Daniel Radcliffe Shares Lithgow's Take on HBO Potter Reboot

Annoyingly, it turns out Daniel Radcliffe gets his Harry Potter reboot gossip from none other than John Lithgow these days – which is a sentence I didn’t expect to write in 2026. Lithgow, for those not keeping up, is the bloke playing Dumbledore in HBO’s much-hyped new television version of Potter. It’s a mad world when the original Boy Who Lived is getting updates from the guy best known for 3rd Rock from the Sun.

An Unlikely Backstage Catch-up

Radcliffe let this little bit of behind-the-scenes Potter news slip at this year’s Tony Awards. He’d popped backstage to see John Lithgow’s theatre show, walked away raving about Lithgow’s performance, and, in classic British fashion, tried his best to dodge actually talking shop.

As Radcliffe tells it:

'I got to go backstage, and he was so lovely. We didn’t really talk about details particularly, but he was telling me about how well it’s going and how fond he is of the kids.'

Now, as much as every half-decent Potter fan would love a juicy spoiler, Radcliffe kept it light. He simply described it as 'very, very sweet', and seemed genuinely pleased for everyone involved, which – considering all the reboot anxiety that’s haunted this project – is actually mildly reassuring.

Yes, It’s Surreal for Them Too

By the way, it’s not just fans who find the idea of a new Harry Potter cast a bit uncanny. Radcliffe talked about how surreal it is to watch another batch of kids launch into 'that journey' all these years later – especially when you’ve lived it yourself (and your face is still on mugs sold in every souvenir shop in London).

• Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint apparently haven’t had a big group chat about the reboot specifics.
• Still, as Radcliffe put it, 'It’s one of those where I think we all just know how the others feel, because we’re also feeling it.'
• His main impulse when seeing the new cast: wanting to give all these child actors a massive hug. (A bit protective, frankly.)
• He also admitted, meeting actual 11-year-olds these days makes him realise how bonkers it was that he started all this as a child. 'When you’re 11, and you’re doing something, you’re like, "Of course I’m old enough to do this – I’m the oldest I’ve ever been." But now when I meet 11-year-olds, I am like, "Whoa, that seems nuts."'

He’s enjoying watching it all unfold, but you get the sense there’s a nice mixture of nostalgia and disbelieving side-eye there as well.

Where Things Stand

In short, Lithgow says the new Potter set is going well, everyone’s fond of the kids, and the original Harry seems chuffed that it’s all coming together. No huge revelations or production drama – just some very British understatement and a few surprising reality checks about what it’s like to watch the next wizard generation come up right behind you.