{"id":4321,"date":"2025-06-10T12:53:43","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T12:53:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nichesitetool.com\/?p=4321"},"modified":"2025-06-12T12:20:50","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T12:20:50","slug":"harry-potter-fans-spot-major-casting-problem-but-theres-a-simple-answer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.nichesitetool.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/10\/harry-potter-fans-spot-major-casting-problem-but-theres-a-simple-answer\/","title":{"rendered":"Harry Potter fans spot major casting problem \u2013 but there\u2019s a simple answer"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\"WARNER\t<\/div>
It’s out with the old and in with the new in the world of Harry Potter (Credits: Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Keen-eyed muggles have spotted a problem with the cast of the upcoming Harry Potter<\/a> TV show, but is there really an issue?<\/p>\n

Over the last few weeks, HBO<\/a> has been slowly announcing who will be playing who in the small-screen adaptation of the Boy Who Lived\u2019s adventures. <\/p>\n

So far, we\u2019ve learned that some of the biggest names in Hollywood<\/a> are set to appear \u2013 including John Lithgow<\/a>, Paapa Essiedu<\/a>, Janet McTeer<\/a>, and Nick Frost<\/a> \u2013 while newcomers Dominic McLaughlin, Arabella Stanton, and Alastair Stout<\/a> will be playing Harry, Hermione, and Ron, respectively. <\/p>\n

On June 9, another owl (okay, it was a press release) arrived announcing several new actors who\u2019ll be joining the show<\/a>. Katherine Parkinson will be taking on the role of Molly Weasley, Johnny Flynn will be donning Lucius Malfoy\u2019s blonde wig, while Lox Pratt will play his son Draco. <\/p>\n

Of all those announced, though, it was Bel Powley and Daniel Rigby \u2013 who are playing Harry\u2019s aunt and uncle, Petunia and Vernon Dursley \u2013 who caught fans’ attention.<\/p>\n

A number of people online thought that the pair were too young to play the Harry\u2019s last living relatives.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Mandatory\t<\/div>
Bel Powley has been cast as the waspish Aunt Petunia (Picture: James Veysey\/Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\n\t\t\"LONDON,\t<\/div>
Joe Maher, meanwhile,e will be playing the eternal grump, Uncle Vernon(Picture: Joe Maher\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

@RageCrusader asked on X, \u2018Aren’t they a bit young for the roles?\u2019, @turquoisepogos concurred posting, \u2018 Why so young choice?\u2019 <\/p>\n

@relientkenny meanwhile wrote, \u2018This is insane. They\u2019re both only in their 30s\u2019 and @DavidJosephLaw2 added, \u2018I\u2019m assuming they\u2019ll have makeup on cos they look too young\u2019. <\/p>\n

It was @RickPayne88, however, who was perhaps the most dramatic about the latest casting news, posting: \u2018Whoever is the casting director needs to be fired wtf are these casts\u2019.<\/p>\n

This sentiment wasn\u2019t exclusive to X either. On Reddit, UltraYZU admitted \u2018They seem much younger and quite more attractive than I imagined when reading.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Richard\t<\/div>
Harry’s last living relatives were previously played by Richard Griffiths and Fiona Shaw.
(Picture: Warner Bros)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In fact, a number of people seemed confused as to why producers had cast such young actors as the Dursleys.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the thing, though: Bel and Daniel are exactly the right ages to play Petunia and Vernon. You see, while the movies portrayed the Dursleys as a middle-aged couple, they\u2019re a lot younger in the books. <\/p>\n

How do we know that? Well, you don\u2019t need to be as good as a goblin at arithmetic to work that out, but let me spell (pun unintended) it out for you.<\/p>\n

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Similarly, we\u2019re never explicitly told how old Vernon is in the books, fans estimate he\u2019s only a few years older than his wife, with most estimating he\u2019s about 37 in The Philosopher\u2019s Stone. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"363\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nichesitetool.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/AY_26682609-ad63.jpg\" class=\"article-image wp-image-23376281\" alt=\"HELENA BONHAM CARTER as Bellatrix Lestrange and ALAN RICKMAN as Professor Severus Snape in film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009).\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t<\/div><figcaption>We’ve Alan Rickman to thank for people’s complaints (Picture: Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>At 42 years old, Daniel is actually older than Vernon was when we met him in the first book.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, it\u2019s easy to understand why some fans are confused about the Dursley\u2019s ages. In the Harry Potter movies, the decision was made to age up the adult cast.<\/p>\n<p>This was done primarily because the 55-year-old Alan Rickman had been cast as Snape, who\u2019s supposed to be in his thirties, and therefore, the actors playing his classmates had to be a similar age to keep things looking consistent.  <\/p>\n<p><strong><em>The Harry Potter TV show is set for release in 2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Got a story?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">If you\u2019ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\">Metro.co.uk<\/a> entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/submit-stuff\/\">Submit Stuff<\/a> page – we\u2019d love to hear from you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text-justify mb-2\" >It’s out with the old and in with the new in the world of Harry Potter (Credits: Reuters) Keen-eyed muggles have spotted a problem with the cast of the upcoming Harry Potter TV show, but is there really an issue? Over the last few weeks, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4323,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nichesitetool.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4321"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nichesitetool.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nichesitetool.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nichesitetool.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nichesitetool.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4321"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.nichesitetool.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4331,"href":"http:\/\/www.nichesitetool.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4321\/revisions\/4331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nichesitetool.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nichesitetool.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nichesitetool.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nichesitetool.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}