• Home
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Lists
    • Yearly Top Tens
    • Trailers
Menu

World of Reel

Street Address
City, State, Zip
Phone Number
Home
Mikey Madison and Jeremy Allen White to Star in Aaron Sorkin’s ‘The Social Network Part II’
Screenshot 2025-07-30 192735.png
Venice Boss on Paul Thomas Anderson’s Absence: “I Never Got a Clear Response from Warner Bros”
IMG_6462.jpg
Greta Gerwig's ‘Narnia: The Magician's Nephew' Starts Production in September
Screenshot 2025-07-30 151212.png
40 Years Later — The Best Films of 1985
IMG_7333.jpg
Shane Black’s ‘Play Dirty’ Might Be Headed Straight to Prime Video on October 1
Featured
Capture.PNG
Aug 19, 2019
3-Hour ‘Midsommar' Director's Cut Screened in NYC
Aug 19, 2019

This year’s 12th edition of the Scary Movies festival at Film at Lincoln Center premiered Ari Aster’s extended version of “Midsommar” this past Saturday.

Aug 19, 2019

World of Reel

  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Lists
  • More
    • Yearly Top Tens
    • Trailers

HBO’s ‘Harry Potter’ Series Casts the Golden Trio, Because Apparently We’re Doing This Again

May 27, 2025 Jordan Ruimy

Pedro Pascal, must be ecstatic about this latest news.

Brace yourselves, Potterheads and doomscrollers alike: HBO’s ultra-hyped, totally necessary “Harry Potter” reboot has finally cast its new Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

Dominic McLaughlin is Harry Potter, Arabella Stanton is Hermione Granger, and Alastair Stout will bring comic relief to Ron Weasley. According to HBO, over 30,000 hopefuls auditioned — so congrats to the chosen ones for surviving the Hunger Games of open casting.

The trio will join a rather prestige-loaded cast: John Lithgow as Dumbledore (sure, why not), Janet McTeer as McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu as Snape, Nick Frost as Hagrid (okay, bold), Luke Thallon as Quirrell, and Paul Whitehouse as Filch.

The series is executive produced by Gardiner, Mylod, and — surprise! — J.K. Rowling, who remains deeply attached to the franchise she birthed, despite her Twitter feed doing its best to alienate half of it. When asked if Rowling’s trans commentary might taint the show, HBO’s chief content officer Casey Bloys essentially shrugged it off.

The upcoming series, which plans to adapt one book per season over seven seasons, is being touted as one of the most expensive shows ever made, with a jaw-dropping $2 billion budget. That’s around $300M per season, a number that puts it in the same league as “The Rings of Power” and “House of the Dragon.”

But it’s not just the budget raising eyebrows. The casting of Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape has ignited fresh debates online, with critics slamming the move as another case of Hollywood “wokeness” and race-swapping for the sake of optics. Others see it as a bold step toward a more inclusive reinterpretation of the Wizarding World. Either way, the discourse is already loud, and we haven’t even seen a single frame of footage yet.

With Warner Bros. betting the castle on this reboot, the last thing they need is more PR headaches.

← ‘Thunderbolts’ Set to Lose $100 Million, Becomes Second-Worst MCU PerformerKevin Spacey’s Directorial Return is a Low-Budget Sci-Fi Epic With Dolph Lundgren, Tyrese Gibson and Eric Roberts →

FOLLOW US!


Trending

Featured
Capture+(3).png
‘Megalopolis': Francis Ford Coppola To Re-Edit, Add Scenes, “Make it More Weird"
IMG_7047.jpg
Margot Robbie to Star in Tim Burton’s ‘Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman’
IMG_7024.jpg
20 Years Later — The Best Films of 2005
IMG_7002.jpg
Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘One Battle After Another’ to Skip Fall Festivals Entirely
IMG_6985.jpg
Ari Aster Planning ‘Eddington’ Sequel, a Horror Film, and a Sci-Fi Project. Will He Get to Make Any of Them?

Critics Polls

Featured
Capture.PNG
Critics Poll: ‘Vertigo’ Named Best Film of the 1950s, Over 120 Participants
B16BAC21-5652-44F6-9E83-A1A5C5DF61D7.jpeg
Critics Poll: Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ Tops Our 1960s Critics Poll
Capture.PNG
Critics Poll: ‘The Godfather’ Named Best Movie of the 1970s
public.jpeg
Critics Poll: ‘Do the Right Thing' Named Best Movie of the 1980s
Critics Poll: ‘Mulholland Drive' Named Best Film of the 2000s
g4.jpg
Critics' Poll: ‘Goodfellas' Named Best Movie of the 1990s
Critics Poll: ‘Mad Max: Fury Road' Named Best Movie of the 2010s
World of Reel tagline.PNG
 

Content

Contribute

Hire me

 

Support

Advertise

Donate

 

About

Team

Contact

Privacy Policy

Site designed by Jordan Ruimy © 2023