The “Harry Potter” wand has been passed.
Daniel Radcliffe, who portrayed the boy who lived in the Wizarding World’s original film series, said on “Good Morning America” on Tuesday that he had reached out to new “Harry Potter” actor Dominic McLaughlin — no owls required.
“I know a few people working on the production, so I wrote to Dominic,” said Radcliffe, who appeared on the morning show to promote his return to Broadway in “Every Brilliant Thing.” “I sent him a letter and he sent me a very sweet note back.”
The new “Harry Potter” series is currently filming in the U.K. McLaughlin stars as the eponymous orphan who learns about his magical heritage after he receives his acceptance letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Arabella Stanton and Alastair Stout will portray Harry’s best friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, respectively.
Radcliffe said he hopes the young actors are “having a great time” and that seeing their pictures made him “just want to hug them.”
“I don’t want to be a specter in the life of these children at all,” Radcliffe said. “I just wanted to write to him and 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 one.’”
Radcliffe starred in all eight films of the first film series, starting with “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” (2001) through “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” (2011). His golden Gryffindor trio included Emma Watson as the muggle-born bookworm Hermione and Rupert Grint as the loyal but sometimes insensitive Ron.
Written and executive produced by Francesca Gardiner, the new “Harry Potter” HBO series has been billed as “a faithful adaptation” of the popular seven-book series by author J.K. Rowling, who serves as an executive producer. Multiple episodes will be directed by executive producer Mark Mylod.
The cast of the new show includes returning “Harry Potter” actor Warwick Davis, who will be reprising his role as Professor Filius Flitwick. Joining him on the Hogwarts staff are John Lithgow (Albus Dumbledore); Nick Frost (Rubeus Hagrid); Paapa Essiedu (Severus Snape); Janet McTeer (Minerva McGonagall); Sirine Saba (Pomona Sprout); Richard Durden (Cuthbert Binns); Bríd Brennan (Poppy Pomfrey); Luke Thallon (Quirinus Quirrell); and Paul Whitehouse (Argus Filch).
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