HBO
The Harry Potter series has officially unveiled the trio of actors who will take on the main childhood roles. Dominic McLaughlin will play Harry Potter, Arabella Stanton will play Hermione Granger, and Alistair Stout will play Ron Weasley.
Casting officially started last fall, and in February, the showrunners reported that more than 30,000 actors had auditioned for the main children’s roles.
«After an extraordinary search led by casting directors Lucy Bevan and Emily Brockmann, we are thrilled to announce that we have found our Harry, Hermione and Ron. The talent of these three unique actors is amazing and we can’t wait for the world to see their magic together on screen. We would like to thank all the tens of thousands of children who auditioned. It was truly a pleasure to discover so many young talents,» said showrunner Francesca Gardiner and executive producer and director Mark Milod in a statement.
Roles in the Harry Potter film series brought Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint to worldwide fame in the early 2000s. The series could bring similar success to their young replacements, who are mostly new to acting: McLaughlin and Stanton have had cameo roles in movies, while Stout’s role as Ron Weasley will be his debut.
As a reminder, the previously revealed adult cast includesthe criticized Paapa Essied as Severus SnapeJanet McTeer (Minerva McGonagall), John Lithgow (Albus Dumbledore), Nick Frost (Rubeus Hagrid), Luke Tallon (Quirinus Quirell) and Paul Whitehouse (Argus Filch), who, by the way, is also a part of the cast, appeared in the original Harry Potter films in a cameo role.
The creators of the show promise a reliable adaptation of the books and will show adult characters younger than in the original films so that «adheres to Rowling’s canon» — we are talking in particular about the Dursley family and Severus Snape, who in the first book was only 31 years old.
The series will consist of 7 seasons, and its production will take at least 10 years. The first one is scheduled to be filmed in the summer, and the premiere is expected to take place in 2027.
Original author J.K. Rowling is involved in the project as an executive producer. Earlier, she faced criticism from The Last Of Us star Pedro Pascal, who called for a boycott of the new show because of the writer’s attitude towards LGBT people.