There has been a lot of buzz about the new Harry Potter TV series, and I thought I'd join in.
When the series was announced and confirmed in April 2023, I didn't think much as first. I thought, "They just finished The Secrets of Dumbledore, and the series ended nearly 12 years ago. We don't need a reboot, we need to finish Fantastic Beasts or make a story about the Marauders, The Founders of Hogwarts, a adaption of Hogwarts Legacy, or something." I thought about this until April of 2025.
Castings for Dumbledore, McGonagall, Hagrid, Snape, Quirrell, and Flich were announced, and I was pretty shocked by the castings. They were casting someone to play Snape, and there were many backlash online. Sure, people were saying it would ruin the James-Lily-Snape dynamic and that James and Sirius were now bullying a kid not because he is poor, but he is black; racism. And I get how Snape being "sallow of skin" doesn't match the actor playing him, but still, the actor playing Snape is a good actor. It's worse when people literally want the actor playing Snape to play Shacklebolt, or wanting him fired. It's too late now, even Adam Driver couldn't get the role, he's only 41, and the actor playing Snape matches Snape's age of 31 in the Philosopher's Stone.
It wasn't until May of 2025. I saw the announcement on Instagram, and noticed the comments were turned off. Good, finally no backlash. I saw the image of the new Harry, Ron, and Hermione. People were obviously mad. People kept posting things like "How dare you stand where he stood!", mainly because of two things. 1), Dominic McLaughlin doesn't have green eyes, and 2) Arabella Stanton's colour. I get how J.K. Rowling said she didn't mention Hermione's race, but it is up to interpretation. Hermione is described to be "very brown" in Prisoner of Azkaban, and I get it, Arabella is perfect for the role, though her hair could be more brown and bushy. The castings are perfect though.
June came, and nine more announcements came. Molly, Draco, Lucius, Seamus, Parvati, Lavender, Petunia, Vernon, and Fudge. The castings are too, perfect, including, Bel Powley, she's 33, exactly the age Petunia was in the first novel. Though Daniel Rigby isn't that muscular as book Vernon.
July changed everything. 14th July, production has finally started, and boy, I was surprised. They showed Dominic McLaughlin in costume as Harry. I loved how they FINALLY made his hair messy, something in the first movie never happened, and that McLaughlin ISN'T allergic to green contact lenses, along with him having brown rimmed-glasses, and his eyes are almond-shaped. I do love the scar too, it's just a bit far, it's supposed to be over his right eye. Though, I like that the scar has no red scratch and that the lightning looks realistic. But the uniform. The Hogwarts uniform looked about the same to the films. However, I brushed it off. Maybe the costume designer just wanted to make these as a nod to the films. Then came the next day, and they revealed Nick Frost as Hagrid, and I was a bit mixed about it. The clothes he is wearing almost matches Robbie Coltrane's original portrayal of Hagrid, but maybe the clothes are just timeless? No wonder Chris Columbus mentioned it. I thought to myself, "What's the point?" A few days later, news broke that production at the London Zoo began, and boy I was impressed. They are sticking it to the 90s. I noticed that Dudley has blond hair, Petunia is FINALLY blonde, Daniel Rigby as Vernon isn't that bad, and they finally have PIERS POLKISS. I knew that they promised to be faithful to the book sources, and I was impressed, especially with the 90s clothing. So I went online and researched the trends, such as windbreakers, colour blocking, and colourful, hip-like clothing. Imagine a 60s version of Harry Potter set during the Hippie era.
August came, and I was dying for more news. Another banger dropped. On the BBC, Dominic was interviewed, he said, "It was like, the dream role." So Dominic must be excited that as a Harry Potter fan, his dream was coming true. Arabella was also interviewed, saying she is kind of like Hermione, much like when Daniel Radcliffe in 2000 said he is kind of like Harry. Then another announcement came. They finally announced Ron's siblings. Gracie Cochrane was literally a fan casting choice. She was like everyone's number one bet before she was cast, and it was true. Gracie looked beautiful, like Ginny was stated, and I hope they don't make Ginny horrible as the movies did. And they cast actual twins to play Fred and George, and they finally have red hair, something James and Oliver Phelps did not have. I'm just wondering if they met at the audition. Percy is good too, he just needs glasses. A few more days passed, and filming was spotted at King's Cross. Perfect again. Molly is beautiful, and come to think of it, her earrings, her clothes, her hairstyle? It kind of looks like the Weasleys aren't THAT poor. In my head canon, I believe the Weasleys are not poor poor, but middle class, they just can't afford big and popular stuff. Ginny looks nice in her clothes too, so does Fred and George, and Ron was wearing a Chudley Cannons shirt, his favourite Quidditch team. And Ron's hair is also frizzly too. I was hoping for more, hopefully I get to see the other cast members in costume.
Finally, September. It was the 1st of September. I heard that Warwick Davis was returning as Flitwick. Again, I thought again, "What's the point?" they could've just cast someone else, but I guess Flitwick was legendary, so yeah. More castings came. They made Crabbe have blonde hair and they exactly described his hairstyle in the books, and the rest is fine, I was excited when Binns was going to be there. Leigh Gill, who will be Griphook, has also appeared in Fantastic Beasts, he was a goblin named Red. I guess everything is perfect then (idk about Snape, but he is fine) I cannot wait for the series to be released in 2027, and hopefully castings for Peeves and Charlie Weasley to be announced. I was a bit interested when they announced Season One would have eight episodes with one hour per each, along with they would be using less CGI and more partial effects. This is something that the books might as did, but I was shocked that it would be the most expensive TV show in history, at one billion dollars.
One question though, I don't know if Angelina Johnson and Terry Boot were cast yet. There is only one source to backup their claim, Redanian Intelligence. So for me, I guess that the castings for Angelina and Terry were cast, but weren't actually announced, even the official Harry Potter website didn't announce it. I was hoping they would be announced on 1st September, but they didn't.
Besides, Redanian Intelligence isn't a reliable website and isn't official too, and they didn't provide proof from official Harry Potter sources to back up their claim. I guess those castings were just clickbait or fancastings, maybe even possible leaks. Maybe Redanian Intelligence probably leaked it. But I'm not sure Asha Soetan and Aaron Zhao were actually casted as Angelina and Terry. I guess they were considered, but NOT announced yet. Let me know what you think.
https://redanianintelligence.com/2025/07/26/hbo-harry-potter-add-angelina-johnson-to-its-cast/
https://redanianintelligence.com/2025/08/09/hbo-harry-potter-adds-terry-boot-to-its-cast/
Alright, that is basically it for this essay. Hopefully this makes you interested. Let me know what you think in the comments! Bye~
