Daniel Radcliffe writes letter to young Scots actor playing Harry Potter in new series

Daniel Radcliffe has revealed he wrote a letter to the young Scottish actor playing Harry Potter in the new HBO series.

The English actor, made famous by his role as the original Harry in the global franchise based on JK Rowling’s books, says he reached out to Dominic McLaughlin.

The eleven-year-old Scot was cast as the boy wizard in the new TV adaptation in May.

Radcliffe says he wrote a letter to the youngster and received a very “sweet note back”.

He said on Good Morning America: “I don’t want to be a spectre in the life of these children, but I just wanted to write to him to say, ‘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 time.

“I just see these pictures of him and the other kids and I just want to hug them. They just seem so young.

“I just look at them and say, ‘Oh, it’s crazy I was doing that at that age.’ But it’s also incredibly sweet and I hope they’re having a great time.”

Production for the new series started in July this year, with fans getting their first look at the Scottish actor in costume, donning the iconic glasses and featuring the lightning bolt scar on his forehead.

HBO confirmed several new roles being cast, including Rory Wilmot as Neville Longbottom, Amos Kitson as Dudley Dursley, Louise Brealey as Madam Rolanda Hooch, and Anton Lesser as wandmaker Garrick Ollivander.

The new series will be a decade-long project and is expected to debut on HBO and HBO Max in 2027.

Dominic will play Harry Potter alongside Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger and Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley.

A casting call, announced in September, saw around 32,000 children audition for the lead roles, with the team reviewing up to 1,000 tapes per day, according to HBO.

Dominic also appeared in a production of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, at the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh, opposite three-time Oscar-nominated actor Ralph Fiennes and Luther actress Indira Varma.

He studied with Performance Academy Scotland in Greater Glasgow.

He is also to appear in an upcoming BBC action adventure series called Gifted, which saw over 3,000 Scottish children apply to be on the show.