HBO’s Harry Potter Star John Lithgow Weighs in on the Controversy of an American Playing Dumbledore

On the heels of Hollywood veteran John Lithgow confirming his casting as Professor Albus Dumbledore in HBO’s Harry Potter revival, the actor has swiftly responded to naysayers who expressed concern over an American playing the iconic wizard. Known best for his roles in Interstellar, The Crown, and Dexter, Lithgow has been acting professionally since the 70s and recently highlighted the dumbfounding detail that he will be around 87 years old during the wrap party for Harry Potter’s reboot series.

Since the success of the seven-book novel series and the eight-part movie adaptation released between 2001 and 2011, the Harry Potter franchise has retained its popularity through the Fantastic Beasts spin-off films and the Jack Thorne-written play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to establish the greater Wizarding World. Despite the film series radiating a timeless, magical charm for fans to soak up, Harry Potter star Jason Isaacs admitted the filming was quite boring to achieve the bewitching final product. Nevertheless, the fandom’s adoration for the franchise is expected to flourish around HBO’s crack at the source material.

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Harry Potter Reboot Star John Lithgow Confirms Dumbledore Will Remain an Englishman

During an interview with Collider, Lithgow confirmed to worried fans that Dumbledore would remain an Englishman despite the actor being American. Lithgow was first touted for the role of Dumbledore near the start of February 2025, and his American roots (despite also being half-English) have been a point of contention during fans’ discussions of the casting. “There’s a good deal of controversy that an American has been hired to play him. He’s such an icon,” Lithgow said, and he also took time to reassure fans that this wouldn’t be his first rodeo. “I’ve just played Roald Dahl. I’ve played Winston Churchill. I’ll spend some time with a dialect coach. Don’t worry about that,” Lithgow insisted.

In the actor’s mind, Dumbledore couldn’t be “anything other than English,” and Lithgow reminisced over his time performing on The Crown, remembering that he was welcomed by the English actors working on that project who had “far more confidence in me and my Englishness than I did myself.” After the actor confirmed he was stepping into the boots of Hogwarts’ powerful headmaster, Lithgow noted that the Harry Potter reboot would define the final chapter of his life and career, emphasizing that the decision to take the job was not an easy one. In short, Lithgow wants to “do it justice,” expressing his excitement to be revisiting the Harry Potter franchise and starting work with a pool of actors who were noted as being at “the very top of the food chain.”

As a new wave of actors prepares to transfigure into the beloved band of witches and wizards for HBO, Harry Potter lead Daniel Radcliffe is rumored to be playing Clayface for DC Studios. Proving his acting chops since his wizarding days, Radcliffe is a solid choice to bring the lesser-known Batman villain to the silver screen and to add weight to the tragic character’s story. Additionally, the actor has been a fan-favorite to play a young Wolverine for Marvel’s cinematic universe, and the Harry Potter community will also expect Radcliffe to make some sort of cameo in the reboot series, possibly alongside other original leads Rupert Grint and Emma Watson.

HBO’s Harry Potter series is expected to air sometime in 2026 or 2027 on Max.

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Harry Potter

Showrunner

Francisca Gardiner

Directors

Mark Mylod

Franchise(s)

Harry Potter

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  John Lithgow

  Albus Dumbledore

Source: Collider