Daniel Radcliffe wants to stop Harry Potter TV series stars being asked about the original films’ cast

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While Daniel Radcliffe became famous playing Harry Potter in the original films, he’s now asking fans to focus on the new TV series coming to HBO and stop constantly discussing the original cast.

The new TV series, slated to debut in 2027, will star Dominic McLaughlin in the main role, alongside Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger and Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley.

In a recent interview with Screen Rant, Daniel Radcliffe discussed the new, young actors in the Harry Potter series, noting the online reaction to their casting. He said there was a lot of concern and a desire to protect them.

He went on to say that if they truly didn’t want to hear about him, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint, they should stop asking about them so frequently.

I don’t want to be a strange or unsettling presence in my children’s lives. I just want them to move forward and adjust to this new situation. I’m confident Dominic will be a better parent than I was.

Daniel Radcliffe shared that he wrote a letter to Jacob McLaughlin, who played a young version of his character. McLaughlin was the same age – eleven – that Radcliffe and Tom Felton (who played Draco Malfoy) were when they first started filming ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ in 2001. Emma Watson was even younger, only ten years old at the time.

“I wrote to Dominic and sent him a letter, and he sent me a very sweet note back,” the actor said.

He added that he didn’t want to be a distant figure in his children’s lives, but he simply wanted to wish their father well, hoping he’d enjoy the experience even more than he himself had. He’d had a wonderful time, but wanted the best for them.

You know, looking at photos of the young cast really gets to me. They just seem so incredibly young, and honestly, all I want to do is give them a big hug. It’s wild to think about me doing similar things at their age, but it’s also really heartwarming. I sincerely hope they’re all having the time of their lives.

Joining the young leads in the new series are several well-known actors: John Lithgow will play Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer will be Professor McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu will take on the role of Professor Snape, Paul Whitehouse will be Argus Filch, and Nick Frost will play Hagrid.

JK Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, has received criticism for her opinions on transgender rights. In 2020, she published a detailed essay explaining her views on sex and gender, but this was widely challenged and disputed by LGBTQ+ organizations like Stonewall.

Rowling has publicly expressed her opinions on social media, most recently in a 2024 post on X (formerly Twitter). In that post, she stated that she doesn’t believe in the concept of transgender children and argued against the idea that someone’s gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth.

In May 2025, J.K. Rowling created the JK Rowling Women’s Fund to provide financial support for legal battles focused on protecting women’s rights as defined by biological sex.

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson, along with other Harry Potter cast members, have publicly disagreed with J.K. Rowling’s views and expressed support for the transgender community. Meanwhile, actors like Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, and Jim Broadbent have come to Rowling’s defense amidst the criticism she’s faced.

The Harry Potter series will stream on HBO Max.

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Molly MossTrends Writer

Molly Moss writes about the newest happenings in TV, movies, and other entertainment for TopMob. She has a Master’s degree in Journalism and has also contributed to major news outlets like The Guardian, The Times, and The Sun Online.

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2026-02-18 16:04