The Actor Replacement In Harry Potter That Bothers Some Fans
Whenever a show or film franchise decides to recast one of its main characters midway through the series, it's inevitable that the replacement will irritate some fans — no matter how good that new actor might be. The "Harry Potter" films are no exception to this. Considering the fact that the "Harry Potter" film franchise ran for a full decade, it should have been expected that the cast of the series would go through its fair share of changes over the years, yet fans still found plenty of ways to be annoyed whenever a character was recast between films.
Some of the more notable replacements include the goblin Griphook, who was played by Verne Troyer in the first film and Warwick Davis in the final two films, as well as Lord Voldemort himself, who was played by Richard Bremmer in the first film and famously replaced by Ralph Fiennes for the remainder of the series. When you actually sit down to look at it, many of the characters were recast throughout the "Harry Potter" films, though there is no replacement nearly as controversial as that of Albus Dumbledore.
Fans think Richard Harris played Dumbedlore better than Michael Gambon
Albus Dumbledore was originally played by Richard Harris, who passed away unexpectedly after filming "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and was replaced by Michael Gambon. These days, Gambon's name is nearly synonymous with Dumbledore's — which is why it may shock some fans to learn just how controversial the character's recasting really was.
Plenty of fans have taken to Reddit over the years to complain about Gambon's performance, claiming that he doesn't capture the true character of Dumbledore as well as Harris did. "The new Dumbledore just didn't seem to fit the loving character Albus Dumbledore was supposed to be," explained u/Matthew212.
Fans often reference a scene from "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," wherein Gambon (in a very un-Dumbledore fashion) angrily pushes Harry against a wall and yells at him. ”He is the only person I have a problem with, casting wise," said u/yesdnil5. "They even make him seem like he has no idea what he is doing half the time."
"I still think Gambon was a bad decision," agreed u/supersnuffy. "I'm pretty sure I heard somewhere that he didn't even read the books." That last part is true, with Gambon himself admitting in 2009 that he saw no point in reading the books (via The Telegraph). To this day, fans continue to complain about Gambon's performance, and it's clear that his casting is far and away the most controversial replacement the series ever made.