Cillian Murphy has definitively shut down rumours he has been cast as Voldemort in the forthcoming Harry Potter TV series.
The Irish actor, 49, had been at the centre of speculation around casting for the role, with Ralph Fiennes, who played the villain in the Harry Potter film adaptations, appearing to suggest that Murphy’s involvement was a done deal.
In a viral TikTok clip shared by Let’s Talk Film back in January, Fiennes said: “I’m told [my shoes] are already filled, aren’t they? I think Cillian Murphy is very good. A very good choice.”
However, in a new interview with The Times, Murphy denied that he was set to play the character. “I’m categorically not,” he said. “Can you make that the headline?”
A number of actors have already been cast in the series, which is expected to premiere next year.
Newcomers Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout and Arabella Stanton will play the central three children, while the adult cast includes Janet McTeer, John Lithgow, Nick Frost, Paul Whitehouse, Johnny Flynn, Warwick Davis and Paapa Essiedu.
The adult cast have attracted criticism for their involvement in the series, amid a planned boycott by some viewers over Harry Potter creator JK Rowling’s stance on transgender rights.
The author, who serves as an executive producer on the TV show, has become one of the UK’s most prominent anti-trans voices in recent years, and has donated significant sums of money to organisations seeking to reduce legal protections for trans people.
Elsewhere in Murphy’s interview, he discussed the forthcoming Peaky Blinders film, which sees him return as Birmingham gangster Tommy Shelby.
“I was 35 when we started [filming the Peaky Blinders TV series] and 48 when we made the film,” he said. “I’ve played Tommy for over a quarter of my life, moving from being a youngish man right into the teeth of middle age. It’s incredibly rewarding seeing everybody around you get older.”
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Reflecting on the success of the Peaky Blinders, Murphy attributed it to the “novel-like” quality of TV as a medium.
“It wasn’t an instant hit,” he said. “People thought that it was OK but its second series was when it really clicked and people are still discovering it.
“A film will come and be hot or not and then it’s gone. But TV? It’s like a novel – people find it.”
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is in cinemas from 6 March before arriving on Netflix on 20 March.
