Five new residents for Hogwarts
HBO has added five performers to the first season of its Harry Potter adaptation, all of them voicing or playing figures tied to Hogwarts rather than its students. David Threlfall, known for Shameless and Nightsleeper, supplies the voice of the Sorting Hat. Leo Bill, whose credits include The Living and the Dead and Alice in Wonderland, takes the role of Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost. Andrew Brooke, seen in PhoneShop and The Agency, plays the Bloody Baron, the ghost attached to Slytherin. Daniel Fearn, of Things You Should Have Done and Slow Horses, is the Fat Friar, the Hufflepuff house ghost. Laura Smyth, who appeared in Baby Reindeer, plays the Fat Lady, the portrait standing guard at the entrance to Gryffindor House.[S1][S2][S3][S4][S5][S6][S7][S8]
A Christmas Day launch and a large ensemble
The first season adapts Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and is scheduled to reach HBO and HBO Max on Dec. 25. Its cast is extensive. Dominic McLaughlin plays Harry, Arabella Stanton is Hermione Granger and Alastair Stout is Ron Weasley. John Lithgow appears as Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape and Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid. Among the other announced names are Rory Wilmot as Neville Longbottom, Lox Pratt as Draco Malfoy, Warwick Davis as Filius Flitwick, Daniel Rigby and Bel Powley as Vernon and Petunia Dursley, Paul Whitehouse as Argus Filch, Johnny Flynn as Lucius Malfoy, Bertie Carvel as Cornelius Fudge, Katherine Parkinson as Molly Weasley and Richard Durden as Cuthbert Binns.[S1]
Season 2 is already being assembled
Production on a second season, based on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, is already in progress. Casting revealed so far includes Kit Harington as Gilderoy Lockhart, Bonnie Hill as Ginny Weasley, Lenny Rush as Dobby, Billy Barratt as Tom Riddle, Rafe Spall as Arthur Weasley, Molly Hewitt-Richards as Moaning Myrtle and Jasper Ambrose as Colin Creevey. Francesca Gardiner wrote the first season and serves as an executive producer. Mark Mylod is an executive producer and will direct several episodes for HBO, which produces the show with Brontë Film and TV and Warner Bros. Television. The executive producers also include J.K. Rowling, Neil Blair and Ruth Kenley-Letts of Brontë Film and TV, David Heyman of Heyday Films, Laura Neal and Jon Brown.[S1]
