John Lithgow has opened up about aging alongside his new Harry Potter co-stars.
Lithgow, 80, is taking on the role of Albus Dumbledore in HBO’s forthcoming TV reboot of the famous film franchise. In the film’s new documentary, Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic, Lithgow spoke about the realities of filming the role at his age.
“I knew that while I did the first season of Harry Potter, I would be turning 80 years old,” he explained. “That meant that I would age to about 88 before it was all over.
“This is an extremely difficult thing to contemplate,” he continued.
“They’re gonna grow up in this. And I’m gonna grow older with them.”
Lithgow also praised his new co-stars — young newcomers Arabella Stanton, Dominic McLaughlin and Alastair Stout taking on the roles of Hermione, Harry and Ron, respectively — saying they’re “an amazing ensemble” who “all adore each other.”
Each season of the series will be based on one of Rowling’s seven books, with the first eight-episode season due out later this year covering the events of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
Last week, HBO dropped the first trailer for the highly anticipated show, offering a glimpse of Harry’s journey from living under the stairs to discovering a new world as the Boy Who Lived. The two-minute clip became the most-watched HBO trailer in history. It amassed more than 277 million organic or nonpaid views across platforms in its first 48 hours online.
The series has come under fire for several reasons, including continued backlash over author J.K. Rowling’s views on gender.
Lithgow previously said he was “upset” that he’s being criticized for joining the series, clarifying that he believes Rowling’s views on transgender rights to be “ironic and inexplicable.”
In a new interview with the New Yorker, Lithgow explained that he is excited to take on the role of Dumbledore as “the great, big, large project of doing another version of Harry Potter” that is “basically retelling wonderful stories that Rowling created.”
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day
New subscribers only. £9.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.
Try for free
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day
New subscribers only. £9.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.
Try for free
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
“They are very stirring stories,” he said. “I think there are reasons why they’ve resonated with young people, and young people who have grown up and are still obsessed with Harry Potter.”
The headmaster of the wizarding school Hogwarts is a “wonderful role,” he said.
“Doing it in England, with half the crew who worked on The Crown, there was everything attractive about the job, and job security into my late years. You don’t ignore those issues,” Lithgow added.
Lithgow went on to say that by the time “the whole subject of Rowling’s imputed prejudice” came up, he had already agreed to star in the show. “I was urged to walk away,” he added. “And I was not about to do that.”
Asked by New Yorker editor David Remnick how he came to that decision, Lithgow said: “The reasons to do it were much, much stronger than the reasons to protest against what Rowling has done and said. I do disagree with much of it, much of it I think has been twisted and misrepresented, and she has doubled down on it at her own cost.”
When Remnick mentioned that he had been surprised by the “ferocity” and “cruelty” of Rowling’s response to criticism, Lithgow replied: “I’m surprised by it, too, and disappointed.”
