HBO’s new Harry Potter series has found its Harry, Ron and Hermione
HBO on Tuesday announced that it has cast the three lead actors in its upcoming Harry Potter show, the latest major screen adaption of the hugely popular original book series.
Dominic McLaughlin will play Harry Potter, Arabella Stanton will play Hermione Granger and Alastair Stout will play Ron Weasley, three best friends who meet on the train heading to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and, across seven books, go on adventures and wage magical battles against evil. The titles are among the bestselling books of all time.
The books’ author, J.K. Rowling, has become a controversial figure since their release in the late ’90s and 2000s after statements critical of the transgender rights movement. She will be an executive producer on the HBO series, Warner Bros. Discovery said when announcing it was in development.
“I’m looking forward to being part of this new adaptation which will allow for a degree of depth and detail only afforded by a long form television series,” she said in the statement. The show is expected to air in 2026 or 2027, according to trade publications.
McLaughlin will appear in the upcoming British comedy “Grow” alongside Nick Frost, who is also slated to appear in HBO’s Harry Potter series as the half-giant Hogwarts gamekeeper Rubeus Hagrid. Stanton has previously acted on the stage, including the lead role in “Matilda the Musical,” an adaption of the Roald Dahl book about a magical child, on London’s West End. Stout has previously acted in a commercial.
The trio were among tens of thousands who responded to HBO’s casting call for the series, which was for residents of Ireland and the United Kingdom who would be 9 to 11 years old in April 2025.
In a statement, Francesca Gardiner, the series’ showrunner and executive producer, and Mark Mylod, an executive producer who is slated to direct multiple episodes, said it had been an “extraordinary search.”
“The talent of these three unique actors is wonderful to behold, and we cannot wait for the world to witness their magic together on-screen,” they said.
The lead actors in the original Harry Potter movies — Daniel Radcliffe playing Harry Potter, Emma Watson as Hermione Granger and Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley — were relative unknowns when they were cast but became household names when “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” was released in 2001.
The HBO series is slated to be a decade long and will closely adhere to the source material, according to Warner Bros. Discovery. Other actors include John Lithgow, a rare American among the cast, as Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall, and Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape.