Monorepo

Paul Bettany Denies Voldemort Rumors as HBO's Harry Potter Series Builds New Cast

Paul Bettany Denies Voldemort Rumors as HBO's Harry Potter Series Builds New Cast
source: gettyimages
March 9, 2026

HBO’s forthcoming Harry Potter adaptation is moving ahead with a fresh cast, while rumors about who might bring Voldemort to life continue to swirl. The planned reboot will dedicate a season to each book, introducing a brand-new lineup including Dominic McLaughlin as Harry Potter, Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger, and Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley.

High-profile additions have already joined the Wizarding World on screen, with John Lithgow tapped as Professor Dumbledore and Nick Frost cast as Hagrid. As fans speculate about who will portray Voldemort, Marvel star Paul Bettany became the latest name to surface in online chatter. Bettany, however, has silenced the chatter, insisting he hasn’t been approached about the Dark Lord role.

Paul Bettany says nobody from HBO has called him about Voldemort

During a Saturn Awards interview with ScreenRant, Bettany clarified that there hasn’t been any dialogue about him taking on Voldemort. “I haven’t heard anything about that. I’m a big fan of the IP, and I’m a big fan of HBO, but nobody has called me up about it,” he stated.

While Bettany’s comments are definitive, some fans suspect the star could be using misdirection amid the intense speculation surrounding how the series will distinguish itself from the beloved films.

For audiences, Bettany isn’t the first big name to publicly deny involvement only to appear later. In a similar vein, Andrew Garfield famously denied his involvement in Spider-Man: No Way Home before reappearing in the film’s climactic moments.

Cillian Murphy also dismissed claims about starring as Voldemort in HBO’s Harry Potter series, telling Times that he was “categorically not” involved. His denial joined a growing chorus of castings and counter-denials as the project remains shrouded in secrecy.

For now, the identity of the actor who will don the Dark Mark as Voldemort remains a mystery, and HBO is expected to keep casting under wraps until early 2027 when streaming is anticipated to begin.

Until more is revealed about HBO’s Harry Potter adaptation, you can explore our most anticipated TV shows of 2026 and a roundup of the best TV shows of 2025 for other upcoming premieres.

Related links

By submitting, I confirm I have the right to share this link and I agree to link back to this article from the submitted page. Duplicate URLs are rejected. Up to 5 links per page.

GraphQL · 150 ms 
query Q($id: Int!, $domain: Int!, $srcId: Int!, $hasSrc: Boolean!, $hasSelf: Boolean!) {
  self: qa_ai(where: {id: {_eq: $id}}, limit: 1) @include(if: $hasSelf) { id title text date }
  linksarticle: qa_ai(where: {domain: {_eq: $domain}, id: {_neq: $id}}, order_by: {id: desc}, limit: 8) { id title }
  linksbottom: qa_ai(where: {domain: {_neq: $domain}, id: {_lt: $id}}, order_by: {id: desc}, limit: 3) { id title domain }
  source: qa_ai(where: {id: {_eq: $srcId}}, limit: 1) @include(if: $hasSrc) { id title }
}
{
  "id": 6646391,
  "domain": 7,
  "srcId": 0,
  "hasSrc": false,
  "hasSelf": true
}