HBO’s Harry Potter remake still has one big casting that is still missing. Luckily, it can take time when it comes to it. 16 years after Warner Bros.’ Harry Potter movie franchise wrapped up with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, the studio is revisiting the Wizarding World for a brand new retelling of the boy who lived’s story. This time, instead of being on the big screen, HBO is taking a significantly longer time to actually tackle his adventures by adapting the narrative to a TV series.
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Word of the remake first made the rounds in 2021, with showrunner Francesca Gardiner and director Mark Mylod leading the creative team for the project. By May 2025, major casting announcements were made, including Dominic McLaughlin as Harry Potter, Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley, and Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger. Meanwhile, John Lithgow, Janet McTeer, Paapa Essiedu, and Nick Frost were tapped as Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, and Rubeus Hagrid, respectively.
Noticeably, however, the Harry Potter TV remake is still missing an integral player in the franchise. While this might cause some concern, a delayed announcement makes sense when looking at the original film franchise.
HBO’s Harry Potter Remake Series Still Hasn’t Cast Voldemort
Nearly a year after the first look at the new main trio, the HBO series has yet to cast Lord Voldemort for the project. There have been countless rumors about who the project might be looking at for the story’s new overall villain, including some high-profile names, such as Cillian Murphy, Damian Lewis, Paul Bettany, and Mark Strong. Amid all of these murmurs, HBO remains tight-lipped about the matter, and that makes sense, considering how invested fans can be with casting ideas, especially with a character as big as the Dark Lord.
For what it’s worth, Murphy has definitively squashed rumors that he is secretly in talks to play Voldemort in the Harry Potter TV remake. As a brilliant actor, he would have been a great choice for the role. Couple that with his recent Academy Award-winning role in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, and it’s admittedly quite disappointing that he won’t be bringing the Dark Lord to life on the small screen. That said, dispelling the rumors right now allows the conversation about the casting to move forward. Now, discussions can focus on other candidates.
The good news is that, despite the production for the Harry Potter TV now in session, there’s no pressure for HBO to decide on its new Lord Voldemort actor anytime soon. Perhaps, the project hasn’t even started the process for the character
Why HBO Can Afford To Delay Harry Potter Remake’s New Voldemort Casting
Looking at the original Harry Potter film franchise, the new small screen reboot doesn’t need to cast the role anytime soon. In fact, the show can premiere with the actor for the character still undecided. Ralph Fiennes’ Lord Voldemort didn’t appear in the movies until Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire — the fourth movie in the series, and was released four years after Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
At this point, it’s uncertain how HBO plans to segment Harry Potter‘s overall story. The movies devoted one installment per book, bar the final one, as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was broken up into two films to ensure that it could properly tackle its dense narrative. Assuming that HBO follows the same principle, the Harry Potter TV remake has at least a couple of years to find its new Lord Voldemort — if not more. If the reception to the project is overwhelmingly positive, it wouldn’t be surprising if Warner Bros. Television and its partners try to stretch out its run longer, further capitalizing on the enduring popularity of the property.
In any case, one of the major benefits of a book-to-TV adaptation compared to a movie is how it allows storytelling to be more granular. As great as the film franchise was, it was limited by runtimes, as there was only so much that the filmmakers can include in one blockbuster. The upcoming series has more time to spend with characters, which gives it the chance to explore other unexplored aspects of the Harry Potter novels in a live-action setting.
This will effectively HBO even more time to find the perfect Harry Potter TV remake’s Lord Voldemort, which is not an easy feat, considering Fiennes’ well-loved version. Ultimately, however, it’s better to have an extended wait time for the announcement rather than HBO rush the process, resulting in a divisive choice.
The Harry Potter remake is expected to debut on HBO and HBO Max in 2027.
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