12 PM

@Scarilian - I doubt Snape will be the only prominent character cast as black,

book one is very short its likely new material will be added to the series for a 8 episode season with hour long episodes

Scarilian - 4/14/2025, 6:39 PM

@twistedcastles -
"I doubt Snape will be the only prominent character cast as black"

Who else could they race swap and then shove into a prominent position? The only other one I could maybe think is Neville - but they treat him badly in this book also.

Other than Lupin, who I expect they'll race swap IF they get to Season 3, there's nobody left to race swap who Harry has a positive interaction with.

You can't even bring forward characters from future books because he doesn't have anyone who has a large enough role later when the story gets more complicated.

So they are now stuck, sure they can have a diverse selection of random Gryffindors, but they'd have to create a new character for HBO specifically to be the 'black friend' stereotype for Harry.

"book one is very short its likely new material will be added to the series for a 8 episode season with hour long episodes"

It's 17 chapters long, likely 3 chapters for episode one followed by 2 chapters each for the remaining episodes. 2 chapters an episode may seem like a lot, but you'd have to build up the structure in each episode as they'd need to work as individual episodes.

UncleHarm1 - 4/14/2025, 7:29 PM

@Scarilian - So if you race-swap a character and then make the show about politics it's shoe-horning. And if you race-swap a character and don't mention their race at all, it's racist. Because of the implications. It's there a right way to do it? Or should all mainstream movies be just white people because it's "respectful to the source material"?

Sounds to me like you just have a lot of mixed feelings when you see a black person, and get so distracted that you can't enjoy what ur watching. That sounds like trolling when I say it but I'm serious lol and I mean it as respectfully as possible.

elcapitan - 4/14/2025, 8:36 PM

@Scarilian - So essentially, what you're saying is, the one character that is misjudged more than any other, being taken for evil when all the while he was actually the most loyal and caring is being played by a black man. And you think that's a problem. Seems right on the hook nose to me!

elcapitan - 4/14/2025, 8:39 PM

@Scarilian - Hermione was played by a black actor in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. It's been successfully running on Broadway for almost a decade. You have a problem with that too?

SolarSoldier - 4/15/2025, 2:01 AM

@TheFinestSmack - Did you complain when American actor Robert Downey Jr played Dr Dolittle?
Did you complain when British actor Aaron Pierre was cast as American John Stewart?
Did you complain when American actor David Harbour played Russian Red Guardian?

No. So put a sock in it.

whoknows - 4/15/2025, 2:46 AM

@Scarilian - I feel two ways about it.
1. I cant imagine anyone replacing Alan Rickman, but with a race swap, as ridiculous as it may seem, it might help me to detach from Alan’s performance. Cuz you go with anyone with his likeness and I’ll think about Rickman.
2. I’m trying to imagine all the shady shit in early books and all the mistrusting from the kids and snitching on Snape and now he’s a black man, I don’t think that’s gonna read very well. Harry might seem a lil racist lol.

So idk, I’m pretty nonchalant about this reboot. But I’ve always championed HBO shows, they have such a good track record for quality tv, so that’s where I put my faith.

TheFinestSmack - 4/15/2025, 8:15 AM

@SolarSoldier - I did complain when RDJ was cast as Dolittle. I don't know who American John Stewart is and I never saw anything Red Guardian was in. You can choke on the other sock.

OptimusCrime - 4/14/2025, 11:37 AM

Am i the only one who finds the Harry Potter movies timeless?

I watch them annually after i finish the LOTR trilogy.

Matador - 4/14/2025, 11:42 AM

@OptimusCrime - Both great watches the show will be hard to beat the movies. Too bad The Chronicles of Narnia never reached that popularity.

HashTagSwagg - 4/14/2025, 11:43 AM

@OptimusCrime - I can only get as far as 3, I'll rewatch clips of the later stuff with Voldmort and and that dark sh1t but the in-between stuff that came after the third film has always been hard to shit through, especially awkward romances.

MyCoolYoung - 4/14/2025, 11:54 AM

@OptimusCrime - ummm somewhat… prisoner of Azkaban use to be my favorite of the series but my last watch of it, it was kind of rough for whatever reason. Chamber of secrets rocks though. I grew to appreciate the last two a lot more in my adult hood than I did as a young adult

JustAWaffle - 4/14/2025, 12:13 PM

@OptimusCrime - Yeah we watch LOTR once a year in the Spring and HP closer to Christmas. I can’t imagine this show doing as well with that kind of traditional backdrop to it.

DrDReturns - 4/14/2025, 12:49 PM

@OptimusCrime - The wife and I do the same. We don't always make it every year ;-)

She being the HP fan, and I LOTR :-)

THEKENDOMAN - 4/14/2025, 11:44 AM

🤦🏾‍♂️ So they are still moving forward with this🤦🏾‍♂️

For [frick]s Sakes.

TheJok3r - 4/14/2025, 11:47 AM

@THEKENDOMAN - It's such a shame that the only thing they could think to do with this rich world is a remake of something we already have. Why not a Hogwarts Legacy type of story set in the past ? Why not visit some of the other schools ? The lack of vision and imagination they have just hurts.

THEKENDOMAN - 4/14/2025, 11:57 AM

@TheJok3r - 😂😂 After seeing what @HashTagSwagg posted, maybe if they did a black version of Harry Potter that could be something different. 🙄

TheFinestSmack - 4/14/2025, 12:24 PM

@THEKENDOMAN - "maybe if they did a black version of Harry Potter that could be something different."

they already did tho...

THEKENDOMAN - 4/14/2025, 12:55 PM

@TheFinestSmack - [frick]ing hell. Really?

Have you sent it? Was it good?

JustAWaffle - 4/14/2025, 1:12 PM

@TheJok3r - Yeah. Some movies are 50+ year films where it would only make sense to reboot after that amount of time. Some are timeless, not needing a reboot. I’d put the HP series into the former. And it’s a dang shame they can’t get creative around that world.

TheFinestSmack - 4/14/2025, 1:47 PM

@THEKENDOMAN - I tried but couldn't make it 15 minutes. Only watched since Justice and Grier were in it but nah...couldn't stomach it.

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HARRY POTTER TV Show Casts Professors Dumbledore, Snape, Quirrell, And More; Hagrid And Filch Also Announced

The upcoming Harry Potter TV series has finally started rounding out its cast, with six adult actors officially attached to take on the roles of Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Hagrid, Quirrell, and Filch.

HARRY POTTER: Nick Frost In Final Talks To Play Hagrid In HBO Adaptation

HARRY POTTER TV Series Eyeing JESSICA JONES Star Janet McTeer To Play McGonagall; Snape Actor Likely Set

DISCLAIMER: As a user generated site and platform, ComicBookMovie.com is protected under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) and "Safe Harbor" provisions.