Harry Potter series conjures up a rumored role for Mark Rylance

Of course, HBO is keeping its wizard trading cards close to the chest. “We appreciate that such a high profile series will draw a lot of rumor and speculation. As we make our way through pre-production, we will only confirm details as we finalize deals,” a representative told Variety. (Rylance’s reps did not provide a comment.) Clearly nothing has been finalized yet, as this is the first name we’ve heard in the mix since the series was announced back in 2023. In September, the studio put forth an opening casting call to find its Harry, Ron, and Hermione, so there’s a good chance those won’t be familiar names at all.

Of course, we’ve already had not one, but two Dumbledores (in his headmaster capacity at least) onscreen—not to mention very culturally ingrained images of the golden trio, Malfoy, Neville, Voldemort, and all the other characters as well. Richard Harris played the white-haired wizard in the first two films, before Michael Gambon took over the role following Harris’ death in 2002. And now, whether it ends up being Rylance or not, we’ll have another. There is one small silver lining to all of this, at least: Saoirse Ronan may get her chance to star in a Harry Potter project, after all.