Marvel might have given us a good look at some huge names on the back of directors chairs this week, but the team behind the HBO Harry Potter remake are being far more circumspect. So far, John Lithgow, Janet McTeer and Paapa Essiedu have apparently been lined up to replace Sir Michael Gambon / Sir Richard Harris, Dame Maggie Smith and Alan Rickman (all sadly departed) as Professor Albus Dumbledore, Professor Minerva McGonagall and Professor Severus Snape, and now another much-missed actor is set to be succeeded. Nick Frost – SM-33 from Skeleton Crew – is apparently in line to fill the giant shoes of Robbie Coltrane as groundskeeper Rubeus Hagrid in the decade-long series that will present a ‘faithful adaptation’ of the 8 book series.
HBO continues to put together the cast puzzle of its high-profile series adaptation of the hugely popular Harry Potter fantasy books. The latest major piece appears to be British actor-comedian Nick Frost, who is nearing a deal to play half-giant Rubeus Hagrid, Deadline has learned.
He would join John Lithgow, Janet McTeer and Paapa Essiedu who, as Deadline has reported exclusively, are set or in negotiations to play Professor Albus Dumbledore, Professor Minerva McGonagall and Professor Severus Snape, respectively.
While HBO has remained tightlipped, chatter about Frost’s potential casting as Hagrid started percolating online last week, including on Reddit, as fans have been zeroing on a cryptic March 20 Instagram post by Frost, “It’s happening, it’s actually happening,” as a possible clue, along with eagle-eyed fans noticing that Frost has now followed such Harry Potter series cast members as Lithgow and Essiedu.
