J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World is a global franchise, one that's extended to books, movies, video games, theme parks, and (soon enough) the small screen. The upcoming Harry Potter TV show is in the works, and fans are eager to see a more accurate book-to-screen adaptation than the films. Nick Frost is playing the role of Hagrid (famously played by Robbie Coltrane in the Harry Potter movies), and it turns out that he really manifested the role. That's some real-life magic!
The Harry Potter TV show is coming to HBO (and streaming with an HBO Max subscription), and fans can't wait for it to finally arrive. While it's unclear when the premiere will be, we've seen sneak peeks of various actors in costume. In an interview with The Guardian, Frost spoke about his passion for the franchise, and how he tried to will his role as Hagrid into existence. In the actor's words:
I’ve seen all the films. We go through them all as a family during Christmas every year. We start on 20 December and finish a week and a half later. Before I was cast as Hagrid, my partner suggested trying to manifest it. So last Christmas, I watched all the films back to back on the Sky Harry Potter channel, while writing out the word ‘Hagrid’ 7,000 times.
Now that's some dedication. And it ultimately was successful, with Frost eventually landing the role of Hogwart's gamekeeper. I wonder if he kept the paper where he wrote Hagrid thousands of times? I'm sure some super fan would like to see or even bid on that bit of Wizarding World history.
While Nick Frost is clearly hyped to play the beloved character in the Harry Potter TV series, he has been the subject of some backlash. For instance, movie director Christopher Columbus took umbrage with him basically wearing the same costume as Robbie Coltrane. Others were skeptical about him playing Hagrid, so it should be interesting to see what the reception is like when he finally debuts as the half-giant.
Given how much this role means to the Shaun of the Dead actor, I have to assume that he'll be putting everything he has into portraying Hagrid. And he should be doing it for years, as the Harry Potter series is expected to play out over seven seasons, each of which adapts one of the novels. So he's got plenty of time to win over those naysayers.
For hardcore fans of the books, the TV adaptation has the ability to be more accurate to the source material. The movies had to cut a lot of material to avoid being too long, including entire plot points and characters. And that's a big reason why there's so much hype around the Potter series.
It's unclear when the Harry Potter TV series will premiere, but it's expected sometime in 2027. Since it's not part of the 2026 TV schedule, fans will have to use patience while waiting to see what Nick Frost and the rest of the cast do with their characters.
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