While casting calls for the three young leads – Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger – opened in September 2024, HBO has been scouting for older actors over the past few months to play adult characters such as Dumbledore and the primary villain Voldemort.
A couple of months earlier, Gary Oldman, who played Harry Potter’s godfather Sirius Black in the original film franchise, had said he would be up to playing Dumbledore.
In the film adaptations of the prequel franchise Fantastic Beasts, Jude Law played a younger version of Dumbledore in The Crimes of Grindelwald and The Secrets of Dumbledore.
Three actors played Dumbledore in the original run of Harry Potter films between 2001 and 2011.
Richard Harris played the headmaster in the first two instalments, The Philosopher’s Stone and The Chamber of Secrets.
