HBO’s Harry Potter TV series has found its Hagrid in a beloved British actor. There are few IPs as recognizable and iconic as Harry Potter. The books were mega hits in their own right, but Warner Bros. really helped take things to another level. Thanks to movies, video games, merchandise, and even theme parks, Harry Potter has remained a pop culture juggernaut despite the books having concluded nearly 20 years ago. The films themselves have been done for nearly 15 years, minus the less acclaimed Fantastic Beast series which was abruptly canceled after the third film failed to impress. Nevertheless, despite those films not being as successful, it didn’t do any major damage to the IP.
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After David Zaslav took over WB, it was rumored that the company was interested in making new Harry Potter films, possibly via an adaptation of Rowling’s play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The story follows Harry Potter as an adult along with his kids who are attending Hogwarts. However, it seemingly didn’t happen because actors like Daniel Radcliffe were vocally disinterested in returning to Harry Potter. So, WB is doing the next best thing for itself and starting again with a Harry Potter TV series on Max. The series is expected to adapt one book a season with the aim being to use the longer runtime of a TV season to cover material from the books that the movies could not.
Harry Potter TV Series Casts Nick Frost as Hagrid
As of right now, we’re not quite sure how all of this will look, but the Harry Potter TV series has been assembling a cast for a while. We don’t know who is playing Harry, Hermione, or Ron, but we do know who will be playing some of the key supporting roles. John Lithgow has been taped to play Professor Dumbledore and now, it appears Shaun of the Dead star Nick Frost will be playing Hagrid. Deadline has reported that Frost is in negotiations to play the half-giant and beloved friend to the three young wizards. The article also notes that Frost seemed to be teasing something big on his Instagram on March 20th and is following Lithgow and Severus Snape actor Paapa Essiedu, fueling all kinds of speculation.
As of right now, HBO is remaining tight lipped on the casting and gave a statement to Deadline saying that it will only comment on this kind of news once deals are finalized. Nevertheless, Frost is an inspired choice for Hagrid and will likely be a great fit for the character in the upcoming Harry Potter series. While the films were filled with a strictly British cast, unless a character wasn’t British, it seems like the HBO show isn’t as strict about that. Lithgow is an American actor, so it’s possible other Americans could appear in the Harry Potter series as well. With that said, it does seem like the show will still feature a mostly British cast with actors like Nick Frost.
The Harry Potter TV series is expected to begin filming this summer, so it’s likely pre-production will be ramping up fairly soon with more casting announcements in the coming weeks. Some fans are pretty against the idea of a Harry Potter TV series, believing the movies were pitch perfect and anything else may feel somewhat redundant. However, we’ll just have to wait and see how it turns out.
What do you think of Nick Frost as Hagrid in HBO’s Harry Potter? Let me know in the comments below!
