The world is preparing for a brand new vision of the Wizarding World to arrive on HBO, and original Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has revealed how he and his costars reacted to the new cast of the TV series.
HBO’s Harry Potter series is set to adapt each book in the franchise over each season, which will give the writers and filmmakers the chance to go much deeper into the source material.
HBO announced that newcomer Dominic McLaughlin had been cast as Harry alongside Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger, and Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley back in May 2025. They’re joined by the likes of John Lithgow as Professor Dumbledore and Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid.
Although the show won’t premiere until 2027, Radcliffe has opened up about how he reacted to the news along with Emma Watson and Rupert Grint.
Daniel Radcliffe say the original Harry Potter stars just want to hug the new cast
Radcliffe spoke to People ahead of his new show, The Rise and Fall of Reggie Dinkins, when the interview addressed the wand in the room, with the actor calling it “surreal” to watch a new cast starting on the same journey that he did. He then recalled how he reacted to the news with his costars
“It’s one of those where I think we all just know how the others feel, because we’re also feeling it,” he explained. “You just see the pictures of these kids, and you just want to grab them and hug them. That’s the impulse that I think that we, mainly, all have.”
The conversation clearly made Radcliffe reflect on his own time at Hogwarts, explaining that in hindsightt he realizes just how young he was when he joined the franchise.
“When you’re 11, and you’re doing something, you’re like, ‘Of course I’m old enough to do this — I’m the oldest I’ve ever been,’ he noted. But now when I meet 11-year-olds, I am like, ‘Whoa, that seems nuts.’ It puts it into perspective.”
Radcliffe pointed out that he’s grateful to his parents for navigating him through leading the massive franchise. “Honestly, it makes me admire – and I do tell them this, but my parents — more than I was capable of doing at the time. Just going like, ‘Wow, you got me through something crazy, and you did it with a huge amount of humor,’ yeah, it’s a big task.”
Don’t expect Radcliffe to pick up the wand again though. In 2023 he shot down the idea of returning to Harry Potter, saying that he’s “excited to have that torch passed. But I don’t think it needs me to physically pass it.”
Another star who’s not interested in returning is David Thewlis, who played Professor Lupin throughout the franchise after his introduction in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. He told Dexerto that he’s “sick of talking about it quite honestly.”
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