Daniel Radcliffe sent a supportive letter to the new Harry Potter cast

Daniel Radcliffe has revealed he wrote a personal letter to the young actor taking over the role of Harry Potter in the upcoming HBO TV adaptation.

Radcliffe said Dominic McLaughlin, who will play the boy wizard in the reboot, later sent him “a very sweet note” in return. The original Harry Potter star, who first stepped into the role at age 11, told Good Morning America he reached out after hearing McLaughlin had been cast, wishing him and his co-stars the very best. “I just want to hug them,” he said.

McLaughlin will star alongside Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger and Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley. The trio, announced in May, were selected after an open casting call that drew more than 30,000 auditioning children. All three are relative newcomers: McLaughlin previously appeared in Grow, Stanton played Matilda in the West End, and Stout has no prior acting credits.

Radcliffe said he didn’t want to “be a specter” in the young cast’s lives, but wanted to encourage them: “I hope you have the best time—an even better time than I did. I had a great time, but I hope yours is even better.” Looking at promotional photos, he added, “They just seem so young… it’s crazy I was doing that at that age.”

The new series also features Lox Pratt as Draco Malfoy, Alessia Leoni as Parvati Patil, Leo Earley as Seamus Finnigan, Rory Wilmot as Neville Longbottom, and Amos Kitson as Dudley Dursley. Adult cast members include John Lithgow as Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu as Snape, and Nick Frost as Hagrid.

Filming for the first season is already underway, with the show slated for release in 2027. The full production is expected to span a decade, with each season covering one of J.K. Rowling’s seven books. To accommodate the long-term child cast, Warner Bros Studios in Leavesden has even been granted permission to build a temporary school for them to attend when they’re not filming at Hogwarts.