There’s even more news regarding the upcoming Harry Potter HBO series. First there was a myriad of dramas regarding notorious transphobe JK Rowling’s involvement, then we found out about a $1 billion mini city that was in production. Now, we finally have the official casting for the key roles of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley.

After over 30,000 actors participated in an open call audition process in 2024, three young performers have finally been chosen to take on the three young lead roles.

Dominic McLaughlin will play Harry, Arabella Stanton will play Hermione, and Alastair Stout has been cast as Ron.

HBO has cast Dominic McLaughlin as Harry Potter, Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger and Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley for its upcoming TV reboot. After a search of 32,000 audition tapes, filming begins summer 2025 at Leavesden. Each book will run eight episodes on HBO Max.… pic.twitter.com/w4WIF4iz5D

— HITPLAY – Movies and Shows Curated by Filmmakers (@hitplay_app) May 27, 2025

According to The Independent, showrunner Francesca Gardiner and executive producer and director Mark Mylod stated: “The talent of these three unique actors is wonderful to behold, and we cannot wait for the world to witness their magic together onscreen. We would like to thank all the tens of thousands of children who auditioned. It’s been a real pleasure to discover the plethora of young talent out there.”

In regard to the children’s background in the industry, McLaughlin (who will play Harry) has acted in upcoming Sky comedy Grow and is also due to appear in the upcoming BBC action adventure series Gifted. 

Stanton (who will be playing Hermione) has a strong theatre background, having played Matilda in Matilda: The Musical in the West End.

While there was an initial buzz regarding the casting announcement, some netizens have taken to X to express their fears and concerns over the treatment of these young actors. The Harry Potter reboot series is due to last for a decade, with each series focusing on a different book.

These three young individuals have now committed to being in the spotlight for the next ten years, a rather monumental decision. And given how cruel and harsh the world can be, it’s nervewracking to imagine what kind of online abuse or indeed public harassment they might endure.

i'm not interested in this reboot, but i pray for the safety and protection of these kids. their lives are about to become very messy very fast, and i wish them the best of luck in the face of discrimination, adversity, and parasocial fanaticism from harry potter adults https://t.co/paFMW7tgTg

— *leslie (@LE5B0B0MB) May 27, 2025

There are of course others online who’ve focused on the fact that this series may not be as well received as producers have predicted:

That Harry Potter reboot is going to fail and weirdly enough I think none of the major reasons for that are due to Rowling. The series already got a beloved adaptation and this show is just gonna do what the movies did, but longer. People are just gonna wanna rewatch the movies pic.twitter.com/UJu4LPQEgM

— 🍧🍦andrewthemandrew(idk era)💜💚 (@andrewthemandr6) May 27, 2025

hunger games casting making more noise than the harry potter reboot cant wait for this to get cancelled lmao pic.twitter.com/1INmnZQMUZ

— alex (@casualycruell) May 27, 2025

Irrespective of netizen’s opinions, these three are likely in for a pretty intense future and we can only hope that the proper boundaries and safeguards are put in place to ensure their childhoods aren’t jeopardised or harmed.