32,000 children. One shot at Harry Potter. The most epic casting search in TV history

Thirty-two thousand children.

Let that number sit for a moment.

During a presentation at Warner Bros. Discovery’s London headquarters on 5 December 2024, Francesca Gardiner and Mark Mylod revealed the true scale of the casting search for Harry, Hermione and Ron. Over 32,000 submissions. And the team is watching every single tape, between 500 and 1,000 per day.

“Though we haven’t made any final choices yet, the next step will be to workshop with some of our shortlisted candidates in January,” Mylod said.

Think about that: 32,000 children sent in videos, read poems, dreamed about a role that could define their lives. That is the power of Harry Potter. Twenty-five years after the first book, still capable of mobilising that kind of enthusiasm.

Getting the ages right

Gardiner and Mylod also confirmed something important about casting choices: they will honour the canonical ages of the characters. Severus Snape will be in his 30s, and James and Lily Potter will be young, as they are in the books, only 21 when they died. Small details, but exactly the kind of fidelity that attentive fans will notice and appreciate.

The search for the new trio was at its most critical point. January workshops, followed by months of selection. The series was taking shape, one child at a time.

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