The Harry Potter HBO TV show has yet to officially cast a single character, but it is in the casting process, and some of its targets have leaked over the past couple of months. To this end, it has been reported the role of Dumbledore is down between Mark Rylance and Mark Strong. Meanwhile, Sharon Horgan and Rachel Weisz are being eyed for the role of Professor Minerva McGonagall. Ted Lasso fans on the other hand will hope the reports that Brett Goldstein being eyed for the role of Hagrid are true. These rumored castings have all been fairly contentious, however, the most contentious rumored casting so far has been Paapa Essiedu as Professor Severus Snape.
The rumored castings so far have all been met with backlash. And while these are major characters, they aren’t even the three main characters: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. There’s been no reports about who is going to play these characters. And if HBO doesn’t get these characters right, the backlash is only going to get worse. The same goes for the series’ antagonist Lord Voldemort. There also hasn’t been any solid reporting about who is going to play the iconic Harry Potter villain, but there have been rumblings of Cillian Murphy stepping into the role after Ralph Fiennes, who plays Voldemort in the movies, backed the actor to take over the reigns of the character.
While all of the castings above have been contentious, Harry Potter fans, like Fiennes, are actually quite fond of the idea of Cillian Murphy playing Voldemort. Of course, Cillian Murphy is not only a very accomplished actor, but he looks the part, unlike many of the castings above, which is very important to fans, most of which want a faithful adaptation of the books or at least characters similar to how they know them from the movies.
“Cillian as Voldemort I think is amazing,” writes on fan over on Reddit about the potential casting. “Pay Cillian whatever they can. He’ll be the best villain character ever,” adds another fan.
A third fan further adds to the discussion about Cillian Murphy playing the Harry Potter villain: “Cillian Murphy Voldemort would be peak casting.”
Of course, Cillian Murphy would be a huge get for HBO, but that’s why it would be an unlikely signature. The award-winning actor — coming off starring in 2023’s Oppenheimer — has promptly featured in television before. He was the star of Peaky Blinders, but this when he was in less demand. Not only would he be an expensive casting, but the chances he would be interested in making such a large commitment for a potentially contentious reboot seem slim. It it does happen though, Harry Potter fans will clearly be excited about it.
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