John Lithgow, new Dumbledore?

For the series, will JK Rowling accept more American actors than in films? At 79, the Dexter and Conclave star is in talks for a key role.

Since the announcement of the series Harry Potterdeveloped at Max and the Warner Bros by the showrunner Francesca Gardiner (At the crossroadsalready for HBO) and the director Mark mylod (Ali G, the menu, succession…), the name of Mark Rylance (Ready Player One) was running to embody Albus Dumbledore, the director of Hogwarts. Deadline today cites another: John Lightgow.

An actor who made his classes at Brian de Palma (Obsession, Blow Out) at the turn of the 1970s and 1980s, then which frightened fans of Dexter in Trinity Killer (which he also rejected very recently for New Blood), and which was recently on the bill Conclavealongside a famous actor in the saga Harry PotterRalph Fiennes (Voldemort).

The pre -production of the show is approaching, so its creators met thousands of children to try to get the roles of Harry, Hermione, Ron and all their wizard friends. If he signs, John Lithgow, who will celebrate his 80th anniversary in October, will commit for about a decade, the start of the series to be broadcast from 2027.

He would succeed in Richard Harris And Michael Gambonwho played Albus Dumbledore in the eight films released between 2001 and 2011 in the cinema, the second replacing the first from the 3rd part, The prisoner of Azkaban. This character was also interpreted younger by Jude Law in prequal Fantastic animals. All of British or Irish, unlike John Lithgow who is American. Because when launching the adaptation of successful books to the cinema, its author JK Rowling had wanted to have a maximum of British casting. That said, Lithgow has often played English during his career, including Winston Churchill in several seasons of The Crown Between 2016 and 2019.

Other names of popular actors ran to interpret Harry Potter flagship characters in the coming series: PAAP Essiedu in Severus Rogue, Lesley Manville in Minerva McGonagall, Brett Goldstein in Rubeus Hagrid or Cillian Murphy in Voldemort. For the moment, no one has been officially confirmed, but the shooting to begin this summer, its distribution should be known very soon.

“We understand that such a publicized series arouses many rumors and speculations, is content to comment on the studio. While we are progressing in pre-production, we will only confirm the details once the agreements are finalized.”

Do not count on Jared Harris to play Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series