Harry Potter fans- what do we think of the HBO show casting so far?

[AngeloMysterioso]

John Lithgow self-confirmed as Dumbledore;
Paapa Essiedu very heavily rumoured as Snape;
Janet McTeer apparently "in talks" to play McGonagall;
Phoebe Waller-Bridge rumoured as Petunia Dursley.

(Admittedly most of these are still conjecture).

For my part... I'm not sure about most of them. John Lithgow is a fantastic actor and did a brilliant job with Churchill, but he's nearly 80... I know Dumbledore's meant to be 100-and-something but as a character he's still very virile and powerful, and I'm not sure he'll be able to do that justice.

Paapa Essiedu as Snape. I thought he was great in Gangs of London, does a really good job with a quietly calculating, slightly sinister character with plenty of gravitas. But he's rather gorgeous, and Snape is not meant to be at all attractive. And, let's not beat around the bush... he's black. I'm not at all against colourblind casting where appropriate (Bridgerton, fantastic- black Anne Boleyn, half-Chinese Bess of Hardwick, not so much). I don't know how it will be possible to show the backstory of James, Sirius, Remus and Peter loathing and bullying Snape without it coming across as being in any way racially motivated, plus the optics of black person=villain isn't great (yes I know he is redeemed right at the very very end). If I were to give him a role, I'd have cast him as Remus. Still the same strong, serious, don't-mess-with-me vibe but without the menace and evil.

Janet McTeer as McGonagall- no problems there. She's excellent in everything I've seen her in, it'll be hard for anyone to fill Maggie Smith's shoes but hopefully she'll be up to the task.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Petunia... I wasn't sure at first but I'm hoping she'll be able to bring her comedy chops to the table and make the character funny as well as intensely unlikeable. I'm trying to imagine who could play Vernon opposite her though?

Interested to hear other people's thoughts about the cast so far and who they'd like to have in what roles if it's possible?

I think I'd give Tonks to Daisy Edgar-Jones, Voldemort to Benedict Cumberbatch, Lockhart to Glen Powell (is there scope to make that character American? I think so), Perhaps Kit Harington as Sirius and I think Natalie Dormer could absolutely go to town with Trelawney.

What do we think?

Harry having a Scottish accent will take a bit of getting used to. Although I only read he's Scottish so no idea what his accent is like.

Posh Scottish sometimes sounds almost completely English, and I bet it's a drama school standard thing these days to be able to do different UK accents. That said there'd be nothing wrong with him having a Scottish accent, although it wouldn't really fit with the character having been brought up in Surrey.

Anyone see that Tom Felton is going to be in the Broadway the Cursed Child as adult Draco? Makes me wonder whether he will have some sort of role in this also. Possibly even Lucius.

I think he's involved in the production side, but haven't seen him rumoured as being in it.

Here

Johnny Flynn as Lucius, Katherine Parkinson as Molly Weasley? Bertie carvell as Fudge, Daniel arigby as Uncle Vernon, Bel Powley as Petunia

BBC News - Bafta-winning stars announced for Harry Potter TV show
www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz70d7gy77zo

Literally could not be happier at Katherine Parkinson and Daniel Rigby, both excellent actors..

Love Katherine Parkinson in the It Crowd (and more recently here we go) I think she’ll be brilliant

I think Katherine Parkinson and Bertie Carvell are both good choices.

Johnny Flynn and the Draco actor look like a good father-son pairing. But I only know Flynn from Emma so quite a different character.

I like Bel Powley as well.

I’m generally pleased with the most recent casting decisions, but I’ve never been keen on Bel Powley, and she’s too young for the role.

I suppose Bel Powley is fairly age accurate, book Petunia would be around her age in the Philosophers stone.

I thought that but she’s not. She’s 33. That’s just right for Petunia, given the age of the actor playing Snape (34). It’s correct for the book.

I think it's interesting that Lucius Malfoy and Fudge have already been announced when neither were in the first book.

Makes sense to cast Lucius at the same time as Draco if they want family resemblance

I imagine they’ll be doing a lot of filming for later series at the same time - and flashback moments they may need, that kind of thing.

I can’t see them literally filming 1 season per year. Whilst yes the kids need to age as the series moves along, do they really want to risk it with the likes of John Lithgow who will be 80 later this year? I imagine they will film a lot of his coverage as soon as as they can.

Quite agree Paapa is not Snape. the description of Hermione in the books completely means she can be cast as a black actor but Snape just does not work.

I'm a huge HP fan & I don't think I'll be watching as I just don't think you can beat the originals

Johnny Flynn is also the singer songwriter who does the themes from Detectorists and Big Dig!

And Katherine Parkinson as Mrs Weasley, oh yes 👍

Resurrecting to chat Weasley cast photos from yesterday's filming at Kings x. I love the gingerness of the costumes and 90s vibe. The younger Weasleys still dressed by Molly in a mish mash of hand me downs and hand made/charity shop finds, the twins a bit more unmatched than previously .

I love the vibe, but arent the twins too old and molly too young? Minor things tho. I love rons actor hes so cute. Looks exactly how i imagine ron and hermiones son to look like!

Katherine Parkinson is 47, and I think in the first book her eldest son is maybe 20/21ish. So I don’t think she’s too young.

Julie Walters was 50 when she filmed the first film.

One thing all the new actors will have that the original cast didn't have is full knowledge of what will happen to their characters and their stories. Who'll die, who'll pair up, who'll kill. Tho JKR did apparently confide Snape's true nature to Rickman from the very beginning.

Loving all the little snippets of filming we are seeing!

I think they are paying a lot of attention to details. I noticed they had Harry dressed in oversized badly-fitting clothes and a very 90s-looking coat, all the cars on the road pre-1990s to fit in with the book time period. Someone also pointed out Ron is wearing a Chudley Cannons top (with the exact logo from the Quidditch Through the Ages book JK Rowling published years ago) as he is massive fan in the books.

Ahhh the 90s 😁🥰

According to Google (😜) Molly was born in 1949 and Arthur in 1950, so they would be about mid-40s by the time of the first book.

The same source says Lily and James were born in 1960 and about 20 when they were killed, so Snape/Sirius/Lupin/Pettigrew should all be in their 30s throughout the series.