Harry Potter HBO Series

HBO Max’s Harry Potter Series' Biggest Casting Misstep. (It’s not what you think)

Everyone’s worried about Snape. We should be talking about Dumbledore.

Pappa Essiedu — Credit: Getty Images, Alan Rickman as Severus Snape — Credit: Warner Brothers

I’ve been a full on Harry Potter freak since 1998 when I was 12 years old and first read the first book. I was a fan before there were movies. Heck, I was a fan before there was a 4th book.

I remember speculating about the casting of the main trio. I remember going onto the old Harry Potter Unofficial Fan Page message boards and debating the pros and cons of different actors for different roles. Though all of us had different opinions on the perfect casting choices, we all knew one thing would always be true: The entire cast would be British.

The Harry Potter author made casting British actors a condition of signing the option to make a film at all. She wanted an authentically British cast.

Now, almost a lifetime later, books and films have all come out, and Hollywood is once again looking for a way to cash in on the boy who lived. An HBO mini-series was announced with a 2026–2027 release time frame.

While the film fans were indignant, I was thrilled. The films, while perfectly good, in my opinion, did not do the books…