HBO‘s Harry Potter television series is getting closer to having its cast, just in time for the start of filming next summer.
During a Max 2025 slate presentation on Thursday with Casey Bloys, several members of the show’s creative team shared an update on its development, noting that they plan to start shooting mid-summer 2025.
Director and executive producer Mark Mylod also offered an update on casting, saying that 32,000 children auditioned for all the young roles, including the titular character, Harry Potter. Producers plan to watch every audition, with a team viewing between 500-1,000 per day.
“We haven’t made any final choices, but we’re workshopping with a shortlist in January. And there are some crackers,” Mylod says, adding that they want to focus on “the cream of British acting talent, this incredible tradition of brilliant theater actors and, of course, we’re following the books with the canonical casting.”
Writer and showrunner Francesca Gardiner said they are planning to stick to the correct ages, including Professor Severus Snape, 31, and Lily and James Potter, 21.
For the character of Snape, Mylod noted that “nobody can replace Alan Rickman, but we can find the next Alan Rickman,” who died in 2016 at age 69. The Hollywood Reporter exclusively reported on Wednesday that Paapa Essiedu was being eyed to play the Potions master in the series.
With the series set for a 2026 debut on Max, Gardiner teased that fans can expect to see areas of Hogwarts that have yet to be explored, while Mylod added that the show will focus on naturalism as opposed to the stylism of the films.
It was previously said that the Harry Potter show would be a “faithful adaptation” of author J.K. Rowling’s mega-successful fantasy series about the young British wizard. While Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint led the hit movie franchise, “the series will feature a new cast to lead a new generation of fandom, full of the fantastic detail and much-loved characters Harry Potter fans have loved for over 25 years,” per HBO.
At Thursday’s presentation, Bloys also addressed the controversies surrounding Rowling, who has frequently faced criticism for her anti-transgender sentiments. The author is an executive producer of the series. The HBO boss says, “I’m totally comfortable with it, and I’m not worried about it. Look at the huge success of the Hogwarts video game last year. I’m not concerned about consumer response.”
Lily Ford contributed to this report.