How new Harry Potter show is JK Rowling’s chance for revenge against three child actors who ‘ruined’ old movies for her, insiders reveal
The new Harry Potter TV series will be a chance for JK Rowling to ‘totally eradicate’ the movie memories of Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint with a new cast of child stars and millions of new fans, an insider told MailOnline today.
All seven of her beloved books will be adapted by HBO with a fresh group of actors over the next ten years at a cost of more than $200million per season. Filming starts in the UK this summer.
Ms Rowling appeared to take aim at Harry Potter movie stars Radcliffe, Watson and Grint in a social media post shared to her 14.3million followers yesterday.
‘For JK, this is a chance to lay the memories of the three leads to rest and start afresh with a whole new cast and fanbase too’, MailOnline’s TV industry insider has said.
Next month auditions of children aged between nine and 11 to find the next Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Grainger will be held. The show’s casting team are still working through an astounding 32,000 audition tapes.
Ms Rowling will serve as an executive producer on the series with HBO saying she has been ‘very very involved’ in the project to ensure will it be a ‘faithful adaptation’ of her books. She spectacularly fell out with the three young stars of the movies over her views on transgender women. She hinted last year that she could not forgive them even if they apologised to her publicly.
The three actors, who owe their fame and fortune to their roles in the Harry Potter films, all responded to her 2020 essay calling transgender identity ‘deeply misogynistic and regressive’ with statements that were supportive of trans rights.
A TV insider with feet in London and Hollywood says Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint will be ‘expunged’ and replaced with new young stars.
‘This is Ms Rowling’s opportunity to totally eradicate the memories of the old movies and the old cast – with new TV and movie franchises it brings in new leads, lust like with Superman and Batman’, MailOnline’s industry source said.
J K Rowling appeared to take aim at Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint in a social media post shared to her 14.3million followers. Pictured: The author with the actors in 2011
Many of Rowling’s followers widely interpreted her riposte as a nod to the three child stars who played the lead roles in the successful franchise
There is fevered speculation about the new adult cast with Cillian Murphy now rumoured to be playing Lord Voldemort in series one.
John Lithgow has claimed he will play Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore while Paapa Essiedu is reportedly close to a deal to be Severus Snape.
But no child stars have been confirmed.
Yesterday the 59-year-old author penned a biting response to the three stars of the original films in response to the question: ‘What actor/actress instantly ruins a movie for you?’
Without missing a beat, Rowling cryptically wrote: ‘Three guesses. Sorry, but that was irresistible.’
She ended her post with three laughing emojis.
Many of her followers widely interpreted her response as a nod to the three child stars who played the lead roles in the successful franchise.
Relations between the multi-millionaire author and the actors – who rose to prominence thanks to the Harry Potter films – have been frosty for years because of Rowling’s views on trans rights.
There will be a new cast of young stars to play Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Grainger
According to Deadline, the show’s casting team are still working through an astound 32,000 audition tapes sent in by child actors hoping to score roles in the lead trio of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Grangers; Original stars (L–R) Radcliffe, Watson and Grint seen in 2005
John Lithgow, 79, is nearing a deal to star as Professor Albus Dumbledore in HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter series remake
Paapa Essiedu is being eyed to play Severus Snape , the Hogwarts potions master played by Alan Rickman in the film series
Last year she publicly stated that she could not ‘forgive’ Radcliffe and Watson or other celebrities who ‘cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights’ following the publication of the Cass review of gender identity services in 2024.
Rowling hit out at stars who use their ‘platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors’ and said people who supported gender transitioning in children should apologise to ‘traumatised detransitioners and vulnerable women reliant on single sex spaces’.
The writer has been vocal in her opposition of allowing children to change their gender, while Radcliffe and Watson have been outspoken in their support of the trans community.
Following the publication of the Cass report many people who have expressed misgivings over allowing children to transition claimed they have been vindicated.
Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, Rowling said at the time that it was a ‘watershed’ moment and that it ‘lays bare the tragedy’ of allowing children to transition.
But when someone claimed that Radcliffe and Watson owe her ‘a very public apology… safe in the knowledge that you will forgive them’, Rowling responded by saying: ‘Not safe, I’m afraid.’
She added: ‘Celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors can save their apologies for traumatised detransitioners and vulnerable women reliant on single sex spaces.’
Last year Rowling publicly stated that she could not ‘forgive’ Radcliffe and Watson or other celebrities who ‘cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights’
Radcliffe has openly spoken about his rift with Rowling and said in an interview last May that his beliefs don’t have to align with the author’s just because she made him a star.
The actor, 34, and fellow Harry Potter stars Emma Watson, 34, and Rupert Grint, 35, have been outspoken in their support of gender ideology – that biologically male trans women are actually women.
Yet although Radcliffe admitted ‘nothing in my life’ would likely have happened if not for Rowling.
Watson has also openly hinted at the furore with Rowling.
In 2022, Baftas host Rebel Wilson invited the actress onto the stage saying: ‘Here to present the next award is Emma Watson. She calls herself a feminist, but we all know she’s a witch.’
But when Watson arrived on stage, she said, ‘I’m here for all the witches!’, in a way that many interpreted as an open dig at Rowling.
