{"id":308979,"date":"2026-03-02T05:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T05:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/308979\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T05:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T05:50:10","slug":"cillian-murphy-gives-definitive-response-to-rumours-he-will-play-voldemort-in-harry-potter-series-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/308979\/","title":{"rendered":"Cillian Murphy gives definitive response to rumours he will play Voldemort in Harry Potter series"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Cillian Murphy<\/a> has definitively shut down rumours he has been cast as Voldemort in the forthcoming Harry Potter TV series<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Irish actor, 49, had been at the centre of speculation around casting for the role, with Ralph Fiennes, who played the villain in the Harry Potter film adaptations, appearing to suggest that Murphy\u2019s involvement was a done deal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a viral TikTok clip shared by Let\u2019s Talk Film back in January, Fiennes said: \u201cI’m told [my shoes] are already filled, aren’t they? I think Cillian Murphy is very good. A very good choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, in a new interview with The Times<\/a>, Murphy denied that he was set to play the character. \u201cI\u2019m categorically not,\u201d he said. \u201cCan you make that the headline?\u201d<\/p>\n

A number of actors have already been cast in the series, which is expected to premiere next year.<\/p>\n

Newcomers Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout and Arabella Stanton will play the central three children, while the adult cast includes Janet McTeer, John Lithgow, Nick Frost, Paul Whitehouse, Johnny Flynn, Warwick Davis and Paapa Essiedu.<\/p>\n

\"CillianCillian Murphy photographed in February (Getty for BFI)<\/p>\n

The adult cast have attracted criticism for their involvement in the series, amid a planned boycott by some viewers over Harry Potter creator JK Rowling\u2019s stance on transgender rights. <\/p>\n

The author, who serves as an executive producer on the TV show, has become one of the UK\u2019s most prominent anti-trans voices in recent years, and has donated significant sums of money to organisations seeking to reduce legal protections for trans people.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in Murphy\u2019s interview, he discussed the forthcoming Peaky Blinders film, which sees him return as Birmingham gangster Tommy Shelby.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was 35 when we started [filming the Peaky Blinders TV series] and 48 when we made the film,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve played Tommy for over a quarter of my life, moving from being a youngish man right into the teeth of middle age. It\u2019s incredibly rewarding seeing everybody around you get older.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the success of the Peaky Blinders, Murphy attributed it to the \u201cnovel-like\u201d quality of TV as a medium.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t an instant hit,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople thought that it was OK but its second series was when it really clicked and people are still discovering it. <\/p>\n

\u201cA film will come and be hot or not and then it\u2019s gone. But TV? It\u2019s like a novel \u2013 people find it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is in cinemas from 6 March before arriving on Netflix on 20 March.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[156,409,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-308979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}