HBO’s Harry Potter Has Its Dumbledore: Shrek Star John Lithgow

John Lithgow has performed every part from Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha to an extraterrestrial patriarch in third Rock from the Solar. Subsequent he would be the highly effective, sensible, and compassionate professor Dumbledore in HBO’s Harry Potter TV show. He confirmed the casting in a current interview, saying it should “outline me for the final chapter of my life.”

Rumors have been swirling about who would tackle the position of the Hogwarts headmaster in HBO’s retelling of the YA wizarding sequence following the favored Warner Bros. movie diversifications within the 2000s. In these, Albus Dumbledore was performed first by Richard Harris and later by Michael Gambon, each of whom have since handed away. A youthful model of the character has additionally been performed by Jude Regulation within the Incredible Beasts prequels.

Now Lithgow will take the reins and provides the stoic however compassionate magical genius his personal spin, he confirmed to ScreenRant this week. “Effectively, it got here as a complete shock to me,” he stated in an interview. “I simply acquired the cellphone name up on the Sundance Movie Pageant for one more movie, and it was not a straightforward resolution as a result of it’s going to outline me for the final chapter of my life, I’m afraid. However I’m very excited. Some fantastic individuals are turning their consideration again to Harry Potter. That’s why it’s been such a tough resolution. I’ll be about 87 years previous on the wrap occasion, however I’ve stated sure.”

HBO’s Harry Potter present hasn’t begun filming but and isn’t anticipated to debut till late 2026 on the earliest. Francesca Gardiner, a author on His Darkish Supplies and Succession, is signed on as showrunner, and a casting name to scout younger actors to play Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and the remainder of the scholars went out last fall. The present can have different huge roles to fill as properly, together with the half-giant flunkout Hagrid and Potter’s Slytherin rival Draco Malfoy.

Writer J.Ok. Rowling, often criticized for her transphobic views, stays a consulting producer on the present and continues to revenue off of all issues Potter. “We’re proud to as soon as once more inform the story of Harry Potter—the heartwarming books that talk to the facility of friendship, resolve and acceptance,” Warner Bros. said in a statement last November. “JK Rowling has a proper to specific her private views. We are going to stay centered on the event of the brand new sequence, which can solely profit from her involvement.”

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