Harry Potter HBO reboot has cast our new Voldemort

HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter TV series has reportedly cast the character of Voldemort.

Filming has finally begun on the long-awaited Harry Potter reboot, which was first announced back in 2023.

I’ll admit, I was incredibly dubious at first.

To this day, the film series - adapted from polarising author J.K. Rowling’s books - remains incredibly popular; I simply couldn’t see how fans might warm to new iterations of these iconic characters and locations.

I have to say though, outside of Rowling’s involvement, HBO hasn’t put a step wrong so far, bringing together a really wonderful cast.

That includes Dominic McLaughlin as Harry Potter, Arabella Stanton as Hermione, Alastair Stout as Ron, Nick Frost as Hagrid, Anton Lesser as Ollivander, John Lithgow as Dumbledore, Paapa Essiedu as Snape, and Katherine Parkinson as Molly Weasley, to name just a few.

Already this week, HBO has dropped our first looks at both McLaughlin and Frost in costume as Harry and Hagrid, respectively, and they both look every bit the part.

The treats don’t end there.

A source close to the production of the series has come forward to Rednian Intelligence with some additional secrets about the project.

They claim that Voldemort has officially been cast, with HBO yet to reveal the actor to the public.

By the sounds of it, that won’t happen anytime soon; apparently, Voldemort appears in several episodes of the first season but HBO wants to keep the actor’s identity a secret until those episodes air.

That’s a tall order.

The insider also stated that season one and two will both consist of six episodes each, and those seasons are being filmed back-to-back - which puts to rest many people’s concern about the children growing up too quickly amidst filming.

If you’re thinking that six episodes doesn’t sound like a lot, remember that that’s likely four to six hours worth of television.

The original film, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, ran for just two hours, 32 minutes.

It’s believed that later seasons will stretch to eight episodes as the later books are much longer than those original few.

The first season is filming now, with production expected to wrap up in May 2026, with season two’s filming kicking off after a short break from July 2026 to May 2027.

Why is the series taking so long to shoot? Well, it centres around kids who can only work for so many hours in a day.

The first episode of season one is expected to finish with the kids seeing Hogwarts for the first time from the boats, and I can already feel the chills just by picturing that in my head.

Finally, they rounded off by adding that the first season is set for a 2027 release; I’d imagine it would be sooner in the year rather than later, especially if filming is wrapping up in mid 2026.

Of course, I have to urge you to take all of this with a pinch of salt but it most certainly sounds compelling.

Now we just have to wait and see if Voldemort’s identity arises.