Harry Gilby nabs dragon-loving Weasley brother role in HBO’s 'Harry Potter'
HBO’s Harry Potter just cast the dragon-loving Charlie Weasley — but wait till you see who’s playing him.
Charlie Weasley has mostly lived offscreen for American audiences — a name in Ron’s stories about an older brother who traded Hogwarts for dragon work in Romania. HBO ’s take on the first book is pulling him into the picture, with Harry Gilby set to play the dragon-obsessed Weasley and open up a corner of the wizarding world the movies barely touched.
Gilby arrives with a résumé that suggests he can handle weighty lore and coming-of-age emotion in equal measure. He played young J.R.R. Tolkien in the 2019 film Tolkien and earned a British Independent Film Award nomination for Most Promising Newcomer for the feature Just Charlie. On TV, he’s appeared as Aethelstan in The Last Kingdom, and in Boarders, Grantchester and Casualty.
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The new Hogwarts lineup
The growing ensemble around the Boy Who Lived now includes fresh faces and a few ringers. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jasper Talbot and Hannah Chinn will play James and Lily Potter. Here’s where the cast stands:
- Harry Gilby — Charlie Weasley
- Dominic McLaughlin — Harry Potter
- Arabella Stanton — Hermione Granger
- Alastair Stout — Ron Weasley
- John Lithgow — Albus Dumbledore
- Janet McTeer — Minerva McGonagall
- Paapa Essiedu — Severus Snape
- Nick Frost — Rubeus Hagrid
- Jasper Talbot — James Potter
- Hannah Chinn — Lily Potter
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The first season adapts Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone for HBO, and bringing Charlie into focus signals a story that won’t just live in the classrooms. With a Weasley brother whose day job is “dragons,” there’s room for the show to color outside the lines of the original films and deepen the family dynamic from the jump.
