The HBO Harry Potter series has found its new Ginny Weasley, while also casting actors to portray Tom Riddle and Dobby in the upcoming second season.
As reported by Variety, Lenny Rush will play Dobby, Bonnie Hill will portray Ginny Weasley and Billy Barratt will take on the role of Tom Riddle.
Hill replaces Gracie Cochrane, who played Ginny in Season 1 before leaving the role due to “unforeseen circumstances.”
The first season of the Harry Potter TV series has wrapped filming and is set to premiere on HBO on December 25.
The second season, which will adapt the series’ second book, is now in pre-production at Leavesden Studios outside London.
HBO’s “Harry Potter” logline reads, “There is nothing special about Harry Potter — or so his Aunt Petunia tells him. But when a mysterious letter of admission to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry arrives, it opens the door to a hidden world of magic, friendship and adventure. Yet behind Hogwarts’ enchanted walls lie dark secrets. Harry must find the courage to prove himself against the darkest wizard of all.”
The series stars Dominic McLaughlin as Harry, Arabella Stanton as Hermione and Alastair Stout as Ron, alongside John Lithgow as Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu as Snape and Nick Frost as Hagrid.
The HBO series adapts Rowling’s beloved books, with Francesca Gardiner writing and executive producing.
Mark Mylod will serve as executive producer and director on multiple episodes of HBO in association with Brontë Film and TV and Warner Bros. Television.
The series is executive produced by Rowling, Neil Blair and Ruth Kenley-Letts of Brontë Film and TV, along with David Heyman of Heyday Films.
Notably, prior to the shuffle, a major controversy was erupted surrounding Paapa Essiedu’s casting as Severus Snape in Season 1.
Critics online objected to what they described as “race-bent” casting, arguing it differed from Snape’s physical description in J.K. Rowling’s books.
