Muggles across the country will be hoping for a place at Hogwarts after the Harry Potter TV remake announced an open casting call.
The hunt is underway for actors hoping to step into Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, and Rupert Grint’s shoes as Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger respectively.
And nine-year-old Elissa Thomas, from Harlington in Bedfordshire, is one step closer to her dream role as Hermione after applying to audition for the HBO adaptation of the wizarding world.
Elissa told PA she ‘jumped, ran and screamed’ after learning any child who is a resident of the UK or Ireland and aged between nine and 11 in April 2025 could have a chance of being in the series.
On why she wants to play high-achieving witch Hermione, she said: ‘I love the intelligence – her character is really close to me because as I’ve grown up most of my friends have been boys, just like her.
‘Her hand shoots up in the air like sometimes I do in science.’
Her mother Carlie Thomas, 36, who is also a massive Harry Potter fan, said she ‘lost my mind’ when she discovered the open casting call through TikTok.
‘We’re all massive, massive Harry Potter nerds. Elissa is the biggest. She’s a super fan, she added.
To apply for the part, Elissa had to recite a poem or short story and talk about herself briefly, choosing to recite Dreams by Langston Hughes and talk about her family pet, a macaw.
Elissa said that being chosen to play Hermione ‘would mean the world to me, the whole entire world,’ while her mother was similarly enthusiastic.
She said: ‘As a child, it was just such a big thing in my life.
‘To be able to see my daughter go off into the wizarding world and pursue her dreams… to be able to watch her go off and be a success in an area that she loves, that’s what’s most important to me.’
It has been claimed author JK Rowling, who is serving as executive producer on the programme, will get the final call on who plays Harry Potter and will ‘personally approve’ other key castings in the TV series.
Her involvement in the series, however, has sparked backlash, with some fans planning to boycott the series over her views about the trans community and women’s rights.
The author responded to the calls to switch off the series with a sarcasm-laden tweet, calling it ‘dreadful news, which I feel duty bound to share.’
‘Activists in my mentions are trying to organise yet another boycott of my work, this time of the Harry Potter TV show,’ she wrote on X.
‘As forewarned is forearmed, I’ve taken the precaution of laying in a large stock of champagne.’
Bosses of the new Harry Potter production have previously shut down queries about Rowling’s gender views, saying it was ‘not something we’re going to get into.’
Casey Bloys, chairman and CEO of HBO and Max content, was asked whether JK; ‘s stance on gender could affect the ability to cast actors.
Declining to comment, Casey said according to Variety: ‘No, I don’t think this is the forum. That’s a very online conversation, very nuanced and complicated and not something we’re going to get into.
‘Our priority is what’s on the screen, Obviously, the Harry Potter story is incredibly affirmative and positive and about love and self-acceptance. That’s our priority — what’s on screen.’
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HBO Max confirmed in April they had ordered the first-ever TV adaption of the Hogwarts-set book series, which they said would be a ‘faithful adaption.’
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