Credit: Warner Bros.Hogwarts is getting ready to welcome students again, but Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger won’t be the only familiar names waiting inside the castle.
HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter television series is rebuilding the Wizarding World with a new generation of actors, and that means recasting some of the franchise’s most recognizable characters. While much of the attention has naturally centered on the young trio at the heart of the story, Hogwarts’ teaching staff will play an equally important role.
Seven professors from the original story are now confirmed for the new series, including some characters who became fan favorites during Warner Bros.’ eight-film run.
There is also one particularly interesting twist: one actor from the original movies is actually returning to Hogwarts.
HBO Is Rebuilding Hogwarts for a New Generation
Rather than continuing the story established by the movies, HBO’s Harry Potter series will start over and adapt J.K. Rowling’s books for television.
The first season will return viewers to the beginning of Harry’s journey, meaning Hogwarts will once again be filled with characters introduced during Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001).
That includes seven members of the Hogwarts faculty who previously appeared in the films.
Here’s who is coming back and who will play them this time.
Albus Dumbledore
It would be difficult to imagine Hogwarts without its headmaster.
Albus Dumbledore will return for the HBO series, with John Lithgow taking over the legendary role.
Dumbledore serves as Hogwarts’ headmaster when Harry arrives at the school and quickly becomes one of the most important adults in his life. Richard Harris originally portrayed Dumbledore in the first two movies before Michael Gambon assumed the role for the remainder of the original film series.
Lithgow now has the difficult task of creating a new interpretation of a character closely associated with both previous actors.
Minerva McGonagall
Professor Minerva McGonagall is also returning.
Janet McTeer will play Hogwarts’ Deputy Headmistress, Transfiguration professor, and Head of Gryffindor House.
Maggie Smith made McGonagall one of the most recognizable characters in the movies, appearing throughout all eight films. The character also plays an important role very early in Harry’s Hogwarts experience, including helping him join the Gryffindor Quidditch team after witnessing his natural ability on a broom.
McTeer will now have an opportunity to explore McGonagall over a much longer television format.
Severus Snape
Few casting decisions were going to receive more attention than Severus Snape.
Alan Rickman’s performance became inseparable from the character for many movie fans, but Paapa Essiedu will take over the role for HBO.
Snape begins the story as Hogwarts’ Potions professor and Head of Slytherin House. His relationship with Harry remains one of the saga’s most complicated, with his true motivations gradually becoming clearer as the story progresses.
Essiedu will have considerably more screen time to explore those layers if HBO’s adaptation follows the books across multiple seasons.
Quirinus Quirrell
Professor Quirinus Quirrell will return as well, with Luke Thallon stepping into the role.
Quirrell serves as Hogwarts’ Defense Against the Dark Arts professor during Harry’s first year and becomes increasingly important as the mystery surrounding the Sorcerer’s Stone unfolds.
Ian Hart played Quirrell in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001), but the character only needed to appear in that opening installment. Thallon will now inherit the role as HBO begins Harry’s story again.
Madam Hooch
Flying lessons are apparently returning to Hogwarts, too.
Louise Brealey will portray Madam Rolanda Hooch, Hogwarts’ flying instructor and Quidditch referee.
Zoë Wanamaker originally played Hooch in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001), most memorably during Harry’s first flying lesson. That sequence leads to Neville Longbottom’s accident and eventually gives Harry his opportunity to show McGonagall what he can do on a broom.
Brealey now takes over the character for the television adaptation.
Filius Flitwick
Here’s where things get especially interesting.
Warwick Davis is returning as Professor Filius Flitwick.
Davis portrayed Hogwarts’ Charms professor in the original movie franchise, making him the first original actor confirmed to reprise his Hogwarts role for HBO’s new adaptation.
Flitwick serves as Head of Ravenclaw House and teaches Charms, giving fans one of the first memorable classroom sequences when students learn how to levitate objects.
Unlike nearly every other major character, viewers won’t have to adjust to a completely new face here. Davis will return to the role he first played more than two decades ago.
That creates an unusual connection between the original movies and a television project otherwise designed as a fresh adaptation.
Pomona Sprout
Professor Pomona Sprout rounds out the seven confirmed returning Hogwarts professors.
Sirine Saba will portray the Herbology professor and Head of Hufflepuff House.
Miriam Margolyes played Sprout in the original film series, beginning with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets(2002). Saba will now bring the character back as HBO works its way through Harry’s years at Hogwarts.
And television could give supporting professors such as Sprout significantly more room than the movies provided.
HBO Has a Major Opportunity With Hogwarts
Recasting these characters comes with plenty of pressure.
Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, and the rest of Hogwarts’ faculty became deeply connected to the actors who played them throughout the movies. HBO isn’t simply introducing recognizable names again. It’s asking viewers to accept entirely new versions of characters they may have watched for more than two decades.
But the television format also creates an opportunity the movies never had.
With an entire season available to adapt individual books, HBO can potentially spend more time inside Hogwarts’ classrooms, develop relationships between professors and students, and restore moments that couldn’t fit into theatrical runtimes.
The seven confirmed professors give the new Hogwarts an increasingly familiar shape: Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Quirrell, Hooch, Flitwick, and Sprout are all coming back.
Most will look very different this time.
But thanks to Warwick Davis, at least one familiar Hogwarts professor will be waiting when the doors to the castle open again.
