Are you, or your kids, between the ages of 9 and 11-years-old as of April 2025 and residents of the UK and Ireland? If so, they could be the next Harry Potter, or Ron Wealey, or Hermione Granger. The door is open. HBO is carrying out an open casting for the three lead roles in its upcoming reboot and television series adaption of the Harry Potter books.
As is standard these days, the notice includes a DEI statement:
“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.”
A few years ago, this would be a disclaimer to protect the studio. As this is 2024, now it means there is no way the three leads will all be white, middle-class kids this time around.
Whoever it is, this is probably the biggest break for younger actors in the world of entertainment right now. The three leads in the original movies were set for life financially after their eight-movie stint.
To start the process any applicants are required to submit two self-tapes. One is to be a max of 30 seconds and is a short poem, monologue, or story, but must be nothing from the universe of Harry Potter. The second is to be up to a minute long and will have details about the actor. The submission deadline is October 31st this year.
The show is currently planned to run for seven full seasons, with each season tackling one of the books, therefore one year at school. The long-form storytelling associated with a show means they are going to include huge amounts of the details that had to be missed out of the movies, particularly the later books, for the sake of brevity.
J.K. Rowling remains involved, and it was her steady hand that prevented some terrible Hollywood decision-making around the original Harry Potter adaptions. The show will be run by Francesca Gardiner, who also executive produces.