The upcoming Harry Potter TV show — a reboot from HBO — has its work cut out for it. The books, and the movies based on the books, are essentially sacred material that by and large have been left alone. Compared to other IP of its size, Harry Potter has not been run into the ground with spin-offs, reboots, and additive material. On one hand, this is a pro for the reboot, as it is working with an IP that has not been tarnished by over saturation and messy handiling that has burned good will and exhausted fandom. At the same time, it is going to come under the microscope even more. More than this, it is releasing during a time, into a market, not very friendly to reboots.
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What is vital for the show is to get the casting right. If it gets the casting of the iconic and beloved characters of Harry Potter right, it has a great chance. If it stumbles in this department, it is going to be trying to climb a mountain with a broken leg.
All of that said, according to a recent report from Variety, HBO is eyeing Mark Rylance for the Dumbledore role. For those unfamiliar with the 64-year-old British actor, he is a decorated actor, and a knight, perhaps best known for his role as Rudolf Abel in Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies. Other notable jobs include his roles in Institute Benjamenta, Dunkirk, The Trial of the Chicago 7, The Other Boleyn Girl, Ready Player One, and Angels and Insects. He is a very established and a fairly decorated actor, and more than this, Harry Potter fans think he is a good fit for Dumbledore, or at least Harry Potter fans on Reddit think as much.
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“Seems perfect to me,” writes one fan on Reddit. “In the role that won him the Oscars and BAFTA (Bridge of Spies, 2015), he played a spy who seems like a quiet and little man who never once raised his voice, but you can almost feel the power, strong will and composure radiating off him. Something very Dumbledore if you ask me.”
“Phenomenal choice. I can see him pulling off both the aloof, twinkle-eyed grandpa side of Dumbledore and the darker, murkier side as well,” adds another fan.
Of course, there are some detractors who can’t envision the transformation or prefer another choice, but right now Rylance is who HBO has targeted. Whether they will be able to tie him down to the role though, remains to be seen. It seems a large amount of hardcore Harry Potter fans would be pleased if they manage to do this.
That said, and as always, feel free to weigh in with your own thoughts or, alternatively, hit me up on Twitter @Tyler_Fischer_ and let me know over there. What do you think of this potential Dumbledore casting?
