HBO’s Harry Potter TV show is continuing to flesh out its cast and, surprisingly, that includes bringing back an actor from the movies. Production on the remake is currently underway, and so far, it has featured a brand-new set of actors in the roles. That obviously includes youngsters Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout, and Arabella Stanton as Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, respectively, but also the adult cast, such as John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore and Nick Frost as Hagrid.
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As the Harry Potter cast is rounded out, one actor is going back to Hogwarts. As officially announced on the Harry Potter website, Warwick Davis will return to play Filius Flitwick, the Hogwarts Charms professor. Davis appeared in all eight Harry Potter movies, playing both Flitwick and the goblin Griphook (plus a Gringotts Bank Teller). Interestingly, Davis effectively played two different versions of Flitwick in the films. In The Philosopher’s Stone and The Chamber of Secrets, he appears as an old wizard with long white hair and a matching beard. Davis’ appearance changed drastically for The Prisoner of Azkaban, where he had shorter dark hair and a mustache. Initially, that wasn’t the same character, but rather just the choir master. However, the new look was kept for Flitwick in subsequent movies.
Alongside Davis, several other new additions were announced. That includes his other former role, Griphook: the Gringotts goblin will now be played by Leigh Gill. Several Hogwarts students and professors were also revealed, including the confirmation that the ghost Professor Binns will finally appear on-screen, having been cut from the movies. The full list of the cast’s new additions is as follows:
- Warwick Davis as Professor Flitwick
- Sirine Saba as Professor Sprout
- Richard Durden as Professor Binns
- Elijah Oshin as Dean Thomas
- Finn Stephens as Vincent Crabbe
- William Nash as Gregory Goyle
- Leigh Gill as Griphook
What The Flitwick Casting Means For The Harry Potter TV Remake
There has long been a question of whether original movie actors would return for the TV show, and even some casting suggestions. For example, it had been speculated that Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy, could step into the role of Lucius Malfoy, but that was killed when Johnny Flynn was cast instead. It’s unlikely any of the original three main actors – Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, or Emma Watson – will return in any way, as it’d risk overshadowing the new “Golden Trio.”
Bringing Davis, 55, back is understandable, because he was good as Flitwick in the movies, but wasn’t so major a part of them that his return will overshadow the new cast. However, this also fits with the idea that the TV show is not straying too far from what the films did. A lot of the iconography and design is returning – the first look at Hagrid revealed his costume to be near-identical to the one worn by Robbie Coltrane; the show is so far using the same logo – and so the remake appears to be leaning into nostalgia.
As for the rest of the new cast, Binns is the most notable name. Part of the point of the remake is to strive for more book accuracy, and his casting continues that trend. The History of Magic teacher isn’t a major character by any means, but is part of the makeup of Hogwarts, so that should be an encouraging sign to fans hoping for much greater fidelity to the source material.
The Harry Potter TV remake is currently filming, with Season 1 expected to release on HBO and HBO Max sometime in 2027.
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