Harry Potter HBO series will be made into a film in summer 2025 after 32,000 auditions
Warner Bros. Discovery has announced that the upcoming Harry Potter series will begin filming this summer in Leavesden, where the films were also filmed.
During a presentation Thursday at Warner Bros. headquarters. Discovery in London, showrunner Francesca Gardiner and director Mark Mylod revealed that the show had auditioned 32,000 children for the lead roles, and that the casting team currently reviews between 500 and 1,000 audition tapes per year. day with the intention of seeing them all. Gardiner and Mylod also said that they will stick to the correct canonical ages for the characters: Severus Snape (possibly played by Paapa Essiedu) will be in his 30s, while James and Lily Potter will be younger, as the characters were 21 when they they died.
With the “Harry Potter” series coming to market over the course of a decade, Gardiner said she was excited to “really dive into the character arcs” and further explore Hogwarts, including the lives of the staff, both loved and feared . Mylod agreed that their intention was not to “undo what was done so brilliantly” with the films, but to evolve it. When it comes to the sets, Mylod said they don’t want to “mess around” with the Great Hall, but he is looking forward to expanding on Hogwarts’ architecture and showing how it may have changed over time .
The ‘Harry Potter’ series was officially ordered from Max in April 2023 and was announced to feature an all-new cast from the hit films. In September, the series opened a casting call for the roles of Harry, Ron and Hermione, saying they were “committed to inclusive, diverse casting.” While it is still unknown who will play the fearless trio, Variety revealed last month that Mark Rylance is top of the wishlist to play beloved Hogwarts headmaster Dumbledore.
The lead-up to the series was not without controversy, however, as book author JK Rowling continued to generate backlash with her views on transgender identity. However, HBO stood by her side and told Variety in a statement last month: “JK Rowling has the right to express her personal opinions. We will continue to focus on developing the new series, which will only benefit from her involvement.”
At the event Thursday, HBO chief Casey Bloys doubled down on that sentiment, saying he is “completely comfortable” with Rowling’s involvement and “not concerned about consumer reaction.”
