HBO's Harry Potter Cast Guide: See How the New Actors Compare to the Original Cast

Since HBO announced its upcoming Harry Potter reboot series, speculation about its potential cast has run rampant online, with many trying to see how it'd compare to the original Harry Potter cast.

Slowly but surely, actors for the divisive reboot have been announced—and one has even been recast for season 2—shaping up the cast that will portray the new versions of the saga's cornerstone characters for the majority of the next decade, with a confirmed seven-season run already locked by HBO.

On May 27, 2025, after much anticipation, HBO announced that it had cast newcomers Dominic McLaughlin, Arabella Stanton, and Alastair Stout as the main trio, following a months-long search across the United Kingdom and Ireland. Now, we have even more Gryffindors, Huffelpuff, Ravenclaws, and Slytherins that have entered the chat.

If you want to see how the cast of the new HBO Harry Potter series compares to the actors from the original film saga, we've got you covered. Meet HBO's Harry Potter cast and learn what they have each done before below.

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The titular role of Harry Potter, brought to life by English actor Daniel Radcliffe in the original film saga, goes to newcomer Dominic McLaughlin. Much like Radcliffe when he landed the job, McLaughlin is reportedly 11 and has been training at the Performance Academy Scotland for the past half a decade.

Hailing from Scotland, the Harry Potter reboot will be McLaughlin's third on-screen project, as he's also set to appear in BBC's Gifted and Sky's Grow, the latter alongside fellow Harry Potter castmate Nick Frost. And that's not his only connection to the Harry Potter world — McLaughlin also appeared alongside Ralph Fiennes (a.k.a. Lord Voldemort in the original film saga) in the Royal Highland Centre's Macbeth. (You can see a picture of McLaughlin in character here.)

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Also 11, English actor Arabella Stanton will be portraying Hermione Granger in HBO's Harry Potter series, picking up the baton from Emma Watson. Unlike McLaughlin, this will mark Stanton's on-screen debut, as she's previously mainly focused on theatre. Stanton is best known for her portrayal of Matilda Wormwood in Matilda the Musical in London’s West End, as well as Control in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s play Starlight Express.

Stanton is an alum of the junior division of the Guildford School of Acting, where she started as a member of the GSA Saturday School before joining the GSA Junior Conservatoire Musical Theatre in 2024. She's also trained with the British Theatre Academy and Aldance.

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Out of the three leads, Alastair Stout is the one we know least about. The newcomer will portray Ron Weasley in the upcoming show, the role originated by Rupert Grint in the original film saga. According to his actor profile online, Stout has a Northern accent, and his only credited role so far is an advert for Albert Bartlett potatoes.

All three leads were cast via an open call looking for children aged 9-11 who resided in the UK or Ireland. More than 30,000 children reportedly auditioned for the roles.

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Hogwarts' famed headmaster Albus Dumbledore, brought to life by Irish actor Richard Harris, and subsequently Irish-English actor Michael Gambon after the former's death, will be portrayed by American actor John Lithgow. Lithgow's past credits include Footloose, Shrek, Dreamgirls, Dexter, How I Met Your Mother, The Crow, Interstellar, Killers of the Flower Moon, and, more recently, Conclave.

Speaking to Collider, the actor confirmed he'd take on an English accent for the role. saying: “[Dumbledore's] certainly an Englishman. In fact, there’s a good deal of controversy that an American has been hired to play him. He’s such an icon. I’m half-English. I’ve just played Roald Dahl. I’ve played Winston Churchill. I’ll spend some time with a dialect coach, don’t worry about that. But no, I mean, Dumbledore couldn’t possibly be anything other than English. I just have to do my best. The wonderful thing is, I was welcomed by every English actor I worked with on The Crown. They had far more confidence in me and my Englishness than I did myself.”

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English actor Janet McTeer will follow late Maggie Smith's footsteps in portraying Minerva McGonagall — Hogwarts' deputy headmistress, professor of Transfiguration, and head of Gryffindor House.

63-year-old McTeer's credits include Wuthering Heights, Maleficent, Insurgent, Sense & Sensibility, Jessica Jones, Ozark, KAOS, Me Before You, Gangs of London, and more recently, MobLand and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. She also appeared alongside OG Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe in 2012's The Woman in Black.

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Another Hogwarts staple is Severus Snape, professor of Potions and head of Slytherin. Originally played by the late Alan Rickman, the role has gone to 34-year-old Paapa Essiedu in the reboot — despite calls from fans to avoid the racebending of the character.

Hailing from London, Essiedu's previous roles include The Outrun, I May Destroy You, Black Mirror, Gangs of London, Murder on the Orient Express, and more. On his Instagram, Essiedu celebrated his casting, writing, “An honor and a privilege to be going on this journey with these legends. We shall eat and we shall leave no crumbs.”

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Hogwarts' beloved gamekeeper and groundskeeper was originally portrayed by the late Scottish actor Robbie Coltrane. In the reboot, English actor and comedian Nick Frost will be following suit. 53-year-old Nick Frost is best known for his roles in Kinky Boots, Shaun of the Dead, Paul, Ice Age 4, and the live-action How to Train Your Dragon, among many others. (You can see a picture of Frost in character here.)

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Not-so-beloved Hogwarts caretaker Argus Filch was initially portrayed by English actor David Bradley in the film series. 67-year-old Welsh actor Paul Whitehouse will bring the character to life in the HBO reboot. Whitehouse's credits include 2004's Finding Neverland, 2005's Corpse Bride, and 2010's Alice in Wonderland, among many others.

Funnily enough, Whitehouse was already part of the original film saga, having portrayed Sir Cadogan in the adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. If the character does not ring a bell, it's because he only appears in one of Hogwarts' moving portraits. He does momentarily replace the Fat Lady guarding Gryffindor's dorm room in a deleted scene from the movie, though!)

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During the events of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which will be the focus of the first season of the upcoming HBO show, Quirinus Quirrell is the professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. The character was portrayed by now 60-year-old English actor Ian Hart in the original movie, and Londoner Luke Thallon will follow suit in the rebooted series.

Thallon works mainly in theater, but he's also appeared uncredited in satirical dark period comedy The Favourite alongside Emma Stone and Olivia Colman, and in the theater movie Present Laughter alongside Andrew Scott.

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47-year-old English actress Katherine Parkinson has been tapped to portray the matriarch of the Weasley family, Molly Weasley, previously portrayed by Mamma Mia! and Paddington star Julie Walters.

Katherine Parkinson's credits include comedy series The IT Crowd as Jen Barber, for which she won BAFTAs in 2009 and 2014, as well as Easy Virtue, The Boat That Rocked, and Home, I'm Darling.

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British actor Lox Pratt will be stepping into the shoes of Slytherin's silvertongued Draco Malfoy, a role that Tom Felton originated on the big screen. Aside from Draco, Pratt also has a lead role as Jack in the BBC's upcoming Lord of the Flies TV adaptation, which was filmed in Malaysia.

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Portraying Pratt's on-screen father is Johnny Flynn, who will pick up the baton from The White Lotus alum Jason Isaacs to portray Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter HBO series. The South Africa-born, Britain-bred actor and musician is best known for his roles in Ripley, Lovesick, Stardust, Emma, and One Life.

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Newcomer Leo Earley will portray Gryffindor Seamus Finnigan, and much like his predecessor Devon Murray, he also hails from Ireland. The actor, also known as Seanchaí Leo, comes from the Northern region of Leitrim, is fluent in Gaeilge, and has a penchant for spoken word and storytelling, and soon fire.

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Fellow young actor Alessia Leoni will take on the role of another Gryffindor: Parvati Patil. Though Parvati Patil only became a significant character in the film saga following Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, portrayed by Shefali Chowdhury, she, along with her twin sister Padma, has a much bigger role in the books, which the new show is said to adapt more closely.

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Similar to the Patils, Lavender Brown is also not really featured in the earlier Harry Potter films. The character, played by Jessie Cave, becomes more prominent from The Half-Blood Prince onwards. However, in the books, Lavender appears from the get-go and is, in fact, best friends with fellow Gryffindor Parvati Patil.

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Previously portrayed by Irish legend Fiona Shaw, the role of Harry Potter's aunt and legal guardian, Petunia Dursley, will go to English actor Bel Powley in the new show. 33-year-old Powley is best known for roles in A Royal Night Out, The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Mary Shelley, Ashes in the Snow, and The Morning Show.

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42-year-old English actor and comedian Daniel Rigby will portray Powley's on-screen husband, Vernon Dursley, previously portrayed by the late Richard Griffiths. Rogby's previous projects include Black Mirror, I, Jack Wright, Flowers, and more.

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47-year-old Tony- and Olivier-winning actor Bertie Carvel will take on the role of Cornelius Fudge, the thirty-second Minister for Magic of the British Ministry of Magic. Though best known for his theatre work, Carvel's work on film and TV includes Doctor Who, Sherlock, Les Misérables, and The Crown, among others.

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British newcomer Rory Wilmot has been cast in the role of Gryffindor's star herbology pupil Neville Longbottom, originally played by Leeds native Matthew Lewis in the film saga. The actor has worked on a couple of TV projects prior to Potter, including FBI: International and Netflix's Out of the Dust, which stars Sex Education alum Asa Butterfield.

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Portrayed by Harry Melling in the original film saga, Amos Kitson will be portraying Dudley Dursley, Harry Potter's obnoxious cousin, in the HBO series. Not much is known about Kitson, which indicates this is likely his first professional acting role.

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46-year-old English actor, writer, and journalist Louise Brealey, best known for her role as Molly Hooper in Sherlock, plays Madam Rolanda Hooch in the HBO Harry Potter series. Madam Rolanda Hooch was the flying instructor, Quidditch referee, and coach at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry during Harry Potter's time at the school and beyond. Though the character appears more in the book, in the film franchise, it was only part of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, played by Zoë Wanamaker.

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73-year-old British actor Anton Lesser, known for his work on HBO's hit series Game of Thrones and The Crown, among others, will pick up the baton from the late John Hurt to bring to life Garrick Ollivander, the legendary wandmaker and owner of the renowned Ollivanders store in Diagon Alley. Hurt portrayed Ollivander in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone as well as both parts of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

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Tristan and Gabriel Harland have been tapped to bring to life torublesome twins Fred and George Weasley, portrayed by James Phelps and Oliver Phelps, respectively, in the original film saga. Not much is known about the Harland twins, so it looks like these might be one of their first roles.

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Ruari Spooner will succeed Chris Rankin in bringing to life Gryffindor prefect Percy Weasley. Spooner's previous credits include a Channel 4 pilot directed by Mark O'Sullivan as well as various stage productions with the National Youth Theatre, The George Company, and more. It looks like Percy will be his first major role.

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Picking up the baton from Bonnie Wright as the youngest of the Weasleys, Gracie Cochrane is the new Ginny Weasley, at least for season 1 of the series. On May 19, 2026, Cochrane and her family released a statement, reported by Variety, announcing that Cochrane would depart the series following season 1—the show is currently in pre-production on season 2.

“Due to unforeseen circumstances Gracie has made the challenging decision to step away from her role as Ginny Weasley in the HBO ‘Harry Potter’ series after Season 1,” the statement reads. “Her time as part of the ‘Harry Potter’ world has been truly wonderful, and she is deeply grateful to Lucy Bevan and the entire production team for creating such an unforgettable experience. Gracie is very excited about the opportunities her future holds.”

A representative for HBO told Variety, "We support Gracie Cochrane and her family’s decision not to return for the next season of HBO’s Harry Potter series, and we are grateful for her work on season one of the show. We wish Gracie and her family the best.”

Cochrane is young but quite seasoned as an actor, having played Jemima Potts on the UK National Tour of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang since April 2024. She also played young Éponine in Les Misérables in Milton Keynes and was part of the choir in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Her only on-screen credit so far is Steve McQueen’s feature film Blitz.

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Warwick Davis became the first actor to officially return to the Harry Potter franchise when HBO announced he would be reprising his role as Professor Filius Flitwick in the upcoming reboot. Davis originated the role in 2001's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and continued to play the role, which suffered major visual changes, all throughout the saga. Davis also played a goblin bank teller in the first movie and voiced and later portrayed Griphook.

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Newcomer Elijah Oshin is set to take on the role of Gryffindor's half-blood wizard Dean Thomas in the HBO show, following in the footsteps of British-Brazilian actor Alfred Enoch. Not much is known about Elijah Oshin, so it appears this is his first significant role.

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Newcomer Finn Stephens is also joining the cast as Vincent Crabbe, one-half of Draco Malfoy's Slytherin sidekicks, who was brought to life by actor Jamie Waylett in the original saga. It also appears this is his first major role.

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Rounding off Malfoy's Slytherin entourage is William Nash, who will portray Gregory Goyle, the role originated by Josh Herdman. This also appears to be Nash's first significant role.

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Lebanese-born actor Sirine Saba, who has appeared on anything from EastEnders and Doctor Who to the uber-popular Diablo video games, will take on the role of Professor Pomona Sprout, the Head of Hufflepuff House and Head of the Herbology department at Hogwarts. The role was first brought to life by British-Australian actor Miriam Margolyes.

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English actor Richard Durden will portray Professor Cuthbert Binns. Although Binns, as a character, did not appear in the original movie franchise, the character was present in the books and has been adapted into various multimedia formats, including video games like Hogwarts Legacy.

Professor Cuthbert Binns was once a living wizard who taught History of Magic at Hogwarts. He later died and continued teaching as a ghost. Though ghosts were featured sparsely in the Harry Potter movies, they are way more prominent in the book, and apparently, they will also be in the show, which is already said to be more faithful to the original source.

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Tony Award-winning Irish actor Bríd Brennan, whose work spans theater, TV, and film, will portray Madam Poppy Pomfrey, the matron at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Madam Pomfrey was originally portrayed by English actor Gemma Jones.

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English actor Leigh Gill, best known for his roles as Bobono in Game of Thrones and Gary Puddles in Joker and Joker: Folie à Deux, will portray Griphook. Griphook is a goblin who works at Gringotts Wizarding Bank. He first appears in the Sorcerer's Stone to escort Harry Potter and Hagrid to their vaults and later in the series plays a key role in the Deathly Hallows.

With the help of prosthetics, American actor Verne Troyer portrayed Griphook in the first movie of the original saga, though he was voiced by Warwick Davis. For the last two films of the franchise, Warwick Davis portrayed the character himself.

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Eire Farrell, who's also set to appear in Masters of the Universe, has joined the cast as Gryffindor student and Quidditch team member Katie Bell. In the books, Bell is a chaser for the team. In the original film saga, the character was minor to begin with. It was first portrayed by actor Emily Dale for both Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and the recast for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince onwards, with Georgina Leonidas taking the role.

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Asha Soetan will take on another Gryffindor Quidditch team member, Angelina Johnson. The character was portrayed by Danielle Tabor in The Sorcerer's Stone, The Chamber of Secrets, and The Prisoner of Azkaban, where she mainly appeared during games. For The Goblet of Fire, she was recast and played by Tiana Benjamin. Aside from being a Quidditch pro, he is a love interest of the Weasley twins.

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Newcomer Orson Matthews will play the role of Gryffindor Quidditch team captain Oliver Wood, who was played by Scottish actor Sean Biggerstaff in The Sorcerer's Stone and The Chamber of Secrets, as well as a small cameo in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.

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Serrana Su-Ling Bliss, whose credits also include Enola Holmes 2 and Industry, plays fellow Gryffindor Quidditch team player Alicia Spinnet, a chaser on the team. Although she was a minor character, she appeared in the Quidditch scenes of the first two films, played by Leilah Sutherland and Rochelle Douglas, respectively.

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Ethan Smith will take on the role of Gryffindor student Lee Jordan. He is best known as the best friend of the Weasley twins and Hogwarts' very own Quidditch commentator. In the Sorcerer's Stone and the Chamber of Secrets movies, the character was played by Luke Youngblood.

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Actor India Moon will bring to life Hufflepuff student and Harry Potter friend Hannah Abbott. In the original saga, the character appeared in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, portrayed by Charlotte Skeoch.

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Jazmyn Lewin, who made her West End debut playing Young Nala in The Lion King, will portray Hufflepuff student Susan Bones, who arrives at Hogwarts the same year as Harry, Ron, and Hermione. The character, who appeared in the Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets movies, was portrayed by Eleanor Columbus, often alongside Emma Watson.

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Also a West End alum, Cian Eagle-Service will play Hufflepuff student Ernie Macmillan. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the character was played by Louis Doyle.

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James Trevelyan Buckle rounds out the Hufflepuff house (for now), taking on the role of Justin Finch-Fletchley, who's described as a “muggle-born originally destined for Eton.” Edward Randell played the character in the Chamber of Secrets movie. Buckle previously appeared in Goodbye June alongside Helen Mirren, Timothy Spall, and Johnny Flynn.

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Aaron Zhao will take on the role of Terry Boot, a Ravenclaw student who's in Harry’s year group. Zhao's previous acting credits are unknown, and the character was omitted from the movie adaptations.

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Like Zhao, Eve Walls will pay Lisa Turpin, also a Ravenclaw in Harry's year. The character was not featured in the movies, and Walls's previous credits are also undisclosed.

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Scarlett Archer is an actor and presenter of English, Canadian, and Italian origin. She began her acting career as a thespian before moving on to TV and film. Her credits include Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita, Kenneth Branagh's Murder on the Orient Express, and more. Archer will play Ravenclaw student Penelope Clearwater, who's also a love interest of Percy Weasley. The character was played briefly by Gemma Padley in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

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Newcomer Anjula Murali will play Ravenclaw student Padma Patil, the twin sister of Gryffindor's Parvati Patil. The character was mostly played by Afshan Azad in the original Harry Potter film saga.

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British actor Eddison Burch, whose credits include Dreamland, Robin and the Hoods, Snow White, and more, will take on the role of Slytherin Miles Bletchley, the keeper for the house's Quidditch team.

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James Dowell will play Slytherin beater, Lucian Bole. Dowell's only other acting credit is The Magic Faraway Tree, which stars Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy, and Nicola Coughlan.

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Hailing from Lincolnshire, actor Oliver Croft will take on the role of Slytherin Quidditch team captain Marcus Flint, played in the first two movies of the original film saga by Jamie Yeates. Croft graduated with a BA (Hons) in Professional Acting from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

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Dylan Heath, whose credits include Break and A Christmas Carol, will play Slytherin chaser Adrian Pucey.

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Henry Medhurst will take on the role of Slytherin team beater Peregrine Derrick, who's also not explicitly named in the original film saga but who's a prominent background figure in the books. Medhurst's only other acting credit is a self-directed, self-written short titled Duplicity, which won a prize at the Horsham Film Festival in 2024.

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British-American actor Cornelius Brandreth will take on the role of Slytherin seeker Terence Higgs, who was played by Will Theakston in the first Harry Potter film. Brandreth made his debut as an actor playing Maurice in the BBC's Lord of the Flies adaptation, in which he appears alongside fellow Harry Potter actor Lox Pratt, who plays Draco.

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Laila Barwick, whose credits include The Pope's Exorcist, Young Woman and the Sea, and Travelling Past, will take on the role of Pansy Parkinson. Though the character was overlooked at the beginning of the film franchise, in the books, Pansy Parkinson is as close to Draco Malfoy as Crabbe and Goyle, something the show will probably show.

The character was played by multiple actors in the original saga, as it was mainly a background role. Perhaps the most well-known is Scarlett Byrne, who portrayed her from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince onwards.

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D'Angelou Osei-Kissiedu will portray Slytherin chaser Graham Montague, a character who also does not appear in the films by name. Osei-Kissiedu won the Best Supporting Actor award at the 2020 British Independent Film Awards for his debut role in Sarah Gavron's Rocks. For the feat, he was interviewed by Harry Potter alum Tom Felton.

_{This post will continue to be updated as more cast members are announced.}