# ‘Harry Potter’ HBO Series Casts Sorting Hat, Nearly Headless Nick, and More Hogwarts Ghosts and Portraits

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/harry-potter-hbo-series-casts-sorting-hat-nearly-headless-nick-and-more-hogwarts-ghosts-and-portraits/
- Published: 2026-10-30T15:00:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-30T15:34:27+00:00
- Original publisher: Variety
- Original article: https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/harry-potter-hbo-cast-sorting-hat-nearly-headless-nick-1236935101/
- Topics: Art, Culture, Paranormal, Weird & Viral

## Key points

- Five actors join the first season as Hogwarts ghosts and portraits.
- David Threlfall will voice the Sorting Hat.
- Season one is scheduled to debut on 25 December.

## Summary

HBO has cast five performers as Hogwarts’ magical residents for the first season of its new Harry Potter series. David Threlfall will voice the Sorting Hat, while Leo Bill, Andrew Brooke and Daniel Fearn will play the ghosts Nearly Headless Nick, the Bloody Baron and the Fat Friar; Laura Smyth will portray the Fat Lady, whose portrait guards Gryffindor’s entrance.

The season adapts *Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone* and is scheduled to debut on HBO and HBO Max on 25 December. Its previously announced cast includes Dominic McLaughlin as Harry, Arabella Stanton as Hermione and Alastair Stout as Ron, alongside John Lithgow as Dumbledore and Nick Frost as Hagrid. Work is also under way on season two, based on *The Chamber of Secrets*.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.