Nick Frost on Reimagining Hagrid for HBO’s “Harry Potter” TV Show
There’s a new Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. British actor and comedian Nick Frost is officially stepping into the role of Rubeus Hagrid – which was originally brought to life by the late Robbie Coltrane in the Harry Potter films – for HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter TV reboot.
In a recent interview with Collider, Frost opened up about the pressure and joy of stepping into this beloved role.
You get cast because you’re going to bring something to that. While I’m really aware of what went before me in terms of Robbie [Coltrane]’s amazing performance, I’m never going to try and be Robbie. I’m going to try and do something, not ‘different,’ I think you have to be respectful to the subject matter, but within that, there’s scope for minutia.
I always read Hagrid as he’s like a lovely, lost, violent, funny, warm child. I think the beauty of being able to do a book a season means I get to explore that a lot more, and I can’t wait. He’s funny! I want it to be funny and cheeky and scared and protective and childlike. That’s what I’m planning on doing.
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The TV show’s production is set to span ten years, with each season being an adaptation of each Harry Potter book, and with the luxury of more time per book meaning more content, Frost is clearly relishing the opportunity to dig deeper into the heart of the half-giant we all know and love.
Speaking about early production preparation, he explained it’s set to be “ten or eleven months a season” for the cast and crew to shoot, and he shared his excitement over the magical details being built into the show.
I’m just so excited to get going. I’ve gone in to do head sculpts and have your hand stand and stuff, and they say, ‘Oh, have a look at this.’ And you’re like, ‘Wow. That’s the coolest thing.’ I love films. I’ve loved cinema my whole life, so to be part of that universe now and that they’re showing me, like, a dancing mushroom, it’s like, ‘That is so cool!’
Filming is set to begin this summer at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, where the original films were shot, and has reportedly already begun in France for the Hut-on-the-Rock scene (per the Sun).
Frost will join the cast alongside the newly revealed famous trio: Dominic McLaughlin as Harry Potter, Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger, and Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley. The confirmed adult cast so far includes John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore, Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape, Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall, Luke Thallon as Quirinus Quirrell, and Paul Whitehouse as Argus Filch.
It’s a bold new chapter for the Wizarding World franchise. With Frost set to bring heart, humor, and a hint of unpredictability to Hagrid, are you looking forward to seeing his take on Rubeus Hagrid?
