HBO Max has announced the actors who will play the beloved “Harry Potter” trio in their new reboot television series.
The streaming service announced on Tuesday that Dominic McLaughlin will play the titular character, Arabella Stanton will play Hermione Granger, and Alastair Stout will play Ron Weasley. All the actors are newcomers.
“The talent of these three unique actors is wonderful to behold, and we cannot wait for the world to witness their magic together onscreen,” executive producers Francesca Gardiner and Mark Mylod said in a statement about the actors.
The new TV show “will be a faithful adaptation of the beloved ‘Harry Potter’ books,” and will be streamed exclusively on HBO Max. It’s not clear when the series will be released. The book’s author, J.K. Rowling, will also serve as an executive producer on the show.
The selection of the show’s core cast comes amid the author’s criticism of the movies’ star trio, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, following years of controversial comments she’s made about transgender people.
The British author has been at the core of controversy following incidents stemming back to 2017, which include her liking X posts promoting articles criticized as transphobic and publishing a 2020 essay that some called a “transphobic manifesto.”
Several actors from Rowling’s wizarding world have since criticized the author’s comments, including Radcliffe, who said, “Transgender women are women,” the Guardian reported. The author appeared to slam Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint in a social media post that asked about actors who instantly ruin a movie for her.
“Three guesses. Sorry, but that was irresistible,” Rowling wrote on X in March along with three laughing emojis.
Earlier this year, Rowling shared a social media thread that misgendered several transgender women and appeared to imply trans women have a penchant for sexual predation in response to a Scottish hate-crime law that criminalizes hatred against people based on race, religion, disability, sexuality or gender identity. The situation ignited calls from critics for police to investigate Rowling.
Last month, the author was once again at the root of controversy when she posted a photo of herself on X with a drink and a cigar in hand after a U.K. court decision that did not recognize transgender women as women.
She captioned the photo, “I love it when a plan comes together. #SupremeCourt #WomensRights. “
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