Harry Potter’s new Hagrid breaks silence on J.K. Rowling controversy
Stepping into Hagrid’s oversized boots, Nick Frost isn’t dodging the JK Rowling debate. In a frank chat with The Times, the new Harry Potter star makes his position clear — setting the tone for his upcoming Hogwarts stint.
Suppose you land the job of Hagrid in HBO's new Harry Potter series. Massive boots to fill, bit of a minefield to navigate these days too, what with the ever-present controversy swirling around J.K. Rowling. Nick Frost, who’s taking on the half-giant’s beard and umbrella, spoke up recently about exactly where he stands—on both the fraught Rowling debate and his own unorthodox road to getting cast.
Frost on Rowling: Clear Air Between Them
In typical Frost fashion, he didn’t mince words when The Times asked about Rowling’s outspoken views, particularly on transgender issues. He couldn’t have put it more plainly:
'She’s allowed her opinion, and I’m allowed mine, they just don’t align in any shape or form.'
He doubled down, basically saying he can’t control what goes on outside his own head and that he just focuses on how he feels about things. He remarked, with a bit of resignation: 'No one is ever going to be happy all the time.' Unsurprisingly, that’s about as far as he’d go into it — and fair enough, given the circus that tends to surround any Harry Potter topic these days.
Hagrid by Manifestation (and Quite a Lot of Scribbling)
How did Nick Frost end up in Hagrid’s coat, anyway? Frost reckons he genuinely manifested it – and not in the 'positive vibes' Instagram sense. More like classic, weird actor ritual: he literally wrote 'Hagrid' down 8,000 times. Whether that’s magic, obsession, or both, it did seem to do the trick.
There’s a before-and-after for Frost, too. Since his Shaun of the Dead days, he’s dropped eight stone, got sober, and picked up art as another creative outlet. Not your everyday casting story, especially for a bloke best known for being Simon Pegg’s comedy sidekick.
What’s His Take on Hagrid?
Frost is well aware that the late Robbie Coltrane completely owned the character back in the films. He describes the Hagrid archetype he’s aiming for as:
- 'Huge, violent but childlike' – a vibe he’s borrowing in part from Michael Clarke Duncan’s iconic John Coffey in The Green Mile.
But with a full series—eight episodes a go, rather than a quick two-hour sprint—he reckons there’s space to stretch out and dig further into Hagrid’s world. In his words, there's serious respect for Coltrane's work, but also an ambition to show more layers to the half-giant:
'I’ve tried to take what Robbie did and honor that... Some people won’t like it. They’ll go, "Not my Hagrid." And that is all right.'
So there you have it: a bit of magical thinking, a drastic personal overhaul, and a new angle on a classic character—plus a completely forthright statement on Rowling’s controversies, to top it off.
HBO’s Harry Potter series lands this Christmas, 25 December.