HBO’s latest series, Harry Potter, is hitting TV and HBO Max very soon, and fans are already chomping at the bit to see how this new adaptation will fare. One Harry Potter star has finally shared whether they’re going to tune in—and they respectfully leaned into the ‘probably not’ territory, but not for the reason you’d think.
In an interview with the Associated Press (via Deadline), Daniel Radcliffe opened up about the new series. As the former star of the Harry Potter films, he was asked if he’d be tuning in when the first season, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, dropped on HBO on Christmas. Still, Radcliffe instantly said he was “unsure” if it would go on his watchlist—simply because it seems too long and he, himself, isn’t a huge TV watcher.
“I don’t know if I will [watch], honestly. I’ve watched, I’ve been in a lot of Harry Potter already … and also I don’t watch any TV. I haven’t seen Breaking Bad. I haven’t seen Mad Men. I haven’t seen some of the like the real classics. So, you know, eight hours is a lot of anything to watch.”
To be honest, this is a great answer, and one I expected when I saw this piece of news pop up. Radcliffe himself has said in the past that he doesn’t want to be defined by the role that made him a household name. Ever since his time in Harry Potter ended, he’s been on a diverse journey in film and TV, with his latest being a co-starring role in The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins.
It’s not that shocking that he doesn’t want to automatically hop right back into the Harry Potter universe, where he was a part of it for so long and the face of the franchise from the very beginning. It’s a little funny how some of his biggest roles, like Reggie Dinkins, Miracle Workers, and the TV film Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, are some of his best roles, and he himself doesn’t watch television, but that’s beside the point.
However, even if he won’t be watching the series, will he at least be giving the new star, Dominic McLaughlin, any advice? Radcliffe’s honest answer was no, and that the young star would know what to do:
“I’m really truly in the business of not giving Dominic advice. He’s got it. He doesn’t need any advice from me. If I say something to you, then the next interview people have with him, they’ll be like, ‘Oh, and Dan said you should do this,’ and I’m like, I don’t want to haunt this poor child through interviews, so I have no advice for him. He’s going to be amazing, and you know, I hope that I will, I think I will, get to meet him someday—and I’m very excited about that.”
I could already see it, but it also made me wonder—if he's willing to meet McLaughlin, would he ever return to Harry Potter in some way?
Radcliffe once shared back in 2022 that if an opportunity arose in the very far future, he might return to the series (according to The New York Times), but it would have to be decades down the line, sort of like how they did with Star Wars:
“I’m never going to say never. The Star Wars guys had like 30, 40 years before they went back. For me, it’s only been 10. It’s not something I’m really interested in doing right now.”
Yeah, I would expect that too. But hearing that Radcliffe would, at the very least, be open to meeting with McLaughlin at some point is lovely, and I’m sure when that drops, it will be a pleasant surprise for all of us Potterheads… in the next eight years or so.
The Associated Press interview comes at a time when new posters for the characters have just dropped, featuring a classic pose of them smiling at the camera with their wands in front of their faces, teasing the magic that’s to come:
New posters for HBO’s ‘HARRY POTTER’ series.
— Pop Base (@PopBase) November 9, 2026
Premieres December 25 on HBO. pic.twitter.com/T8xqd9MCND
Even so, it makes me eager to see what happens next. The world of Harry Potter has been changing rapidly, with some stars returning to previous roles in the Broadway stage play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child—like Tom Felton as Draco and Rupert Grint as Ron—while others, like Radcliffe, have stepped back from that world. A new game has been announced in the Hogwarts Legacy series, along with plenty of new additions to the world of Harry Potter merchandise. The new series doesn't need Radcliffe’s promotion to succeed.
That said, this new show is already making the fandom grow rapidly, and while Radcliffe might not be part of it (for now), we'll at least have fun watching it grow like the plants in Professor Sprout’s greenhouse. And maybe in the meantime, Radcliffe can check out some of those famous TV shows, because never seeing Breaking Bad is just terrible.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone premieres on Dec. 25, 2026, on HBO Max.
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