Harry Potter HBO Dumbledore casting announcement accidentally confirms when the show will end

At long last, the upcoming HBO Harry Potter reboot has its first official casting and on top of that, we may now have an idea of how long the show is expected to air.

Actor John Lithgow has confirmed that he will be taking on the role of Albus Dumbledore in the upcoming HBO Harry Potter reboot.

Go back to where it all began with the trailer for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone below!

The actor who is best known for his roles in 3rd Rock From the Sun and more recently 2024’s Conclave confirmed the news overnight, and will be taking over the iconic role from both Michael Gambon and Richard Harris.

In an interview with ScreenRant, Lithgow confirmed that he has been cast as the Hogwarts headmaster, although did not share any more details.

What he did share, however, is how he was first hesitant on accepting the role, mainly due to his age.

“Well, it came as a total surprise to me,” Lithgow revealed.

“I just got the phone call up at the Sundance Film Festival for yet another film, and it was not an easy decision because it's going to define me for the last chapter of my life, I'm afraid. But I'm very excited. Some wonderful people are turning their attention back to Harry Potter. That's why it's been such a hard decision. I'll be about 87 years old at the wrap party, but I've said yes.”

With Lithgow being 79 at the time of this story, he has hinted that the show could end in around eight years which is information we were not aware of before.

Of course, this could just be a guess on Lithgow’s part and with the HBO reboot expected to span across the seven books and eight movies worth of content, it would be very optimistic to have it wrapped up in less than 10 years.

Additionally, since the news of Lithgow’s casting broke, HBO reached out to ScreenRant to reveal that the role has not been officially closed as of yet.

“We appreciate that such a high-profile series will draw a lot of rumour and speculation. As we make our way through pre-production, we will only confirm details as we finalise deals,” the statement reads.