Deadline reports that John Lithgow is in final negotiations to play Professor Albus Dumbledore in HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter series. As has become customary with any of these Harry Potter casting stories, HBO declined to comment. “We appreciate that such a high-profile series will draw a lot of rumor and speculation,” the network said in a statement. “As we make our way through pre-production, we will only confirm details as we finalize deals.“
The casting process for the series has been in full swing, with plenty of names rumoured to be up for the iconic characters. We’ve already seen a few actors eyed for the role of Dumbledore, including Mark Rylance and Mark Strong. Personally, I was rather fond of the idea of Rylance playing the character, but I guess things didn’t work out.
Other actors who have been considered for the series include Paapa Essiedu as Professor Snape, Sharon Horgan and Lesley Manville for Professor McGonagall, and Brett Goldstein for Hagrid. However, nothing has been confirmed. As for Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, upwards of 32, 000 kids have auditioned for the roles, and the selection process is still ongoing. Succession‘s Francesca Gardiner will serve as a writer and showrunner on the series, while Mark Mylod signed on to executive produce and direct multiple episodes. The project was originally developed for Max but made the leap to HBO (along with a variety of other Max shows) last summer.
Each season of the Harry Potter TV series is said to cover one of Rowling’s novels, for a total of seven seasons. While the movies were able to fit quite a lot in, there were plenty of moments cut from the novels that the TV series will finally be able to bring to life. Last year, the studio released a statement saying, “Each season will be authentic to the original books and bring Harry Potter and these incredible adventures to new audiences around the world, while the original, classic and beloved films will remain at the core of the franchise and available to watch globally.” Production is expected to kick off in the summer of 2025.
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