HBO’s ‘Harry Potter’ Series Just Cast Two Key Characters and Confirmed Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape
HBO has announced who will be portraying two key players in its new Harry Potter TV series. Paul Whitehouse will play cantankerous caretaker Argus Filch, and Luke Thallon will play mysterious professor Quirinus Quirrell. The network also confirmed the casting of the series’ other stars who have previously been reported. That includes John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore; Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall; Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape; and Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid.
Whitehouse is a Welsh comedian and actor best known for his performances in films like Corpse Bride, The Death of Stalin, and The Personal History of David Copperfield, while Thallon is a relative newcomer. They both join the hotly anticipated series, which will faithfully adapt J.K. Rowling‘s seven Harry Potter novels; each of its seven proposed seasons will adapt one of the books; they will recur in the series, while Lithgow, McTeer, Essiedu, and Frost will star. With the series’ primary adult characters cast, attention now turns to the hunt for the series’ Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, which has seen the network audition thousands of hopefuls. The series is expected to film later this year, targeting a 2026 release date for the first season.
Who Are Argus Filch and Quirinus Quirrell?
Argus Filch is the ill-tempered custodian of Hogwarts, who does little to hide the contempt he holds its students in and his resentment at having to clean up after them. Some of his bitterness may stem from his status as a Squib, the child of magical parents who possesses no magical ability themselves. He is as ever-watchful as his mythological namesake, and is constantly accompanied by his equally unpleasant cat, Mrs. Norris. He was played by David Bradley (Game of Thrones, Doctor Who) in the original Harry Potter films. Quirinus Quirrell was the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher during Harry Potter’s first year at Hogwarts. A youthful, nervous man in an ostentatious turban, his harmless affect hides a sinister secret: he has been possessed by the shade of Lord Voldemort, whose reptilian visage, growing out of the back of his head, is concealed by the turban. He was played by Ian Hart (Backbeat, The Terror) in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
The new series won’t be Whitehouse’s first foray into the wizarding world. The actor played Sir Cadogan, the vainglorious knight whose magical talking portrait guards Gryffindor Tower in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban; however, Whitehouse’s scenes were deleted from the finished film.
HBO’s Harry Potter series will film later this year, and is set to be released in 2026. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
