Radcliffe says he’s spoken with his costars about the upcoming HBO Max show, and they all share similar feelings.

Daniel Radcliffe reveals his chat with Rupert Grint and Emma Watson about new Harry Potter series

Radcliffe says he's spoken with his costars about the upcoming HBO Max show, and they all share similar feelings.

By Sydney Bucksbaum

Sydney Bucksbaum

Sydney Bucksbaum is a staff writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2019 and is a published author. Her work has previously appeared in *TV Guide Magazine*, E! News/E! Online, *The Hollywood Reporter*, Mashable, Bustle, IGN, DCComics.com, Inverse, *The Daily Northwestern*, and more.

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February 16, 2026 4:42 p.m. ET

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson in 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'. Credit:

Peter Mountain/Warner Bros.

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson are about to pass the baton to a new trio of *Harry Potter *actors, and they've been talking to each other about the "surreal" experience of watching it happen in real time.

Radcliffe says that the original *Harry Potter *trio has been in contact with each other as the HBO Max TV adaptation began production in July, with Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout, and Arabella Stanton taking over their former roles as Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, respectively.

Radcliffe told PEOPLE they've been discussing "how surreal [it is] to watch people starting off on that journey, all those years later."

While he and his former costars haven't had "a ton of communication about the show specifically," he said that they're all feeling similar emotions about watching this new group of young actors start over on the story that started their own careers.

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson.

Valerie Terranova/Getty; Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty; Dave Benett/Getty

"It's one of those where I think we all just know how the others feel, because we're also feeling it," Radcliffe said. "You just see the pictures of these kids, and you just want to grab them and hug them. That's the impulse that I think that we, mainly, all have."

The actor — who next stars opposite Tracy Morgan in NBC comedy series *The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins* — is also getting a new perspective on just how young he was when he first started playing the titular boy wizard in 2001. He — and Grint and Watson — returned for seven more films over the course of a decade.

"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,'" Radcliffe said. "But now when I meet 11-year-olds, I am like, 'Whoa, that seems nuts.' It puts into perspective. Honestly, it makes me admire, and I do tell them this, but my parents, more than I was capable of doing at the time. Just going like, 'Wow, you got me through something crazy, and you did it with a huge amount of humor.' It's a big task."

HBO's upcoming TV adaptation of J.K. Rowling's young adult series (currently in production) is from showrunner Francesca Gardiner and director Mark Mylod, and will debut in 2027. It has been billed as a faithful adaptation, expanding each of Rowling's seven books into individual seasons.

Other cast members include: John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore, Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape, Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid, Lox Pratt as Draco Malfoy, Johnny Flynn as Lucius Malfoy, Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall, Rory Wilmot as Neville Longbottom, Amos Kitson as Dudley Dursley, Louise Brealey as Madam Hooch, and Anton Lesser as Ollivander.

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Franchise alum Warwick Davis, who played Professor Filius Flitwick across all eight *Harry Potter* films, is reprising his role for the HBO series.

Radcliffe and Grint previously revealed they sent letters to the actors taking over their roles.

"I know a few people that are working on the production, so I wrote to Dominic, and I sent him a letter, and he sent me a very sweet note back," Radcliffe said in November 2025, but added, "I do not want to be a specter in the lives of these children at all."

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In his letter, Radcliffe said that he expressed, "I hope you have the best time, and an even better time than I did. I had a great time, but I hope you have an even better one."

A week later, Grint revealed he similarly wrote "something to that effect" of feeling "really happy for" Stout, and was "passing the baton, as it were" to the young star.

"I'm really intrigued [about] what it's going to be like," Grint said. "It's quite strange, having it, the cycle, happen again. I had so much fun stepping into this world, and I hope he has the same experience."**

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