Daniel Radcliffe has revealed he wrote a letter to incoming Harry Potter star Dominic McLaughlin – see what he had to say below.
Radcliffe starred as the iconic titular character in the eight Warner Bros. films between 2001 and 2011. Those films marked the first time J.K. Rowling‘s popular books were adapted into a different form of media, and are widely celebrated as some of the best book-to-film adaptations in history.
Back in 2023, HBO and Warner Bros. announced that the Harry Potter books were being adapted into a TV series that would span a decade. In late May this year, the series announced that it had officially cast its Harry, Ron and Hermione.
Young newcomer Dominic McLaughlin is set to play Harry, with Arabella Stanton portraying Hermione Granger and Alastair Stout taking on the role of Ron Weasley. They were the successful applicants from a pool of over 30,000 after an open casting call last year. The series is set to premiere sometime in 2027.
Now, Radcliffe has revealed on Good Morning America that he has reached out to McLauglin to offer his support. Speaking on the upcoming adaptation, Radcliffe shared: “I wouldn’t say that anyone who is going to play Harry has to [reach out to me], but I know a few people working on the production. I wrote to Dominic and sent him a letter and he sent me a very sweet note back.”
He continued: “I don’t want to be a spectre in the life of these children but I just wanted to write to him to 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 time.’”
“And I do, I just see these pictures of him and the other kids and I just want to hug them. They just seem so young. I just look at them and say, ‘Oh it’s crazy I was doing that at that age.’ But it’s also incredibly sweet and I hope they’re having a great time.”
The young actors join John Lithgow in the Harry Potter cast, who will be taking on the role of Albus Dumbledore, while Paapa Essiedu will play Severus Snape. Janet McTeer has been cast as Minerva McGonagall and Nick Frost will play Rubeus Hagrid.
One role that hasn’t been announced yet is the main villain, Lord Voldemort, who was played by Ralph Fiennes in the movie adaptations, starting with Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire in 2005.
Recently, Warwick Davis was confirmed to return to the franchise, reprising the role of Professor Filius Flitwick that he played in the films. His former co-star, Jason Isaacs, also spoke up for Essiedu as Snape, condemning “racists” who objected to the actor’s casting.