The Fantastic Beasts franchise has failed to take off at the box office, and WB Discovery is now pushing forward with their entire reboot of the Harry Potter franchise.
The series is expected to focus on a whole new cast of characters embodying the roles of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, and the search for the next magic trio has officially begun.
HBO Launches Casting Call for Harry Potter Reboot
HBO has apparently started an open casting call for the series looking for children who would be aged 9-11 by the time April 2025 comes around next year. They are also making sure that whoever they cast is a resident of the UK or Ireland. Here’s the poster:
For a more detailed look at the casting process and how to submit your audition, you can visit the website here.
Any hopeful kid who wants to audition is asked to send two videos, one of them reading a poem, short story, or monologue that specifically isn’t from Harry Potter; and another video of them just talking about themselves and someone that they are close to. The first video is asked to be 30 seconds long, and the second can be up to a minute.
The casting call also asks for auditionees to use their natural accents when recording their videos.
Take note that Cast It Systems is the only way to audition for the series, and they suggest that any other entity that is charging people to submit their auditions has not been approved by the agency.
What is the Series Looking For?
Besides the requirement for the kids to be a specific age by April of next year, the series is looking to be more inclusive with the casting this time around. The page says:
“We are committed to inclusive, diverse casting. For every role, please submit qualified performers, without regard to ethnicity, sex, disability, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other basis protected by law unless otherwise specifically indicated.”
Though a lot of fans have loved Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson in their roles, the series has been criticized for lacking in diversity; to be fair, inclusivity and representation wasn’t really a priority when the film series started out way back in the early 2000s. They were still letting straight actors like Eddie Redmayne play trans characters in 2015 with The Danish Girl.
How is the Series Going to be Different?
Though a lot of fans have resisted the remake ever since it was announced, the series has promised that the show will be more accurate to the books—as the movies had to trim a lot of fat in the story to fit everything in 2-ish hours.
One major concern though is the quality of the special effects that the series could be getting. After all, massive shows like House of the Dragon had to limit big spectacles to two or three episodes per season. How are fans supposed to expect big magic fights or Quidditch matches to look with a TV budget?
To be fair, special effects have also evolved quite a bit since the series started, and WB may spare no expense for a cash cow like Potter. Hopefully, they manage to pull it off, for the sake of the fans.
No release date has been announced for the Harry Potter reboot, but with a 2025 start date, fans should expect the show to come out sometime in 2026 or 2027.
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