HBO’s highly anticipated Harry Potter series has found its three leads. Dominic McLaughlin will play Harry Potter, Alastair Stout will portray Ron Weasley, and Arabella Stanton will be playing Hermione Granger. Since HBO held an open casting call last fall, over 30,000 actors have tried out for the main parts. It is anticipated that filming will start this summer.
McLaughlin appeared in “Grow,” a forthcoming Sky comedy featuring Nick Frost and Golda Rosheuvel, while Stanton played Matilda in “Matilda: The Musical” on the West End from 2023 to 2024. Stout’s first significant role will be in “Harry Potter.”
The previously announced cast includes John Lithgow (“Conclave,” “The Crown”) as Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer (“Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning,” “The White Queen”) as Minerva McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu (“I May Destroy You,” “Gangs of London”) as Severus Snape, Nick Frost (“Shaun of the Dead,” “Hot Fuzz”) as Rubeus Hagrid, Luke Thallon (Tom Stoppard’s “Leopoldstadt,” Rupert Goold’s “Patriots”) as Quirinus Quirrell and Paul Whitehouse (“The Fast Show,” “Harry & Paul”) as Argus Filch.
The series will reportedly cover one book season, so we can expect to see seven seasons of the series. The first season of the Harry Potter TV series on HBO will have 8 episodes, each one hour long. There is speculation about how the other seasons will be structured, but it is confirmed that the series will be a “decade-long” project. The extra time dedicated to the story should please fans of the books who felt too much was left out in the film adaptations.
The eight Harry Potter films in the main series have grossed approximately $7.75 billion worldwide. When including the three “Fantastic Beasts” spin-offs, the total gross for the entire Wizarding World franchise reaches around $9.5 billion. The franchise as a whole has been a cultural phenomenon, spawning a Broadway play, theme park lands and attractions, video games, and endless merchandise. It also made household names of the films’ cast, including stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint. Time will tell if the same will be true of the series cast.