Jared Harris says ‘no’ to playing father’s role in new Harry Potter reboot

Exclusive: ‘Foundation’ star questioned decision to adapt JK Rowling’s books into a TV series

Jared Harris has ruled himself out of playing the role first brought to life by his father Richard Harris in a new Harry Potter TV series.

The show, which is already proving divisive, will feature the same characters but star new actors. Casting calls are now open to play the three leads – Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

While Gary Oldman, who played Sirius Black in the film adaptations of JK Rowling’s best-selling novels, has thrown his name in the ring to play Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore, one actor who wants nothing to do with the project is Mad Men and Foundation actor Harris.

Dumbledore was played in the first two Harry Potter films – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – by British Oscar winner Richard Harris. The role was recast after his death in October 2002.

Michael Gambon, who died in September 2023, played Dumbledore in the remainder of the films.

In a new interview with The Independent series Go to Bat, Harris was asked if he’d be interested in playing Dumbledore in the HBO reboot, to which he replied: “No, thank you.”

Jared Harris ruled out the idea of playing Albus Dumbledore (Getty Images)

He added: “Also, I mean, why do it? I don’t understand. The films were fantastic – leave them alone.”

However, Harris did acknowledge that there was “a lot of storytelling” left out of the film franchise that the TV series will be able to explore.

In the interview, Harris recalled working on a 2016 documentary about his father’s life, titled The Ghost of Richard Harris, revealing that the Gladiator actor had “started to write his autobiography in the hospital when he was sick” but then “one of the nurses threw out all of his notes”.

Harris continued: “I don’t know how far he’d got with it. We just wanted something that gave you an idea of who he was and what he was like. You get close to it but it’s not the whole picture at all”.

Richard Harris as Album Dumbledore in the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise (Warner Bros Pictures)

Watch the whole interview with Harris above.

The actor can currently be seen in new film Reawakening, co-starring Juliet Stevenson and Erin Doherty. The drama, written and directed by Virginia Gilbert, follows a married couple facing old tensions when their daughter reappears years after vanishing as a teenager.

Reawakening is in cinemas now.