Daniel Radcliffe is officially passing the wand. As HBO’s new Harry Potter series continues to take shape ahead of its 2027 debut, Radcliffe — who starred as the Boy Who Lived for a full decade — revealed on Good Morning America that he reached out personally to Dominic McLaughlin, the 11-year-old actor taking over the iconic role.
“I just wanted to write to him to say, ‘I hope you have the best time, and an even better time than I did — I had a great time, but I hope you have an even better time,’” Radcliffe shared. He added that he “just wants to hug” McLaughlin and the rest of the series’ young cast every time he sees their photos. “They just seem so young. I look at them and think, ‘Oh, it’s crazy I was doing that.’ But I hope they’re having a great time.”
Radcliffe added that he doesn’t want to be a looming presence over the reboot or the young actors stepping into roles he helped define. “I wouldn’t say anyone who’s going to play Harry has to call me,” he said. “I just wrote to Dominic and he sent me a very sweet note back.”
Who Stars in the New Harry Potter?
McLaughlin was announced earlier this year alongside Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger and Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley. HBO has also confirmed a stacked set of adult cast members, including John Lithgow (Albus Dumbledore), Paapa Essiedu (Severus Snape), Janet McTeer (Minerva McGonagall), and Nick Frost (Rubeus Hagrid).
Despite Radcliffe’s warm words, he won’t appear in the series. He reiterated that producers are wisely aiming for a “clean break” from the original films. “I do not want to be a spectre in the lives of these children,” he added.
The upcoming HBO adaptation is being billed as a faithful, decade-long retelling of J.K. Rowling’s books, with one season per novel. Filming has been underway for a number of months now, and McLaughlin is expected to spend a significant part of his teens growing up on set — just as Radcliffe once did. If we’re all lucky, he will grow up to be just as measured and as kind a presence as the man whose invisibility cloak he has now stepped into.
The new Harry Potter series is slated to premiere in 2027 on HBO and Max.
Showrunner
Francisca Gardiner
Directors
Mark Mylod
Writers
Francesca Gardiner
Franchise(s)
Harry Potter