Radcliffe kindly requested that he, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson “not to be weird spectral phantoms” in the lives of HBO’s “Harry Potter” series cast.

Daniel Radcliffe urges Harry Potter fans to stop asking new cast about original stars

Radcliffe kindly requested that he, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson "not to be weird spectral phantoms" in the lives of HBO's "Harry Potter" series cast.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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February 17, 2026 9:39 p.m. ET

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Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint in 2011. Credit:

Jon Furniss/WireImage

Daniel Radcliffe has one request when it comes to HBO's forthcoming *Harry Potter *series: Leave him out of the conversation.

The 36-year-old, London-born actor famously starred in the original, eight-film *Harry Potter *film series from Warner Bros. Many years and one huge corporate merger later, HBO, a Warners subsidiary, is bringing the first-ever series adaptation of the books by J.K. Rowling to the small screen.

Radcliffe and his fellow stars, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, have no association with the new series. But Radcliffe wants even less, and not for his own sake.

Pointing to *Harry Potter *fans "around the world" urging each other to "look after these kids" — that is, the young stars of the new *Potter *series — Radcliffe noted in a Tuesday interview with ScreenRant that "if everyone really means that... one of the things you can do for me is not ask about us — me, Emma, Rupert — all the time."

Arabella Stanton, Dominic McLaughlin, and Alastair Stout for HBO's new 'Harry Potter' series.

Aidan Monaghan/HBO

Radcliffe said that he would not like the original Harry, Hermione, and Ron to become "weird spectral phantoms in these children's lives."

After an extensive search, HBO's *Harry Potter *cast Dominic McLaughlin, Arabella Stanton, and Alastair Stout in the roles originated by Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint, respectively. Though the series followed the films' lead in packing the supporting cast with veteran talents like John Lithgow and Janet McTeer, McLaughlin, Stanton, and Stout are all relative newcomers.

Radcliffe expressed his hope that the series is "going to be a new thing," and that the films he helped make memorable can be left in the rear view.**

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Radcliffe declared further ambivalence toward his role in film history as the original boy with the lightning-bolt scar in a separate interview with *The New York Times *also published Tuesday.

Anticipating his two-year-old son with partner Erin Darke approaching the age when many kids first discover *Potter*, Radcliffe said that "hopefully I can just put [HBO's series] on, and he doesn't have to watch me in it. That'd be, honestly, the ideal."

Daniel Radcliffe in New York City in December 2025.

Valerie Terranova/Getty

Radcliffe is far from the only original *Harry Potter *star to call for a full embargo on questions related to the new series, or to the franchise at large for that matter.

David Thewlis, who starred as the werewolf wizard Remus Lupin in five of the original *Potter *films, recently said he's "sick of talking about" a potential return to the magical, multi-media universe.

"I feel like I'd be far too old to play my original character, and, no, I wouldn't want to go back into it," he said. "I've had quite enough of that."

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