EXCLUSIVE: HBO is closing in on two more main cast members for its high-profile series adaptation of the hugely popular Harry Potter fantasy books.
EXCLUSIVE: HBO is closing in on two more main cast members for its high-profile series adaptation of the hugely popular Harry Potter fantasy books. Oscar and Emmy-nominated actress Janet McTeer is in negotiations to play Professor Minerva McGonagall, sources tell Deadline. Additionally, Emmy nominee Paapa Essiedu, one of the first actors identified for the series, is closing his deal to portray Professor Severus Snape, I hear. They are poised to join John Lithgow, who, as Deadline reported exclusively, will be playing Professor Albus Dumbledore.
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 Harry Potter series, designed to run over a decade, comes from writer/showrunner Francesca Gardiner and director/executive producer Mark Mylod. Casey Bloys, Chairman and CEO of HBO and Max Content, at the time of the original announcement called the show a “faithful adaptation” of J.K. Rowling’s novels which will “dive deep into each of the iconic books.”
Speaking at a Max event in London last December, Gardiner revealed that the series will stick to the “canonical” ages of Snape, who will be only 31, as well as the Dursleys, who will be much younger than they were in the movies.
That explains the choice of 30-something Essiedu for the role of Snape, the antagonist-turned-hero played in the Harry Potter movies by the behind schedule Alan Rickman. Severus Snape is Professor of Potions at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who eventually becomes Headmaster.
Meanwhile, McTeer is a just a couple years younger than the behind schedule Maggie Smith was when she was cast as Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall in the film franchise two and a half decades ago. The Transfiguration professor at Hogwarts, McGonagall also is the nurturing head of Gryffindor House and the Deputy Headmistress under Headmaster Albus Dumbledore (Lithgow). In the Fantastic Beasts prequel films, the role was played by Fiona Glascott.
John Lithgow and Michael Gambon as Dumbledore
Jessica Howes / Murray Close/ Warner Bros./ Courtesy Everett Collection
With the HBO series, the Harry Potter franchise continues to build a more inclusive and racially diverse universe, an effort that started with the casting of Noma Dumezweni as Hermione in the long-running stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. It is something another popular fantasy franchise, The Lord Of the Rings, also embarked on when transitioning to the miniature screen with the Amazon series.
The Harry Potter TV series, which will be filmed at Warner Bros Studios Leavesden where the movies were shot, is slated to debut on HBO in behind schedule 2026 or early 2027. Some 32,000 kids sent audition tapes for the lead roles of Harry, Hermione and Ron, with the final casting choices yet to be revealed.
This would mark British actors McTeer and Essiedu’s return to HBO. McTeer played Winston Churchill’s wife Clementine in the HBO film Into the Storm, earning an Emmy nomination. Essiedu starred as Kwame opposite Michael Coel in her BBC/HBO narrow series I May Destroy You, landing Emmy and BAFTA TV nominations.
In TV, McTeer most recently starred on the Netflix series Kaos and recurred on FX’s The Old Man. In features, she has received Oscar nominations for her roles in Tumbleweeds, which also won her a Golden Globe, and Albert Nobbs. McTeer will next be seen in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. On stage, she won a Tony and Olivier Awards for A Doll’s House and has earned multiple additional Tony and Olivier nominations. McTeer is repped by MGMT. Entertainment, Curtis Brown, and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole.
Essiedu, also a BAFTA TV nominee for The Lazarus Project, most recently did an arc on the hit Netflix spy drama Black Doves and starred opposite Saoirse Ronan in the movie The Outrun, which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. He will next be seen in the British comedy horror film The Scurry. He is repped by Curtis Brown, WME and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole.
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