Dream Casting The Harry Potter Reboot On Max - Looper Staff Picks

The powers that be have spoken: We're getting a "Harry Potter" reboot whether we like it or not.

In April, it was announced that the "Harry Potter" books will be turned into a decades-long series on the service that shall henceforth be known as Max. As soon as the news broke, "Potter" fans had a lot of questions, but one looms large: Who could possibly take over the roles made iconic in the film franchise?

First things first: The actors portraying the young students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, who enroll when they're just 11 years old, will very likely be newcomers to the industry just like Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson were in the movies. Additionally, those casting choices are basically impossible to predict without any sort of definitive timeline on when casting or filming will begin.

For that reason, the Looper staff is focusing on recasting the adult roles in "Harry Potter," which, in the movie series, included a murderers' row of incredible British legends. Can anyone possibly take over for the late Alan Rickman? Which late-night host should portray Peter Pettigrew? The Looper staff is here to answer all these questions and more.

Robbie Coltrane pretty much played a pitch-perfect Hagrid in all eight "Harry Potter" movies. Following his death in 2022, anyone taking on the role has some mighty big shoes to fill (no pun intended). But while Coltrane embodied the type of father figure Harry likely would've always wanted, perhaps the TV series should take the character in a slightly more comedic direction.

Nick Frost is mostly known for Edgar Wright collaborations such as "Shaun of the Dead," "Hot Fuzz," and "The World's End," but he has a deep bench of roles that'd make him perfect for Hagrid. With some prosthetics and good, old-fashioned camera trickery, he could easily come across as the gentle half-giant. He also has expert comedic timing, and Hagrid definitely has some amusing moments, like when he constantly tells Harry and his friends secrets about Hogwarts that he shouldn't be telling them, resulting in the straightforward "shouldn't have said that."

Casting Nick Frost would also add another layer of comfort for viewers. After all, Hagrid is the one who personally delivers the Hogwarts acceptance letter to Harry since his relatives keep throwing them away. If you're about to go on a magical journey, wouldn't you want Nick Frost's warm smile there to guide you along the way?

Anyone who's seen "It" and "Hemlock Grove" will confirm that Bill Skarsgård is a naughty boy. He's mastered the art of playing villains and creeps, and there aren't many actors out there who are better at making viewers feel uncomfortable. The sinister Swede even exudes menace in projects in which he plays a decent guy, as evidenced by his performance in "Barbarian." So really, there's no better performer than Skarsgård to inherit the role of Voldemort in the upcoming series.

Voldemort is the embodiment of pure evil. He's a soulless vessel with serpent-like features and a propensity for chaos. Cover Skarsgård in white makeup and dress him up in black robes and he'll radiate Voldemort energy for days. Furthermore, Voldemort occasionally laughs when he torments people, similar to Pennywise in the "It" movies. Skarsgård plays that pesky child-murdering clown with glee and aplomb, so why not cast him as another villain with a reputation for picking on kids?

Some "Harry Potter" aficionados have even already imagined Skarsgård as the late 20th-century wizarding antagonist. A quick Google search reveals that he's been dream cast as Tom Riddle on various forums and fansites, so there's clearly an appetite for Skarsgård to join this franchise as the Big Bad. Granted, the actor is a grown adult these days, so he might not get to play Voldemort during his Hogwarts years, but then again, Skarsgård still looks young enough to pass as a teenager, so why not? Plus, this show will undoubtedly have a mega budget that will cover the costs of some sophisticated digital de-aging technology.

Otherwise, just recast Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort, assuming that he'd be up for reprising the role that turned him into the face of many people's nightmares all those years ago.

Picking a good Remus Lupin is super easy because anyone who's ever done time in the "Harry Potter" fandom knows how desperately the community wants a prequel series about the Marauders. In fact, the demand for a series about James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter committing magical misdemeanors is so powerful that the fan base cast the entire thing years ago.

And credit where credit is due, they picked a perfect Lupin. The only trouble is that he's way too old to portray a teenage werewolf now ... but he isn't too old to portray an adult Lupin. If Warner Bros. wants to earn some social currency with its admittedly understandably polarized audience, the studio has to cast Andrew Garfield as Professor R.J. Lupin in the remake.

Lupin is a kind man and an attentive teacher. He's not explicitly charming per se, but he's definitely disarming in a gentle, awkward, inoffensive sort of way. He's also a grade A bedraggled sad boy, meaning that whoever plays him needs to balance his heart with his guilt, all while being the most huggable person in the room. If you don't think that describes everything Garfield has ever done, you're lying to yourself.

Garfield would wreak havoc on our emotions while sifting through Lupin's demented origin story, and we would thank him for it. And the smile he would make to show Lupin fondly remembering James and Lily and his happiest years at school? The TikTok thirst edits practically film themselves, people.

Look, Dame Maggie Smith as Minerva McGonagall, Hogwarts' intimidating Transfiguration professor and head of Gryffindor House, is nothing short of iconic. Smith just gets it, and it's really hard to imagine anyone else taking over this role — but a new series is coming, so someone will. Smith isn't exactly the picture of youth these days, so I think we can probably let her occasionally do a "Downton Abbey" and leave her alone instead of signing her up for a decade-long project.

So we're looking for someone stern, intelligent, and a little scary. I'd like to humbly submit Rachel Weisz for consideration. I mean, have you seen "The Favourite?" She's got huge McGonagall energy in that movie if we're being honest. Weisz is terrifying in a totally fascinating way, and I'd love to watch her repeatedly offer cough drops to the person who eventually plays Umbridge, reprimand Harry and Ron for slacking off in class, or cast a spell to make the stone knights of Hogwarts fight Voldemort's forces. Weisz is a highly sought-after actor with accolades for days, but if Warner Bros. could get her to sign on to this project, she'd be pretty perfect.

Also, for some reason, it just feels right that, as McGonagall, Weisz would occasionally transform into a judgmental tabby cat.

Among wizard cops, Alastor Moody is something of a legend. In his heyday, he single-handedly imprisoned a ridiculous number of wizard Nazis. But a legend isn't built without trauma ... and Moody's trauma extends well beyond his many physical wounds. The guy suffers from a streak of paranoia that runs so deep that he acquired a bespoke, all-seeing glass eye to replace his missing one, an act that earned him the wildly condescending nickname Mad-Eye.

The retired Auror should be portrayed in the reboot by someone who can nail his obsessive mania, curmudgeonly demeanor, and unwavering moral compass. If it so pleases the court, we recommend Hugh Laurie. While he isn't as socially prevalent as he once was, the British actor spent the better part of the 2000s pretending to be America's douchiest doctor, Gregory House.

Laurie's ability to depict physical pain alone makes him an ideal pick for Mad-Eye, but it's his unparalleled talent for seamlessly transitioning between dry wit and bombastic aggression that makes him the only pick. If you're not convinced yet, imagine House bellowing "CONSTANT VIGILANCE" every few minutes. You'll board the Laurie train pretty fast after that.

It's also worth mentioning that Laurie would make Moody's awkward and often demented attempts at empathy shine. The idea is so genuinely delightful that it's almost enough to make the reboot worth it.

Kenneth Branagh's performance in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" is one of the series' most memorable and enduringly enjoyable. A narcissistic, charismatic wizard with a secretly nasty history of fraudulent adventures and a nigh-sociopathic penchant for erasing memories, Gilderoy Lockhart is the second Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Harry and his friends study under during their time at Hogwarts.

The dual challenge Max faces here is finding an actor who can portray someone so obviously horrible in a charming way while standing apart from Branagh's definitive turn. In my eyes, the man for the job is unequivocally Matt Berry, whose résumé is filled to the brim with self-important egotists who delude themselves (and occasionally others) into thinking they're more special than they actually are.

Though his performances on "The IT Crowd" and "Toast of London" are spectacular showcases of his Lockhartian mannerisms, Berry came to my mind for his role on "Garth Marenghi's Darkplace," a short-lived parody of a medical horror drama that features commentary from the "original cast." Berry essentially played two characters: the suave Dr. Lucien Sanchez and the actor who portrayed him, Todd Rivers.

As Berry bounces between accomplished surgeon and tired actor, he paints a surprising picture of what his Lockhart could be. In one moment, he's capable of monologuing about supernatural nonsense in the most confusing yet convincing way possible, and in the next, he's grounded in a startling sort of serious naturalism that makes the heightened facade feel all the more inhuman. Taken out of the context of the show-within-the-show, such a dichotomy would make Lockhart's deception all the more unsettling.

Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy might seem like minor characters, but that's partly because the late Helen McCrory and Jason Isaacs, who played them in the movies, didn't get a whole lot to do. The wealthy pure-blood couple shows up significantly more in the books; Narcissa even gets a fantastic spotlight with her sister Bellatrix that sets up some huge plot points in the sixth installment, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." That's why I want Tom Hardy and Rosamund Pike to take on Lucius and Narcissa.

Pike rules. I won't accept any arguments against her. She's particularly good at playing icy types like Amy Dunne in "Gone Girl" or that lady who keeps committing elder abuse and fraud in "I Care a Lot," and it's impossible to look away from her when she's on-screen. Hardy also rules. He can be darkly funny and intimidating all at once, and he'd probably chew the entire series' scenery as Lucius, a vain, rich, and powerful man who likes to whack people with a silver snake-handled cane. Get Hardy and Pike into some Targaryen-style wigs and get them on board, please — they'd be perfect as Draco's parents.