He Who Shall Not Be Named has endorsed his potential successor.
During a stop on Watch What Happens Live on Monday, Dec. 2, Ralph Fiennes, who played the evil Voldemort in the Harry Potter films, was asked about rumors that Cillian Murphy could take over the role in HBO’s upcoming television series based on J.K. Rowling’s novels.
“Cillian is a fantastic actor,” Fiennes, 61, said of the Oscar winner, 48. “That’s a wonderful suggestion. I would be all in favor of Cillian. Yeah.”
The Conclave actor joined the Harry Potter franchise in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005). He also starred in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) and the two-part adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2010-2011). In November 2022, Fiennes said “of course” he would play Voldemort again if asked.
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News that HBO and Warner Bros. planned to remake the Harry Potter series as a television show was first reported in April 2023. Francesca Gardiner is writing the series with Mark Mylod directing.
In June, Rowling, 59, said she spoke with Gardiner and Mylod, who will also serve as executive producers, and read Gardiner’s pilot script. “Both have a genuine passion for #HarryPotter, and having read Francesca’s pilot script and heard Mark’s vision, I’m certain the TV show will more than live up to expectations,” Rowling wrote.
Casting for the project has not been announced.
Rowling, 59, will continue to be involved as an executive producer, despite her controversial comments on trans people. Fiennes has defended Rowling, telling the New York Times in October 2022 the “verbal abuse directed at [Rowling] is disgusting, it’s appalling.”
“J.K. Rowling has written these great books about empowerment, about young children finding themselves as human beings. It’s about how you become a better, stronger, more morally centered human being,” Fiennes said, stressing that he can “understand a viewpoint that might be angry.”
“But it’s not some obscene, über-right-wing fascist,” he continued. “It’s just a woman saying, ‘I’m a woman and I feel I’m a woman and I want to be able to say that I’m a woman.’ And I understand where she’s coming from. Even though I’m not a woman.”
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Fiennes’ latest film, The Return, opens in theaters on Dec. 6. Murphy, who won an Oscar for Oppenheimer earlier this year, is now filming The Immortal Man, a follow-up to the hit series Peaky Blinders.
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