Transcript for MuggleCast Episode #483, Fantasy Casting the Harry Potter TV Series, ‘Hogwarts Legacy’ Announced
Show Intro
[Show music plays]
Andrew Sims: Welcome to MuggleCast, your weekly ride into the wizarding world.
[Micah’s “Choo-choo” sound effect plays]
Andrew: I’m Andrew.
Eric Scull: I am Eric.
Micah Tannenbaum: I did not do that live, by the way. I’m Micah.
Laura Tee: And I’m Laura.
Andrew: That’s a little sound effect I’ve had for the past couple weeks, and I’ve been meaning to play it, and I keep forgetting every time.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: So that’s now part of our intro, Micah.
Micah: I love it.
Andrew: Do you remember when you said that?
Micah: I did. It was at the end of an episode, wasn’t it?
Andrew: Yeah, it was at the end of the Back to Hogwarts episode a couple weeks ago.
Micah: Oh, yeah.
[Micah’s “Choo-choo” sound effect plays]
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: I was going to say, where’d you get it? What’d you pay for it? I need royalties.
Andrew: [laughs] I’ll give you five bucks for it, sure.
Micah: Oh, perfect. Per episode.
Eric: Micah, you mean you don’t have a subscription to the MicahSoundsLibrary.org that I have?
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Micah: No, still waiting on that.
Andrew: $5 per episode? Okay.
Micah: Aw, man, I should have said per download.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Andrew: So on today’s episode, we will discuss casting for the inevitable Harry Potter television series. We’re going to touch on those characters who were in the Harry Potter books but never saw screen time, and then we will try our hand at recasting some of the more notable characters in the Potter series. Ooh, good intro. Nice job, Micah. So glad I stole that from you.
Micah: It’s like I used to do the news or something.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: And by the way, speaking of this topic, don’t miss last week’s episode, in which we discussed the scenes that never made it into the Harry Potter books and movies that could finally see the light of day in the Harry Potter TV series. We had a lot of fun discussing those things last week.
Hogwarts Legacy
Andrew: But first, some big news. Now, everybody knows that on last week’s episode, I made a prophecy, and just like Trelawney, I can screw up sometimes. So there was a big new Harry Potter project finally announced, but it wasn’t the TV series. [laughs] It was this long-awaited Harry Potter RPG. This is the one we’ve been speaking about for a couple years now. You guys might remember that there was this big trailer of sorts that leaked and then it was taken down; there was a copyright claim by Warner Bros., so we were like, “Oh, it must be accurate,” or “It must be real.” And the rumors were that you were going to play as a late-blooming Hogwarts student in the 1800s, and that’s exactly what this just-announced game is. It’s called Hogwarts Legacy. It’s going to be available next year for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and computer. I want to read the description, and we could talk about this and the trailer, because the official description unveils a lot. It says,
“Hogwarts Legacy is an immersive, open-world action RPG set in the world first introduced in the Harry Potter books. Now you can take control of the action and be at the center of your own adventure in the wizarding world. Embark on a journey through familiar and new locations as you explore and discover fantastic beasts, customize your character and craft potions, master spell casting, upgrade talents, and become the wizard you want to be. Experience Hogwarts in the 1800s. Your character is a student who holds the key to an ancient secret that threatens to tear the wizarding world apart. You have received a late acceptance to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and soon discover that you are no ordinary student: You possess an unusual ability to perceive and master Ancient Magic. Only you can decide if you will protect this secret for the good of all, or yield to the temptation of more sinister magic.”
Andrew: So what do you guys think of this? It sounds like a massive game, right?
Micah: Yeah, the trailer looks awesome, this whole story arc looks awesome, and I’m excited to play. I really like the fact that it goes beyond Hogwarts too. That little opening sequence… or it’s not really an opening sequence, but the sequence they show as you head into Hogsmeade, and… oh, man, I can’t wait to play this.
Andrew and Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: The game looks beautiful. I mean, the trailer was really remarkable, and I think it’s the Harry Potter video game that we’ve always wanted but never received.
Eric: Does it strike you at all in the description as being kind of like Hogwarts Mystery, but with full-roaming 3-D environments?
Andrew: Right. It does worry me a little bit, because it’s a video game team that created this story, so there is that question about how good can it be? But it is for console. Like I said, the trailer… the world looks really great. So I’m going to hold out hope this is going to be a genuinely great Harry Potter RPG.
Eric: Yeah. I mean, we’ve wanted a free-roaming Hogwarts game, or at least I have – I can speak for myself – ever since the Chamber of Secrets video game for, I don’t know, the first PlayStation really allowed you to go out on the grounds for a bit, go down to Hagrid’s. Every version since then, including the massively successful Lego Harry Potters, has had some version of go around the castle, but it’s mostly been tied to the mission that you were on. I really want to be able to live in the castle, and hopefully be able to choose Houses. That’s the one thing I was hoping for out of some of this description, or some of this trailer gameplay, to see whether or not you’d be able to actually choose your House.
Andrew: I bet you will. It seems like you can customize a lot of your character, and I think a lot of players would be disappointed if they couldn’t pick which House they were going to be in. Laura, you’re a gamer. What do you think of this?
Laura: I’ve had really mixed feelings about this, mostly for some reasons that we’re going to touch on here in a couple of minutes. But I also really wanted a game like this for a long time, and then it just never came. So I saw this, and I was like, “It looks good, and it looks like a labor of love from the crew that put this out.” But I don’t know; I feel like I kind of moved on from the hope for a game like this. [laughs]
Andrew: Oh, yeah.
Laura: Maybe it came… it was too little, too late for me. And then there were some other concerns.
Andrew: Before we get to that, though, one of the other things I’m really excited about is this line that says, “Only you can decide if you will protect the secret for the good of all, or yield to the temptation of more sinister magic.” It sounds like you are going to be able to decide which path your character takes. Are you going to be on the good side, or are you going to be on the Dark side? And that is very interesting. And we see this a lot in video games these days, where the choices you make greatly affect the way the video game goes. So I’m really looking forward to that. And the trailer really sold me on it; it was pretty darn epic. So like Laura is alluding to, a lot of people have also been concerned about giving J.K. Rowling more of their money after what’s gone on over the past year, and she got in more hot water over the past week. So the timing was pretty unfortunate in terms of the Hogwarts Legacy announcement. And I thought one thing we could discuss here is what to do if you don’t want to give J.K. Rowling your money, but you want to play the game, and I’ve seen a couple ideas on Twitter. There’s been a big debate on Twitter over the past week. [laughs]
Laura: Yes.
Andrew: It made me want to quit Twitter. Stop telling me what to do! There are two paths here. And Laura, I know you’ve suggested this one in regards to the Fantastic Beasts movies: making a donation to charities that support trans people if you buy the video game. So let’s say you spend $60 on this video game. You also spend another $60… put $60 towards a charity. And then the other idea… and I think this is the best bet, because with that idea, with buying the game and giving your money to charity, you’re still giving your money to the video game, and some of that does go to J.K. Rowling, ultimately. The other idea is to buy the game used. None of that money will be going to J.K. Rowling. Those sales numbers aren’t tracked, so it doesn’t contribute to her influence. That seems like the safest bet. The only problem there, if you’re really excited for this game, is you’re going to have to wait a couple extra weeks.
Eric: Oh, yeah. And you’re going to have to get a system that has an optical drive, because now they’re selling the PS5 and the Xbox Series X without a disk drive, so buying used will actually be a bit more difficult.
Andrew: Yeah, it could be. I’m going to hold on to my PlayStation 4 for this game.
Eric: Oh, yeah. Probably too, honestly.
Laura: Well, wait, isn’t there a version of the PS5 that has a disk drive?
Eric: There is.
Laura: Yeah, okay.
Eric: So you have to be sure to get that version, but that will cost more.
Laura: Yeah. I think the way that I feel about this game, I don’t personally feel compelled to play it right now. As I said, I had kind of moved on from this possibility a long time ago. But if I ever do feel as though I want to play it, I will be buying it used, because I’m just really trying to – and I know we all are as we ride this awful wave of J.K. Rowling’s terrible opinions – trying to figure out how I can best live in this space and celebrate fandom while doing the least amount of harm, and to me, personally, buying the game used feels like the best way to do that, so that’s what I’ll be doing.
Eric: That’s a cool idea. I really like that, actually. And real quick about this game, again, this line about Ancient Magic, that you’re going to discover it or see how it works. Again, that really hits on one of the top unanswered questions that I have from the Harry Potter series, is what is that deeper level of magic that we see Dumbledore kind of wordlessly tapping into? What does that look like, and where does it come from? And I feel like, just based on the trailer, that some of those questions are going to be tackled throughout the story of this game, and that just really does intrigue me.
Andrew: Yeah, me too. Me too. It does really look like a game for adults; I think that’s another big difference with this game versus the other Harry Potter video games that we’ve seen in the past. And I’ve really become a big gamer over the past few years, so that makes me extra excited for this, where 5-10 years ago, I may not have been as excited for it. Another thing is, in terms of what to do in terms of buying the game, final point I’ll make is that this has obviously been an awful year, and we need any good news we can take. So don’t be afraid to be excited for this video game. We need things to look forward to right now, and for a lot of our listeners, this is absolutely going to be one of the things we can look forward to in the next year.
Micah: Yeah, I agree with you. I would say that people should do what feels right to them. And I know we’ve offered a couple of suggestions up here, but if you plan to go out and buy the video game, I think it’s fair to say that that is totally fine, and it’s your decision. I’ll most likely be doing that. And I think I’ll do the same with the next Cormoran Strike book, because I’ve heard a lot of things, and I want to read it for myself and make my own judgments. So yeah, it’s not an easy decision to make, given everything that has been going on and everything that’s been said by J.K. Rowling, but you should make it your own, and don’t feel pushed in one direction by people on Twitter.
Andrew: You could easily buy that new book used, Micah, if you wanted to.
Micah: That is true.
Andrew: I’m sure it’s already available used if you wanted. I’m trying to sell my Cormoran Strike books, by the way, if anybody would like to purchase them. I tried to bring them to a used bookstore the other day, and they wouldn’t take them because they didn’t know how J.K. Rowling’s new book would sell. [laughs]
Micah: Oh, wow.
Andrew: They were like, “We don’t want these. Keep them away.”
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Micah: Just really quick, I know we mentioned the systems that this would be available on. There is no plan for this to be on Nintendo Switch, right?
Andrew: No.
Micah: I’m going to have to look into another system, so that’s a whole ‘nother expense to add on top of this, unless I wanted to go the PC route.
Andrew: Right. Yeah, no. I mean, the Nintendo Switch, it doesn’t have the capabilities that the PlayStation and Xbox systems have, so that’s probably why we’re not seeing it available for Nintendo Switch. Unfortunately, because I’m a big Nintendo fan like you, Micah. But yeah, you’re going to have to get a PlayStation, maybe.
Micah: The good thing, though, for any of these systems is the expansion capabilities, too, down the line. If they do want to open up the world even more, I think that there’s a really great opportunity for that, for fans of the game.
Andrew: Yeah, those are usually called DLCs, and I’m definitely willing to bet they are planning a DLC or two for this game as well, because it seems like most modern video games do have these DLCs to squeeze a little more money out of you.
Micah: Yeah, it reminded me very much of Breath of the Wild.
Andrew: Before we get to some Muggle Mail, it’s time for a word from this week’s sponsor.
[Ad break]
Listener Feedback
Andrew: It’s time for Muggle Mail, and we will start with a pair of voicemails.
[Voicemail plays]
“Hello, the Pizza Wizard here! I just wanted to pop into your discussion on magical pizza toppings. As I am the Wizard of Pizza, this is an expert section of my knowledge. I wanted to say that my favorite toppings tend to come from the personal storage of one Severus Snape’s potion ingredients. Ooh boy, nothing hits the spot quite like a troll bogey and lacewing flies pizza, and sometimes, if I’m having a good day and get quite lucky, there are some gnome toenails I can throw on to the pizza as well. Pip-pip and cheerio, you know!”
[Voicemail ends]
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Micah: I’m sorry, but I had to listen to that, so I figured everybody had to listen to that, going through the inbox.
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Are you saying that’s hard to listen to? I found that delightful.
Micah: No, no, I’m saying I wanted to share the experience from Julianna. She did a great job.
Andrew: I see.
Eric: For more Pizza Wizard shenanigans, check out her podcast, PuffCast, the podcast for Hufflepuffs.
Andrew: [laughs] Okay.
Micah: Is that real too?
Eric: That’s genuinely real. That’s where the Pizza Wizard comes from.
Micah: Oh, okay. Well, and there’s a picture of the Pizza Wizard in the show doc here. We’ll be sure to put him on social media.
[Laura and Micah laugh]
Andrew: He looks like Cookie Monster, but in pizza form.
Eric: He really does, actually.
Micah: Yeah, he does.
Eric: I just love the hat. I love the triangle hat is on the triangle part of the pizza. That makes a lot of sense.
Andrew: [laughs] Okay, and we got a lot of feedback over the past week about last week’s discussion, so thanks to everybody who wrote in. Here’s some feedback about it from Chelsea.
[Voicemail plays]
“Hey, MuggleCasters. I was just listening to the episode on scenes we’d like to see in a TV series, and it just occurred to me how funny it would be to see the lost day with Hagrid and Harry. So we know that obviously it happens on Halloween, and then Harry doesn’t get dropped on the doorstep until midnight on the following day. So what did Hagrid do with him in that time? Are we going to see Hagrid sitting in a cafe with baby Harry in a pram? Did he take him to a toddler time class? Did they just hang out in the Leaky Cauldron while Hagrid had a couple of pints? Exactly what did they do with themselves in that 24 hours before Dumbledore summoned Hagrid to the Dursleys’ place? I think that would just make for a bit of interesting viewing.”
[Voicemail ends]
Andrew: They hung out with the Pizza Wizard.
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Eric: You’re never too young to start kids on pizza.
Andrew: [laughs] This was a hotly debated topic over the years, and there’s actually a lot of writing about this online, about what happened in that lost day. I think that’s a great idea, Chelsea.
Laura: Agreed.
Micah: Chelsea’s accent sounds a lot more authentic than the Pizza Wizard’s. I’m just throwing that out there.
Andrew: It does.
[Eric laughs]
Laura: Hey.
Andrew: Yeah, it was less insulting.
Laura: Don’t insult the Pizza Wizard, y’all.
Micah: Can we make an order on this show and test out some of this magical pizza?
Laura: [laughs] Right, see if pizzas are delivered.
Andrew: Only if they’ve got Niffler toppings.
Laura: No!
Eric: If you insult the Pizza Wizard, you’re going to get pepperoni’d. Or Niffleroni’d.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Laura: All right, next piece of feedback comes from Danielle. Danielle says,
“I absolutely love this week’s main discussion topic and wanted to share a scene I hope just might make the cut when we finally get the Potter TV show. In Goblet of Fire, I’m particularly interested in the background moments of the Death Eaters before they are summoned to the graveyard. We know that they feel their Dark Mark growing stronger leading up to Voldy’s return. I’m specifically wondering if any of them prepared for the moment? I can almost picture a scene that when the Death Eaters feel their summon to the graveyard and then proceed to run around their homes, half excited and half scared, trying to find their Death Eater outfits/costumes. Did Narcissa Malfoy have Lucius’s all ironed out and ready to go because they discussed the mark growing stronger? Or were they scared upon the summon because, oh yeah, they totally accidentally, unknowingly, and indirectly destroyed a Horcrux? I can almost picture this being shot like the beginning of Deathly Hallows – Part 1 when the trio is in their homes and prepping for the journey. Instead it’s more like a mad dash that spotlights a couple of different Death Eaters in their homes, and poor Bellatrix extremely upset she can’t rejoin her master, but all the same ecstatic that he has returned.”
Andrew: Love it. Between us and our listeners, we are going to come up with the best television series ever.
Laura: Should we just do it?
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Micah: Yeah, why not?
Andrew: Let’s go on Shark Tank and get some funding for this show. I’m sure they won’t be worried about the legal implications of taking Harry Potter and doing something ourselves. Good idea, Laura.
Laura: Well, there have been handmade shorts before.
Andrew: True, true.
Laura: I feel like there’s some precedent there. [laughs]
Andrew: Okay, let’s hit up Hollywood. Let’s see what we can do.
Micah: Yeah, but great email there from Danielle. Next one comes from Will; feedback on both Episode 481 and 482. He says,
“Going back to the point about how Neville is the unknowing catalyst that ends up driving Harry to become who he is, I remember a scene on the train in the Sorcerer’s Stone movie. Ron is just about to show Harry the spell that would turn Scabbers yellow, as Hermione is going from compartment to compartment asking if anyone’s seen a toad, because a boy named Neville lost it. Hermione of course ends up staying to watch Ron’s not-so-successful demonstration of magic. I don’t remember how this scene plays out in the book, but I thought it’s worth mentioning again that even something that seems like a goof-up by Neville ends up having a profound effect, like introducing the trio to one another.”
Laura: Oooh.
Micah: That’s a good one.
“Something that I’d love to see on HP TV is perhaps a bridging episode between Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire. I’d love to see a few scenes of Sirius’s travels with Buckbeak, especially as we don’t really get much of Sirius at all in Goblet of Fire. It occurred to me that between his time at Hogwarts, the First Wizarding War, Azkaban, and later being essentially confined to Grimmauld Place, Sirius’s travels with Buckbeak is the only time in his adult life when he was truly able to enjoy his freedom, even if incognito. I think it would also nicely set up Order of the Phoenix, by showing Sirius’s reluctant return to Grimmauld Place, to claim the birthright that he tried to escape, for the good of the Order so that the Order could use it as a safehouse.”
Eric: Yes.
Micah: And then, Laura, he does on to say he really liked your point about showing what the life of Squibs are like.
Laura: Yeah!
Eric: I want a whole Sirius season between 3 and 4.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: Season?
Micah: It’s a spinoff! It could be a spinoff.
Eric: Oh, yeah! Maybe. But no, I agree that there’s the room in the canon to explore this inner turmoil of Sirius returning to his childhood home. You’d get good flashbacks to hanging out with James and stuff, too, so it would be a good way to build up the Marauders in advance of the eventual Snape’s Worst Memory scene.
Micah: Very true. And he wanted to shout out his friend Derek, who introduced him to Harry Potter all the way back in 2002, and Ashley, who once tried to make a Horcrux out of her MacBook.
Andrew: Huh.
[Laura laughs]
Micah: Andrew, you tried to do that, didn’t you?
Andrew: Uh, no.
Micah: You’re big on Horcruxes.
Eric: Well, the next email here comes from Laila.
“Hey, MuggleCast. I really enjoyed last week’s topic! I’ve been listening to the audiobooks for the first time and have been loving the experience. I’m currently on Half-Blood Prince but have been having this sense of nostalgia for scenes we never got in the movies. For example, I would have loved if we had more Ginny scenes that gave her more of a personality.”
Laura: Yes.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Eric: Snaps for you, Laila.
“But besides that, it has made me think more of how a TV show would be the best way to get these scenes, but I’d love (and note: I’m fully aware likely not happening) a full-on channel. St. Mungo’s show like General Hospital. A Diagon Alley QVC. A Ministry of Magic show modeled after The West Wing. Any fun show ideas you’d like to see on this fictitious wizarding channel? Thanks for humoring me and this quarantine dream. But if there’s producers listening out there, please. Best, Laila.”
Yeah, I want to see the Gilderoy Lockhart one-man show where he literally just brings out… he might have a guest every episode, but it’s just like a… maybe even a late night…
Andrew: [laughs] A late night talk show, okay. “Late Night with Lockhart.”
Laura: It’d be funny if they did like an Office or Parks and Rec style episode or show about people working in a particular environment. Maybe not necessarily government, but any type of office environment.
Eric: Like the Daily Prophet?
Laura: Yeah. Oh, that would be great.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: “Prophets and Dailies,” it’ll be called.
Andrew: And the final email comes from Kate. She says,
“I listened to yesterday’s show, and it took until today to realize the scene we really, really need to see: Hermione defeating the Horcrux! It’s such a deprivation that we don’t get that huge character moment for her. Definitely needs to be in the TV show. Thanks for the show, you all. Love it every week!”
That’s a great idea. Oh, everybody would lose their minds watching her defeat the cup, destroy the cup.
Micah: And just one final email that we got was from Ann B., and it ties into what we’re going to talk about in our main discussion today. She commented on the age of the Marauders and Snape, that they should have been in their early 30s, and that James and Lily, looking at that photograph that we see, were 21 when they had Harry, and that the TV show should cast them age appropriate.
Eric and Laura: Yeah.
Eric: That’s honestly been the hardest part of what we’re about to do, which is talk about casting. When you get around to the characters that were very, very young when they died, like James and Lily, I have trouble finding actors that are that age, because a lot of the actors I know are much older than that already. So it’s really hard to cast the younger characters for that reason.
Fantasy casting a Harry Potter TV series
Micah: Yeah, and even more so as we kind of jump into this discussion, and we’ll talk about a little bit later on the trio themselves. As we look to who could possibly fill those roles, we’ll talk a little bit about if the Potter series could catch lightning in a bottle for a second time. I’m not sure that they could, especially for something that would need to be as long-lasting as a television show.
Andrew: So no offense to the original trio, but they’re not the world’s greatest actors.
Laura: No.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: It’s not like they found the most perfect actors. And frankly – [laughs] I’m going to get yelled at for saying this – Emma Watson hasn’t gotten better as an actress. I mean, she was not that great in Beauty and the Beast, for example. So I don’t think there’s a very high bar for them to cross if they do recast the trio. And it’s like, when you’re picking children so young, you don’t know if they’re going to end up becoming great actors.
Laura: You know, that’s kind of what I love about the particular era of TV that we’re in. There are so many accomplished child actors now. When I go back and watch movies from early Sorcerer’s Stone era, but also just ’90s, early 2000s, all the kid actors are just not… they’re cute; they’re cute kids, and that’s how it works. That’s the only way that it works. But now you have shows like His Dark Materials, Stranger Things, where you actually have very accomplished child actors, so I think they could do it.
Eric: That’s a good point.
Micah: I think part of the allure of the series, even early on, though, with those actors, was that they were a bit unknown and that they seemed just normal.
Andrew: Right.
Micah: There wasn’t sort of this huge celebrity attached to them. If you had gone the direction of… I believe initially, they were looking at Haley Joel Osment for the role of Harry.
Andrew: Yeah, that was the big one. [laughs]
Micah: Because of Chris Columbus…
Andrew: Who’s American.
Micah: Right, which wouldn’t have worked. But first, before we get into that, we wanted to take some time to look at characters that weren’t cast in the original series, that played a fairly integral role in the books, and we would want to see them come to life on the television screen. So let’s start first with everybody’s favorite professor, Professor Binns.
Andrew: Favorite? Okay.
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: Well, the actor you’re casting here is… this is next level.
Andrew: Yeah, so we each cast one of these characters; we’re going to take turns throughout the discussion. I thought Ian McKellen could play Professor Binns. When I think Professor Binns, I think old, and Ian McKellen is very old at this point. I also find him very difficult to understand…
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Andrew: … and he’s great at being boring. Just see the Hobbit film series to see what I’m talking about.
Micah: Ouch.
Andrew: So I would like to cast him.
Laura: You can’t blame that on him.
Andrew: [laughs] It’s just a joke. Ian McKellen, he could have been Dumbledore, so I would like to see him in a Harry Potter television series.
Eric: I love the idea that there’s this epic Shakespearean actor who you’d never know is in Hogwarts as a teacher because he just kind of keeps himself and keeps a little quiet, and he drolls on and nobody likes his class. But I love the casting. Nice work.
Micah: There’s also that backstory with Richard Harris and the fact that the two did not get along well with each other.
Andrew: Oh, really?
Micah: So bringing Ian into the Harry Potter series… yeah, there was a lot of news when Richard Harris was playing the role that Gandalf and Dumbledore couldn’t really see eye to eye.
Eric: Yeah, there was definitely… there was an old group of friends. Richard Harris was one of them; I think Peter O’Toole as well. Just this old group of basically drinking buddies, and rivalries were made, I guess. Pretty interesting.
Andrew: Wow, interesting. Okay. So next up is Augusta Longbottom. I thought she could be played by Judi Dench. Judi Dench, she has a motherly appeal. And I was also thinking, unfortunately she just got written out of the James Bond series, so she has some extra time right now to take on another role. And like Professor Binns, Augusta is a character we probably wouldn’t see too often, so while casting these I’m also thinking about, like, would these actors be up for these massive, long term roles? No. In the case of Augusta, Judi Dench, she could just pop in from time to time.
Eric: I also love this casting, I think because when I think of Augusta Longbottom, I think of stern, sort of forcing Neville to try and be more excited.
Andrew: Oooh, good point. Right.
Eric: Yeah, and Judi Dench has that stern angle as well, just like Julie Walters does as well. But yeah, I absolutely see this casting working out.
Laura: Yeah, I love this as well. I think about Judi Dench in roles like… did you guys ever see Chocolat, for example?
Eric: No.
Laura: She was in that. I imagine that kind of cranky, cantankerous, but still loving type portrayal. I think that would be perfect for Augusta.
Andrew: I mean, look, she was in the Cats movie, so she’ll do anything.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: At this point of her career.
Micah: I’m disappointed to hear that she was written out of the Bond series. No more M?
Andrew: Oh, I’m sorry. Was that kind of like a…? Well, no, that movie’s been out for a couple years.
Micah: That’s breaking news! No.
Eric: Well, the role is now played by Ralph Fiennes, Mr. Voldemort himself.
Micah: Interesting.
Andrew: Right. Wait a second, Skyfall came out in 2012?
Eric: I know.
Andrew: Augh!
Eric: Can you believe that?
Andrew: Where has the time gone? That’s the movie she was written out in. Oh, and also, she was in Artemis Fowl, the Disney adaptation. But my God, that was a terrible movie. It’s on Disney+.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: So she can redeem herself by getting into the Harry Potter TV series.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Andrew: Don’t waste your time with that movie, please. It is awful. All right, next one.
Eric: Yes, we have Charlie Weasley, the one Weasley who really didn’t get a spotlight or a closeup in the Harry Potter films. He wouldn’t necessarily have much to do; Charlie is kind of only ever in the background of the books. But I’d like to see them cast an actor who I’ve seen do good things, and that’s Asa Butterfield. He notably… I first saw him playing Ender in Ender’s Game. He’s also on a several-seasons-running-long series called Sex Education on Netflix. Do you guys watch that show?
Laura: Yeah, he’s great.
Andrew: I’ve heard about it.
Laura: Yeah, so I can see him popping in, doing whatever work is needed. I can also see him really just fleshing out the role of Charlie, giving a little bit of a uniqueness to the Charlie role. But I would like to see them cast Asa, and then also write more scenes for Charlie, or even just do the scenes in the book, like when they’re all around the table at the Burrow; I believe Charlie is there then. So they’d have a little bit more to do with him if they cast Charlie Weasley.
Andrew: Eric, I know you just complimented my castings, but I feel like this is dead on arrival, because Asa? He isn’t a redhead. All Weasleys must be genuine redheads.
Eric: Well, neither James nor Oliver Phelps were genuine redheads.
Andrew: Damn it! You’re right. Never mind.
Eric: But it is my next casting that I’m particularly proud of, in the role of Ludo Bagman. I think really the Harry Potter powers that be were onto something when they cast this guy to do the audiobook version of Quidditch, but it is, of course, the international athlete David Beckham that I would love to see on screen in an acting role as Ludo Bagman, the Head of Department of Magical Games and Sports.
Andrew: Yeah, I like this a lot.
Laura: Yeah, I think if they put a beer belly on him, this would work.
[Everyone laughs]
Laura: I was really struggling to think about who to cast here. I was rereading his introduction in Goblet, and I was like, “Man, I just can’t think of anyone.” And then you found the most obvious choice.
Eric: Thank you. Yeah, it did actually strike me as being an extremely obvious choice, but at the same time, it took me a while to get there. He’s acted before. He’s in The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; I think he might have even been in one of the Charlie’s Angels films a long time ago, but maybe that’s just…
Andrew: Well, I’m seeing he was also in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, so he’s got fantasy experience too.
Eric: Yeah, yeah! So seeing him… and again, Ludo Bagman, not a really big role, but if you’re in the Goblet era, you can watch him swindle the Weasley twins. He out-Weasley-twins the Weasley twins. Come on. That’s going to make for good TV.
Micah: Definitely.
Andrew: Yeah, I think a fun angle of this TV series is that there are so many characters that there’s so many opportunities for some cameos, so I kind of think of Ludo Bagman like a cameo. He can show up for one episode, “Oh my God, David Beckham, wow, that’s amazing,” and then we just move on.
Micah: Right. To Laura’s point, I do like that Eric picked the antithesis of Ludo Bagman in terms of it being an athlete.
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Micah: I know Ludo has prior experience being an athlete, but I’m just saying, what he is now, David would have to probably have a few pints – a few hundred pints, maybe – to catch up to Ludo.
[Eric laughs]
Micah: So next up we have Peeves, who would definitely, in my opinion, be a fan favorite of the series. And we do have a little bit of conflicting opinion here. Not conflict; we just have different suggestions. How about that?
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: Eric went the route of somebody who was already in the Harry Potter series, right? So that by itself, I think, should discount them from reappearing.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Ouch. No!
Eric: Disqualify if you’ve already been in Harry Potter before.
Micah: But go ahead. I’ll let you go first, Eric, with your suggestion for David Tennant.
Eric: Okay. This is a role that I could see David Tennant playing. He’s extremely versatile. He’s done a lot of darker stuff lately; to be honest, kind of creeps me out. He’s Kilgrave in Jessica Jones. He’s in a show called Criminal: UK that’s now on Netflix. But David Tennant just has an endless comedic ability, showcased mostly in his comedic work with Catherine Tate. And if you YouTube “David Tennant, Catherine Tate,” you will get just the funniest comedy that you’ve ever seen. But yeah, so he was Doctor Who for four years; he still does some audio dramas of that. He’s just an extremely versatile actor that was, I feel, wasted in the Harry Potter films, particularly in Goblet of Fire. You barely know that he’s there. But as Peeves, he could pop in really whenever they wanted him to, and really kind of cause some havoc, and I just see David being one of those faces that you welcome onto the screen, even if you don’t welcome his character.
Andrew: Yeah. And then what’s yours, Micah?
Micah: Yeah, I went the direct comedic route with Ricky Gervais.
Eric: Ahh.
Micah: I just feel like Ricky could easily fill this role. Has nothing to do with the fact I watched standup from him last night; I put this in much earlier than that.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Micah: But I just think that his ability to craft a joke… he would absolutely love the destruction element of this job, the things that he gets to do around the school.
[Eric laughs]
Micah: And I just think he would bring a fresh, different perspective to Hogwarts, one that we have definitely never seen before. I mean, he would have to keep his mouth under control, but…
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Micah: He definitely likes to drop a few inappropriate comments here and there. But when I think of Peeves, that’s who I think of.
Eric: I do like this. I do like a… that’s an equally strong – if not stronger – casting, I think.
Andrew: So I’m not the biggest Ricky Gervais fan, but he does have this wild laugh that I think would work really well for Peeves.
Laura: Yeah. So I’ll preface this by saying that I like Ricky Gervais, but I have a threshold. He eventually annoys me if I’m watching him too much.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew and Eric: Just like Peeves!
Eric: To be fair.
Laura: Yes.
Micah: There you go.
Laura: So actually, in that regard, I think it could be perfect, but I really think that it depends on what kind of Peeves we’re hoping to see on screen. If we’re looking for a more cartoonish, book style Peeves that we all know and love, I think Ricky Gervais could be the right way to go, but depending on the tone that the show is hoping to establish, they could take Peeves in a darker direction, and I think David Tennant could be perfect for that. So I think either one of these could work, just depending on the direction.
Micah: Yeah, I see what you’re saying. Yeah, David Tennant definitely could go that darker direction. Ricky Gervais is more of the Peeves that would be urinating on the Quidditch House Cup, or into it. You know what I mean?
[Eric laughs]
Laura: Yeah, and doing that endless Ricky Gervais laugh that once I hear it too long, I’m like, “Okay, I’m done.”
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: Well, we’ll leave it up to the show to figure out who ends up getting that role. Next up is a series of characters that was kind of disappointing we didn’t get to see in the films, and that is the Gaunt family. So starting with Merope, then Morfin, then Marvolo. For Merope, Tilda Swinton came to mind. She plays the White Witch in the Chronicles of Narnia series. Her acting career and credits are much, much longer than that, but her role as the White Witch made me think of her for this, just given how Merope as a character is described in Half-Blood Prince. I think she could do a really good job in this role.
Andrew and Laura: Yeah.
Laura: And what I like about Tilda, too, is that she’s extremely versatile. She’s just somebody who can be aged up or down very successfully, and I think for the case of Merope, she would need to be aged down pretty significantly. But she’s sort of… I don’t know. I see Tilda Swinton, and she’s sort of ageless, in a way. You can’t quite pinpoint how old she is, and I think that would really, in terms of the physical aspect of the character, it would really serve that purpose. And then, most importantly, she’s just extremely accomplished. And I think that this would make me want to see more of Merope. Kind of how last week we talked about what scenes we would want to see in the show that we didn’t see in the books, I think this would give them more room – especially given the weight of Tilda Swinton’s career and the talent she’d be bringing to the table – to really expand on that character so that we see more of her backstory. I think it would be really cool.
Eric: I was going to say, too, most of that character is nonverbal. Most of that character is… she’s so forced into her shell by her bigger brother and her dad and all that abuse that you’d get a lot of, I don’t know, just telling facial expressions. Tilda is really, really good at conveying emotion nonverbally, which is a skill that I think any actor in that role would have to have.
Andrew: Yeah, I’m glad you suggested her, because she’s one of the most unique-looking actresses out there, and I was trying to think of where to place her in the Harry Potter TV series for that reason, because wizards, they all look unique. [laughs] So this is a good spot for her.
Micah: There’s certainly others that she could take the role of. I mean, depending on… again, looking at what we’re thinking of for the ages of certain characters, maybe a Narcissa Malfoy or a Bellatrix would… just given that she has that experience in those types of roles as well, and she does evil just about as good as anybody, because there’s always… at least with the Narnia series, initially there’s that sweet coyness to her where she’s able to trick Peter, so she does that very well.
Laura: Yeah, I will say – and this is something I was thinking about as we were planning this – I would love to see a day where we can cast in a Harry Potter TV show not being super tied to gender roles. Tilda Swinton – as you mentioned, Micah – she’s phenomenal in those evil roles. Why couldn’t she play Voldemort?
Eric: Right.
Micah: Oooh.
Laura: Why not?
Andrew: When we think about casting Hermione in the Cursed Child, that rocked the fandom and the world in the best way, right? When they made Hermione black. And I think they could absolutely do that for this. It would be a great way to freshen up the story, too, to Laura’s point.
Micah: Absolutely. And continuing with the Gaunt family with Morfin Gaunt… and this was another hard one, and I thought about who’s just so crazy out there that they would fit into this role? Sent to Azkaban multiple times, and somehow is still able to just pull off… Joaquin Phoenix came to mind.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: I mean, just… I don’t know why – maybe the Joker, maybe not – but I see similarities in the mindset of these two characters. They’re both just absolutely batshit crazy.
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Laura: And I could see Joaquin Phoenix going total method acting on this. He would live as Morfin for months before actually shooting.
Eric: [laughs] Live in a shack, not really talk to anybody, and be in the woods. After seeing him in Joker, and I liked… I guess I’ve seen him in a couple movies before then, but seeing him in Joker, I’m like, this guy portrays, mental unhingement, just mental derangement, quite well.
Andrew: Really well. [laughs]
Eric: Yeah, somebody who’s not quite all there. And through Bob Ogden’s eyes in the book, you get the sense that there’s just this wild, crazy guy who nailed a snake to the door with his knife, and he’s going to come at you with a knife because you’re going to take him… so yeah, there are very few actors who I think could play it realistically or play it straight, and Joaquin is one of them.
Micah: Rounding out the Gaunts: Marvolo.
Andrew: I decided to cast Sean Connery in this role.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Sean is old AF, just like Marvolo, and Sean’s also got that… [laughs] I’m doing the SNL impression now.
[Laura and Micah laugh]
Andrew: But he could put on a rough voice, I feel, at this age. Cast somebody who’s very old in this role, because Marvolo is also very old as well. He’s got kind of a rugged look, too, and he can have an evil look to him.
Eric: I mean, really, just talking about this has made me realize how much I want to see these scenes. The Gaunts got shafted by not being in the movie, but Marvolo’s pride over who he is and where he comes from, even though it’s not a great place and it’s not all that much to be excited about, really is something that I want to see in art and TV right now.
Andrew: Yeah. Cameos, cameos, cameos.
Micah: Eric, we can cast you as Bob Ogden, so that you get this full experience.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Eric: Oh my God, that would be amazing! I’m going to audition for Bob Ogden, and if I don’t get it, I’m going to audition for Eric, the security wizard at the Ministry.
Micah: [laughs] All right, and then just rounding out the characters that didn’t make an appearance in the movies but were in the books, we felt it’s appropriate to talk about the founders of Hogwarts, and we’ll start off with Godric Gryffindor. And similar to what we ran into with Peeves, we have some different suggestions here, but I went with James Cosmo. Most people probably know him for his role as Lord Commander Mormont in the Game of Thrones series. He’s also in His Dark Materials. He’s also in the first of the Chronicles of Narnia movie; he plays Santa Claus. That’s not the character’s name, but I call him Santa Claus because that’s who he really is.
[Laura laughs]
Eric and Laura: Father Christmas.
Micah: Father Christmas, there we go. Yep. When I thought of Godric Gryffindor, I thought of James Cosmo. But Laura, I know you had another suggestion.
Laura: Yeah, so I think of Paul Giamatti specifically.
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Laura: No, hear me out, hear me out. I think specifically of his role in HBO’s John Adams; that kind of cantankerous, stubborn, moral high horse, I think, would be perfect for Godric Gryffindor. I can see… very much with the Founding Fathers, as they were with John Adams, I could see the Hogwarts founders being like, “Okay, Godric. Yeah, we heard you. You can stop talking now. You’re fine. Okay, we agree. Shut up.”
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: So I think that would be perfect. Paul Giamatti is also a very accomplished character actor, so I think that he could really bring Gryffindor to life.
Eric: You know, fun fact, Paul Giamatti also played Santa Claus.
[Laura and Micah laugh]
Laura: Perfect!
Eric: In a movie with Vince Vaughn called Fred Claus, if you remember. I saw it in theaters. Yeah, so we’re casting pretty much Santa Claus actors as Godric Gryffindor. I love that.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Micah: Not sure what that means, but…
Eric: Well, it’s a big red suit. That’s one of the colors.
Micah: That is. I like that suggestion, too, Laura. With James Cosmo, I just thought his ability to just command a group of people, and just his presence in general in a lot of these roles, but particularly with his role in the Game of Thrones series. When I think about Gryffindor and how he would be amongst the other founders, like I said earlier, James Cosmo came to mind.
Laura: Yeah, couldn’t go wrong here.
Micah: But definitely like your suggestion. All right, next up – we mentioned this, I think, last week during our other TV show discussion – Salazar Slytherin. My choice is John Malkovich.
Laura: Yep.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: And it’s hard because when we’re sitting here, we’re talking about… obviously we want to talk about other roles that they’ve played, but there’s certain people that just come to mind when you think of characters, and for me, I don’t know if it’s because of thinking all the way back – and this was a terrible adaptation of the book – Aragon, but he did play the villain in that as well, and it was very short-lived because it didn’t go beyond one movie, but just… he is very versatile in his ability. I think he does evil very well, and not in a way that… you’re afraid of him because of the intellectual side, not because of… when I think of Voldemort, I think people are afraid of him, number one, because of the way that he looks, but number two, because of the fear that he inspires through torture and other things like that. But I feel like for somebody like John Malkovich, Slytherin would just be at a completely different level.
Andrew: He’s got the evil look.
Micah: He does.
Andrew: That face just screams evil.
[Eric laughs]
Laura: Jesus, Andrew.
Andrew: And you just need to… what? It’s true! So you take a look at him, yeah, that’s Salazar. I don’t want to get near him.
Laura: Yeah, I would not challenge this casting. I think this is perfect, just because John Malkovich really can embody multiple kinds of evil; we’ve seen him do various different things in his time on screen. Side note, I actually met him a few years ago, and he’s so lovely and kind in person. It’s a complete 180 from what you’d expect.
Micah: Yeah, it was weird; I saw him recently in Space Force. I watched a couple of those episodes on Netflix with Steve Carell.
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Micah: And yeah, he’s not evil to any extent in that show, but it’s just interesting to see an actor who you normally think of as carrying on these evil roles in a role like that, where he’s much more even-tempered and just laid back. But his ability to deliver a line, I think, too, just in that can inspire fear. So next up, Rowena Ravenclaw.
Laura: It’s a battle here.
Micah: Another battle between Laura and myself, [laughs] but I think either choice would be great. I went with Viola Davis. Again, extremely well-accomplished; a number of roles that we could point to. I thought about the role she played in How to Get Away with Murder. I think, how appropriate for Rowena Ravenclaw, that somebody who starred in How to Get Away with Murder would play her?
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: Her daughter, the Bloody Baron, that whole thing.
Laura: I said Indira Varma. You’d recognize her from Game of Thrones, Luther, and Rome. I think… this would be a hard choice, because they’re both phenomenal. I wouldn’t be mad about Viola Davis getting this role. I think they could both carry it off, maybe in very different ways, but I would love the strength that either of these actors would bring to the role of Ravenclaw. In my headcanon, I always imagined Ravenclaw being much more of a leader amongst the founders than Gryffindor, actually, and that could just be personal bias because I’m a Ravenclaw. Whatever, come at me. But I really think that these two could really bring the heavyweight aspect to Ravenclaw’s character, especially if we got those extended flashback scenes, or even full episodes of the founders. They would be amazing.
Micah: Agreed. I think Indira Varma, the way that she played Ellaria Sand and the qualities of Ellaria as a character, and just how she was able to utilize the intellect to really keep herself around as long as she did, because we know that’s the name of the game in Game of Thrones.
Eric: Yep, sure is.
Micah: And Viola Davis, with that sternness. I think both of them could have that stern nature come through, as you were saying, Laura, those leadership qualities, being able to command the room amongst these others. So I think either of them would be a really great choice.
Laura: I will say, Viola Davis also fits my headcanon for another character that we’re going to talk about in a few minutes, so I’ll mention her there as an alternate casting.
Micah: Oh, okay.
Andrew: This final founder is very interesting.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: For Hufflepuff.
Laura: I don’t know about this one, but…
Andrew: Helga Hufflepuff. Micah, was this your idea?
Micah: Yeah, because I think we just needed to find an actor that could play the role, an actress that could play the role, and for whatever reason, Rebel Wilson came to mind.
Andrew: Were you watching Pitch Perfect while you were casting this role?
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Micah: You caught me. That’s what I was doing. I had it on in the background.
Andrew: You know what’s interesting about picking Rebel? And I don’t think it’s a particularly great choice, but we’ve picked a bunch of serious actors so far, for the most part. We need some lighthearted actors and actresses in here, so I can get down with Rebel Wilson or a comedian of some sort. [laughs]
Micah: That’s kind of the direction I was going with, with Hufflepuff. I just felt that there needed to be, to your point, a bit of levity to this group. And yes, a lot of these other selections, they’re very serious in nature, and I feel like even bringing the comedic side of her to it would just lighten things up a little bit.
Andrew: Yeah. Okay, cool.
Eric: I agree, I agree. They should keep her Australian as well.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Andrew: Helga from Australia.
Laura: They’re like, “Don’t you have your own wizard school in Australia?”
Eric: [in an Australian accent] “Eh, shut up. I’m here.”
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Andrew: No, she’s really funny. I would like to see her in this TV series, sure. Okay, so that’s it for the characters who we haven’t seen in the movies. So let’s move on to the notable characters. So let’s start with Dumbledore, the big one. I thought Benedict Cumberbatch could play Albus Dumbledore.
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Andrew: He is smart, he is smooth, he is tall, he is sexy… check, check, check, check, check. Everything you need in a Dumbledore. I mean, come on. Benedict Cumberbatch has to be in the Harry Potter TV series. No?
Laura: Yeah, he’s in everything else.
Andrew: Right!
Andrew: I mean, are you thinking of him as present age old Dumbledore? Or young Dumbledore?
Andrew: Old. He can do old.
Laura: Okay.
Andrew: I mean, you see him in Doctor Strange; he’s got some gray hair going on, right?
Eric: Oh, yeah.
Andrew: So he could pull it.
Laura: I mean, I’ve got some gray hair going on, Andrew. Does that mean I can play Dumbledore?
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Micah: Yes.
Andrew: No, you’re not British.
Laura: Aww.
Eric: Oh, gender reverse Dumbledore. That would be amazing.
Laura: Yeah, why not?
Andrew: Dum-bah-dore.
Micah: There’s a lot of people we’ve cast thus far that are not British.
Andrew: I’m also just thinking about… you think of him as Sherlock, and he’s incredibly intelligent, fast thinking, working through these cases… it would be perfect. That type of character would be perfect for the role of Dumbledore. And then I also have this crackpot idea kind of, which is Jude Law.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: He’s already playing Dumbledore, so why not keep it going? Why not cast him for the Harry Potter TV series as well? He’s 47 years old. He’s already got the experience playing Dumbledore. I saw an interview the other day; he’s like, “I don’t have to dye my hair gray, because my hair is getting gray for Dumbledore.”
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Andrew: And I think he genuinely loves the wizarding world.
Micah: It’s true. I mean, if all else fails, Benedict Cumberbatch could voice Norbert or the Hungarian Horntail.
Andrew: Yeah, get him in there somehow.
Micah: Because he voiced Smaug.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Micah: I think I’m having a hard morning here.
Eric: No, no, no. I got it.
Micah: But I do like the synergy there, Andrew, with Jude Law in Fantastic Beasts, and bringing him to the TV series. I would also maybe pull over… if we do give Gryffindor to Paul Giamatti, we could bring James Cosmo into the mix for Dumbledore, too, as the older possibility for the role.
Laura: Yeah, Dumbledore is kind of Santa Claus-esque.
Andrew: Oh, yeah. Another big character: Snape, played by Tom Hiddleston!
Eric: Augh!
Laura: Yes. Sold.
Andrew: He knows how to play both good and bad guys. He’s a huge fan favorite, just like Snape is. You like this, Laura?
Laura: Yes. And to the point that was raised earlier in the discussion, he would be far closer to Snape’s actual age. I mean, no shade towards Alan Rickman. Alan Rickman was cast because he was perfect for the role, but that required them to age up everybody who was associated with the Marauders, when actually they were much younger men. So I think seeing him would be perfect. I think about his portrayal of Loki, of course. That’s probably what he’s most well known for at this point. I think he would be great.
Eric: The next bit of casting was actually submitted by a listener, and I could not agree more. I think it’s possibly the best casting that I’ve heard all morning. No offense to any of us, but it’s so, so, so good. Our listener Mackenzie wrote in, “So who would you all cast in the inevitable Harry Potter TV series? As I was watching Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, I couldn’t help thinking of Michelle Gomez as McGonagall – she’s scary, serious, and actually Scottish.” So Michelle Gomez, I first met… she’s on Doctor Who, or she was. She played the female incarnation of the Master, who’s the absolute archenemy of the Doctor, and she was delightful. She’s fun, she’s scary, she has the right level of intensity that I think McGonagall has. It would be really, really, really nice to see Michelle Gomez in that role. And as Sabrina’s teacher in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, she also gives off sort of a slight maternal vibe, if it’s not totally twisted. So yeah, she’s an amazingly gifted actress, and I think you need somebody in McGonagall that could carry the show if need be, because McGonagall is carrying Hogwarts if need be. So it just matches up.
Andrew: Yeah, I could see this for sure. She’s got the McGonagall look to her.
Eric: Yeah, that too.
Laura: I was going to say, this is my surprise alternate casting for Viola Davis…
Eric: Oooh.
Laura: … for, actually, a lot of the reasons that Micah brought up when talking about the Rowena Ravenclaw casting. She’s got that stern, academic, professorial approach, and I think she would just fit in the role of McGonagall pretty seamlessly. No hate towards Michelle Gomez, because I think she’d be great too.
Eric: No, and for more Viola Davis, too, check out an Amazon Prime movie called Troop Zero, about a troop of kids who needs to win it at a local competition. It was advertised. I saw it; it’s amazing. It’s honestly… her work in it is very good. And Allison Janney is also in it, who I’m surprised hasn’t made it on this show yet.
Laura: Oh, that is a good point. She is phenomenal.
Andrew: All right, next one.
Laura: Okay, so I’m actually battling myself on Voldemort.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: Take her away, Laura.
Laura: Yeah, in addition to… I think gender-bending Voldemort and putting Tilda Swinton in this role would be amazing, but I also wanted to call out Claes Bang. Have you guys ever seen Netflix’s Dracula miniseries?
Andrew: No.
Laura: Well, he plays Dracula, and he is so silky in his evil that I really see him being able to pull off Voldemort. Also, I would recommend Giancarlo Esposito. He was Gus in Breaking Bad; he’s also in The Mandalorian, and he’s another one who just plays evil so well. And I think that Giancarlo… his thing is he can really bring out the evil, persuasive side of a character. He’s just so organized and so matter of fact that I think he could actually make Voldemort genuinely terrifying. Sorry, Ralph Fiennes, but I really… of the portrayals that I disliked the most in the films, it was Ralph Fiennes’s Voldemort. I just…
Eric: Oh.
Laura: It was too cartoonish for me; I never felt scared of Voldemort in the films. And I think that either one of the three actors that I mentioned could actually bring the terrifying Voldemort to life that I would love to see.
Andrew: Giancarlo’s Gus in Breaking Bad is so scary, so scary. And what’s amazing about it is he’s so terrifying without even saying much, and I think that would be really interesting to see in Voldemort.
Laura: Yeah, there’s so much that can be said with saying nothing, and when you can act through facial expressions, that says a lot about what you can do with a role.
Andrew: His death glare is something else in Breaking Bad.
Eric: And Better Call Saul.
Laura: That’s true, yeah.
Eric: Well, the next character to tackle is a half-giant. It’s Hagrid. Honestly, we were talking about comedians and how we should be looking to cast more comedians in a role, but Hagrid really is a straight-up comedic role, if you think about it. There’s a tremendous amount of heart, like there is in any good comedy, but you need to have the ability to look inward and really just… we laugh at Hagrid; Hagrid is always in the more levity scenes. So I suggest Patton Oswalt for the role.
Andrew: Yeah, I’m into this. Patton Oswalt… I think he’s openly tweeted about reading the Harry Potter series to his daughter, and he’s a huge fan, so I would love this for that reason, and having a comedian as Hagrid. I think a comedian should play Hagrid. That’d be an awesome refresh of the character.
Eric: Yeah, absolutely, and that would be something that could be sustained throughout all the films. You’d always want to see him on screen. And again, that’s me with Patton Oswalt every time I see him in something. He recently hosted a read-through of The Princess Bride, and it was just every time he was on screen, I was as excited as I was to see all the others.
Andrew: The only problem, though, is Patton Oswalt, I think he’s on the shorter side, so that would be pretty challenging. I know Robbie Coltrane wasn’t a very tall person either, but still.
Eric: Eh, they’d have to movie magic it.
Micah: CGI.
Andrew: Sure.
Eric: Yeah, force perspective.
Micah: Give him stilts.
Andrew: Right.
Eric: Yeah, you know, Ian McKellen isn’t really 13 feet tall either.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: All those Hobbits. But yeah, and then…
Micah: Oh, no, just I like this selection. I would also say whoever is in that role of Hagrid needs to be able to have a good kind of synergy with the younger kid actors, because I think that was something that Robbie Coltrane did a very good job of early on, interacting with the younger Dan, Emma, Rupert, and having that kind of… just that compassion that comes through, and I think Patton could do that.
Eric: Yeah, you need a kind of a twinkle, kind of a twinkle in your eye.
Micah: Exactly.
Eric: So look to other Santas that we’ve seen on screen.
Micah: [laughs] James Cosmo. Let’s throw him in there.
[Eric laughs]
Micah: He could do Hagrid.
Eric: Tim Allen as Hagrid.
Micah: Yeah, Tim Allen. No, not Tim Allen.
Eric: But moving on to a slightly more sinister role, Bellatrix. This was really hard to cast, and I kind of settled for just my mental picture of Bellatrix: brunette, can play evil. I suggested Elizabeth Hurley, who I know from her role as the devil in Bedazzled, but that’s obviously a comedy. And also Austin Powers; she was the Bond girl. She was Vanessa. So I really like her, I like her accent, and I think that she, if tasked to play Bellatrix, could just be totally different than Helena Bonham Carter, but also still pretty good.
Micah: Yeah, one person that just came to mind for me, too, when you were going through that description is Lena Headey.
Eric: Oh, yes!
Micah: Another Game of Thrones actor, Cersei Lannister. And it’s probably not fair to always pigeonhole into those evil roles, but her role and what she was able to do with that character throughout the entirety of Game of Thrones was just unreal. You liked her at times, and you absolutely hated her at times.
Eric: Yes. And that character can be a bit shallow in the books, but when it was played by Lena Headey on screen, you ultimately saw every bit of where she was coming from. You understood the nuance, and she really brought it to life. And for Bellatrix, who is kind of a two-dimensional character in the Harry Potter books – don’t hate on me, people – she could really flesh that out, I think.
Micah: Definitely.
Eric: That’s super cool.
Laura: All right, well, looking forward towards Umbridge, this is something we’ve talked about before, so we don’t have to spend too much time on it, but Olivia Colman. Just because… she’s in Broadchurch, The Crown, Fleabag. She’s currently playing a middle-aged version of the Queen, but Imelda Staunton is going to be taking over for the next time jump in Season 5.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Right.
Laura: So if we wanted an Umbridge who was actually maybe a bit closer to the age of the character in the book for the TV show, I think Olivia Colman would fit the bill. She’s also extremely accomplished, very versatile, and when you see her in shows like Broadchurch, The Crown, and Fleabag, you see the very different versions of characters that she can play. So I think she could pull this off beautifully.
Andrew: Yeah, excellent.
Eric: Coming up with Molly Weasley was also very difficult, because Julie Walters, I think, embodies the character for me to a level where I can’t really get her out of my head. But after trying for a bit, I came up with the idea – let me know what you think – Jennifer Lawrence.
Andrew: [laughs] No.
Eric: No?
[Micah laughs]
Laura: Yeah, I have a…
Andrew: She’s way too young!
Eric: No, well, is she?
Andrew: Yes! Yes.
Eric: No, because if you think about it, they have to recast all of the Weasleys as actual 9-, 10-, 11-year-olds. Jennifer Lawrence can play a mom. I don’t know that she has yet…
Andrew: She’s 30 years old. Laura, you’re 30, right? Should Laura play Molly Weasley?
Eric: How old do you think Molly is? I mean…
Andrew: Older than 30. She’s had, like, eight kids. [laughs]
Laura: Yeah, and she also… some of those eight kids are adult children.
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Eric: I think they could age up Jennifer Lawrence and she could play Molly Weasley, because she’d crush it. She does drama extremely well.
Andrew: All right.
Eric: She also could be getting into character actressing. Who do you think should play her?
Andrew: I don’t know. [laughs] Olivia Colman.
Eric: So we all admit it’s hard. Thank you very much.
Micah: It is very hard.
Andrew: Yes, I’m not saying it’s an easy decision. [laughs] But if we pair this with who you cast for Arthur Weasley, okay, maybe it’s getting a little more interesting now.
Eric: Okay, all right, all right.
Andrew: So who’s your idea for Arthur?
Eric: Okay, then in that case, for Arthur Weasley, I cast Rupert Grint. And every series, I think… every new adaptation should have some kind of a nod to the original adaptation, and what better way than casting recent father Rupert Grint as his original character’s own dad? Also, Rupert is pretty busy right now, I guess, but Arthur appears infrequently enough that I could see this working, and I could see Rupert wanting to play Arthur Weasley. I could also see Rupert and Jennifer Lawrence being like TV mom and dad. I don’t know. I can just picture it.
Andrew: So I can buy into this casting in ten years from now.
Eric: Okay.
Andrew: So Rupert Grint, Jennifer Lawrence, ten years from now could take on these roles. But yeah, I also agree that the TV series needs some sort of link to the film series, and that could be a good one. Rupert.
Eric: If not Jude Law.
Andrew: He’s probably… and he needs more money for a new ice cream truck, probably. That last one is probably on the outs.
[Eric laughs]
Micah: Yep, that is a fair point. Ice cream is important.
Eric: Ice cream is a magic beyond all we do here. But I think that brings us to our last character to cast for today; that is the role of Sirius Black. Thank you all for letting me have this one.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: I genuinely don’t know what I’m talking about very much, but I chose Tom Ellis, who currently is on screen as Lucifer the devil. Again, very silky smooth; he’s got a lot of personality to him, and I could just see this being an opportunity to a more paternal role once we get to the Harry stuff. But also, in the way that Gary Oldman was jarringly crazy-looking in the Azkaban release poster, and you really also believe him to be the villain of that book or that year at Hogwarts, I can see Tom Ellis being able to play both. And he’s Welsh, so he’s cool.
Andrew: I think Tom Ellis also has a rugged look to him, which could be important for Sirius, with such a storied history.
Micah: Yeah, I would say too, though, the only thing being the age piece of it, him being 42, it looks like from his IMDb page. We were talking a little bit earlier about just making sure some of these characters are age appropriate, and Sirius would be, what, in his early 30s?
Andrew: How would he be with flying on giant birds? Does he have any experience there?
Eric: I’m sure it happens in Lucifer, but I haven’t watched a lot of that show.
Andrew: [laughs] Okay.
Micah: He flies on hellhounds or something. I don’t know.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: All right, well, there we go. The entire Harry Potter TV series is cast. Well, many of the roles have been cast.
Micah: Minus a couple hundred characters, yeah.
Andrew: We hope everybody enjoyed that.
Micah: Yeah, absolutely. And I would say, if people have recommendations, they want to send them in, we’d love to hear them, along with the explanation why you think they would be good in these roles. It’s tough, as you can see. Some of us struggled on some of these characters, because we’re always influenced by what came before.
Quizzitch
Andrew: It’s time now for Quizzitch!
[Quizzitch music plays]
Eric: Last week’s question: In Goblet of Fire, who does Mad-Eye say ambushed him? So it was, of course, his dustbins he says ambushed him.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: We know it was Barty Crouch, Jr. and Peter Pettigrew, but he says it was dustbins. Correct answers were submitted by Lance Dance, Jeff Skellington, Count Ravioli, Sara a.k.a. Weensie, Young Susie Blood, and Darren Johnson. Congratulations.
Andrew: I think we’ve all been ambushed by dust in our lifetimes.
Eric: Yeah! Yeah, the dustbins, rubbish bins, whatever they are, it feels like they’re always circling in. You’ve got to maintain constant vigilance.
Micah: Yeah, you go out early morning, the garbageman’s been here, they pick up the trash, and you haven’t had your cup of coffee yet, you stumble over the bins on your way out of the house… it happens.
Eric: Exactly!
Andrew: Wow, that was very specific.
[Eric laughs]
Micah: May or may not have happened.
Eric: I’m casting Micah Tannenbaum as Mad-Eye Moody in the upcoming Harry Potter TV series.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: I could see that.
Micah: There’s another one we could’ve cast that we didn’t.
Andrew: Jennifer Lawrence for Mad-Eye Moody.
[Eric and Micah laugh]
Micah: I’m trying to think who would be good in that. Maybe Idris Elba. We didn’t mention him at all.
Andrew: Oooh.
Eric: Next week’s Quizzitch question: Which famous British actor put in two weeks notice and quit a role they had been cast in for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets?
Andrew: What a monster! Who would do that?
Eric: Who would turn that down?
Andrew: We’ll find out.
Micah: That’s an interesting question.
Andrew: If you have any feedback about today’s discussion, email it in, MuggleCast@gmail.com, or use the contact form on MuggleCast.com. Or call us; 1-920-3-MUGGLE. That’s 1-920-368-4453. We’d also appreciate if you took a minute to rate or review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts; we’d love to get some fresh reviews in there. It’s very helpful for new listeners, so thank you in advance. Also, follow us on social media; we are MuggleCast on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. And finally, join our community of listeners today at Patreon.com/MuggleCast. If you like what we do, we would love your support there, because it keeps the show rocking and rolling, and to thank you, you will receive some magical benefits in return, including a personalized video “Thank you” message from one of the four of us, our monthly bonus MuggleCast installments, the ability to listen live as we record, and a whole lot more. Patreon.com/MuggleCast. Eric, what are we talking about on next week’s episode?
Eric: Next week’s episode, we are talking about something that’s actually really exciting: Harry being an orphan and other famous orphans in stories. What makes them special, why pop culture is so fixated on orphans… think about Batman, Superman, all of them, the whole thing. There’s just tons, tons, so many more than you thought. It’ll be a good way of looking at other literature, as well as what Harry and Voldemort gain from their parentless status.
Andrew: All right, cool. So we will see everybody next week. Thank you for listening. I’m Andrew.
Eric: I’m Eric.
Micah: I’m Micah.
Laura: And I’m Laura.
[Micah’s “Choo-choo” sound effect plays]
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Goodbye, everybody!
Laura: Oy vey.