The HBO Harry Potter series has found its three leads.
Newcomers Dominic McLaughlin, Arabella Stanton and Alastair Stout have been cast as Harry, Ron and Hermione. They will play the starring roles in a TV epic that will span at least a decade. Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint did the same for the hit blockbuster movies.
Showrunner Francesca Gardiner and director Mark Mylod said: “After an extraordinary search led by casting directors Lucy Bevan and Emily Brockmann, we are delighted to announce we have found our Harry, Hermione, and Ron. The talent of these three unique actors is wonderful to behold, and we cannot wait for the world to witness their magic together onscreen. We would like to thank all the tens of thousands of children who auditioned. It’s been a real pleasure to discover the plethora of young talent out there.”
A whopping 32,000 kids had auditioned for what are undoubtedly three of the biggest TV roles of the coming decade.
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McLaughlin, Stanton and Stout will now prepare for cameras to roll, which will happen this summer at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden with the first season set to air in 2026. They are all relative TV newcomers. McLaughlin has a role in the BBC’s upcoming action adventure series Gifted while Stanton played Matilda in Matilda The Musical in London’s West End across several months.
The process to find the Boy Who Lived and his two best friends has gone on for months and months, we revealed in our deep dive several weeks back, following a much-publicized open callout published by the show’s casting director Bevan, which asked for children aged between nine and 11 as of April 2025 who were residents of the UK and Ireland. The call specified a commitment to “inclusive, diverse casting” and asked that, for each role, agents “submit qualified performers, without regard to ethnicity, sex, disability, race, sexual orientation and gender identity.” The initial round asked candidates to submit two videos, one performing a short story or poem and the second asking them to talk about themselves as well as “a family member, friend or pet that you are particularly close to.”
Adult cast so far revealed for the high-profile HBO adaptation include Paapa Essiedu taking on potions master Snape, John Lithgow as head master Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall and Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid.
The series has been described as a “faithful adaptation” of the beloved books and is being exec produced by the source material’s author J.K. Rowling, who has attracted controversy aplenty for remarks around trans rights over the past few months. It will land on the recently re-rebranded HBO Max (formerly HBO Max then Max). The series is written and executive produced by Gardiner. Mylod will executive produce and direct multiple episodes of the series for HBO in association with Brontë Film and TV and Warner Bros. Television. The series is executive produced by Rowling, Neil Blair, and Ruth Kenley-Letts of Brontë Film and TV, and David Heyman of Heyday Films.