Credit: Warner Bros.“Something wicked this way comes” as the brand-new Harry Potter television series is officially underway. But will a certain actor from the films return in a different role?
The live-action series, which is being developed for the streaming service giant Max (formerly HBO Max), will consist of seven seasons, each one dedicated to one of the books by JK Rowling. It will reportedly run for “10 consecutive years” according to Deadline.
Earlier this year, Daily Mail Online reported that the budget is around $200M per season and that production is heading to the Warner Bros. backlots in Leavesden, UK, home of The Making of Harry Potter, where all eight films in the series were shot.
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While there have yet to be any casting announcements, we know the series will call upon new actors to fill the robes of every Wizarding World inhabitant from the books and the films. Executive producer Rowling will reportedly have the “final say” on who plays who in the series.
Unsurprisingly, Warner Bros. Television Studios Group chairwoman and CEO Channing Dungey previously told Variety that finding suitable actors to play the likes of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, characters now synonymous with Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson, respectively, will be “tricky.”
However, since the reboot was announced, there have been a handful of cast members from the films who’ve expressed an interest in returning to star in the series as different characters. Now, Neville Longbottom actor Matthew Lewis, 34, has been asked once again whether he wants to be involved.
In a recent interview with People at the Harry Potter store in New York City, the actor who played the lovable Gryffindor student in all eight Harry Potter films said he’s “not in any rush” to return to the Wizarding World, whether it’s to play Neville again or a new character.
“The reason I got into this job [acting] in the first place was because I have a very short attention span,” he said. “I am very, very poor at maintaining anything for any length of time. I’ve had many, many hobbies and passions over the years. Not a single one do I still do. I fall madly in love with things and then almost immediately forget about them.”
Lewis previously told People that, if he had to, he’d return as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher/werewolf Remus Lupin, who’s played by David Thewlis in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 (2011). “If I was to have a go, that would be one that I’d do,” he eventually said after plenty of encouragement from co-star Jason Isaacs.
In that same interview earlier this year, the Lucius Malfoy star joked that he’d like to come back as Dobby the House Elf, who was played by Toby Jones in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1 (2010).
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Now, asked if he’d accept a role on the new series, Lewis admitted that such an offer would be conflicting. “It’s not something I’m looking at or want to do but would not turn my nose up at,” he said. “I’d be very interested to see if it was Neville as an adult — a whole different vibe. That could be interesting. I would certainly look at that and consider it.”
Unlike Neville Longbottom, who goes on to become a Herbology professor after graduating from Hogwarts, Lewis has done it all, adding that he loves not knowing what comes next in his career. “I’ve been a nurse, I’ve been a police officer, I’ve been a soldier, I’ve been a wizard, I’ve been all these different things. I never know what’s up next, and I love that.”
Another actor who’s thrown his wizard hat in the ring is Tom Felton, who told the Happy Sad Confused podcast in 2022 he’d “definitely consider” returning as an older Draco Malfoy in a big-screen adaptation of the West End play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2016).
That same year, Ralph Fiennes told Variety there’d be “no question about” reprising his role as dark wizard Tom Riddle/Lord Voldemort in the upcoming Max reboot.
As for the likes of Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), and Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), it’s unlikely we’ll ever see them in the Wizarding World again, whether it’s to reprise their original roles or play different characters.
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Radcliffe and Watson, in particular, have publicly distanced themselves from Harry Potter author and creator JK Rowling due to her divisive views on gender identity, which have seen her clash with the trans community on X (Twitter) numerous times over the past few years.
Radcliffe has admitted on more than one occasion that he won’t be returning.
Last year, he told ComicBook.com that he’s “sure whoever is making them [the reboot] will want to make their own mark on it and probably not want to have to figure out how to get old Harry [Potter] to cameo in this somewhere,” adding that he’s “definitely not seeking it out in any way” but that he wishes the new Harry Potter actor “all the luck in the world.”
The good news is that your favorite Harry Potter characters will show up long before the television series arrives on Max (which is expected to be sometime in 2026) in a new installment set for release this year. Although that project will also involve a full recasting.
Would you like to see any of the original Harry Potter actors return in the new series? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!